Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Friday, April 1, 2011

Lyla's Birthday

I guess since it's been over two months since Lyla's birth, I should update this! It's crazy how I can be home all day with her and still get nothing accomplished. Only one week of maternity leave left, so I plan on fully enjoying it!! So Lyla's due date was nearing and I was starting to get a little impatient and concerned about if/when to induce. On Saturday night (January 22nd), we went and walked around Walmart, got some Taco Bell, and I came home to bounce on the exercise ball. Later that night, I thought maybe my water was broken/leaking .. though I'd thought that before so didn't want to jump the gun. Well, we ended up going to the ER just to be safe, and turns out it WAS broken! I was super excited and then scared! I was only 1 cm and contracting but not progressing, so they started me on Pitocin. It did intensify my contractions, but once they tried to up it, it only made them closer together rather than stronger. So, we played that game for a while, but I didn't get any farther than 4cm. The doctors started to get concerned since it had been 24 hours, and suggested that maybe she was in an odd position (which I'd suspected), and that c-section was a possibility (which scared me, but by that point, I was just worried about Lyla). Well, then another doctor checked me and found that there was still some water that hadn't broken. Once she broke that, I started progressing much faster (1 cm/hour). I was finally ready to push by around 2 am. I was so eager to push but it was really difficult for me. My epidural was great at first but then either wore off or was kind of patchy (possibly due to her position). I definitely felt a lot of my contractions and TONS of pressure and pain, plus I was exhausted from the hours of labor. I guess it took about 1.5 hours for her to come. All I remember is they kept saying, she's right there, she's right there, one more good push .. liars. But she finally came and was absolutely perfect, thank God. My first thought when I saw her was that she looked just like her daddy! I got to hold her and nurse her for a few minutes. We were so exhausted (I could barely move, let alone hold her), we sent her to the nursery so we could rest. The rest of our time in the hospital is a blur of visitors, short naps, doctors, nursing frustration, and finally the scary trip home. I was pretty nervous to have her all to ourselves even though we'd had plenty of experience with babies. It was all different now that we were fully responsible for her!! I'm pretty sure the first night I was up the whole time just watching her breathe! We had some struggles in the beginning with jaundice and breastfeeding, but now we are old pros and Lyla is growing like a weed! I haven't quite found a way yet to put into words my love for this little girl .. but when I look at her little face, I'm overwhelmed by her beauty, the fact that she is OUR daughter, and the amazing responsibility we've been given in her ... God is good.