Lydia Mae's Birth Story 💜

Warning: It's long. 😅

With my son, I was in labor for 40 hours that wound up in a c-section, which I was fine with. When I found out I was pregnant again, I knew going into it that my doctor's office didn't offer VBAC, and was fine with that. But he wound up moving to a new practice that did!

We agreed, by my own suggestion and desire to not be overdue, that if Lydia was not here by October 2nd, we'd have a repeat c-section.

At my 38 week appointment, I knew I was over being pregnant and asked if we could reschedule for sooner. We agreed that if I wasn't in labor by September 25, we would have the c-section at 7:15AM.

I fell asleep on September 24 at 11PM, as I was far too anxious and had too much to get done. At 1AM, I rolled and sat up on all fours to go to the bathroom and felt my hip pop. I went to the restroom and laid back down, thinking about how my stomach hurt. I laid there for a bit before I realized I was contracting. I began timing them and they were 3 minutes apart, 1 minute long. I laid for an hour, timing and waiting to see if they changed.

Finally around 2:30AM, I called the birthing center to ask for advice. She suggested we come in and get hooked up and they would call to ask my doctor what he wanted to do. I woke my husband up, he got my mother-in-law to come sit with our son, and off we went. I remember, on the way to the hospital, I looked over. My husband speeds EVERYWHERE, but he was going the perfect speed limit. I actually told him, "Are you shitting me? SPEED." (He didn't, for the record. 🙄😂)

When we arrived, the pain of contractions increased and I was practically crawling out of the wheelchair as the nurse took me upstairs. My contractions were staying consistent and she checked me. I almost cried when she said I was only 1.5cm. The pain was just getting worse and I was shaking the bed with every one.

They couldn't keep my daughter's heart rate on the monitor, which happened with my son, too (likely due to my constant wiggling through contractions). They got ahold of the on-call doctor, who was afraid of how her heart was taking labor. They said it was my call ultimately, but they would recommend the c-section. My exact words were, "I don't care anymore, I just want the pain to stop."

At one point, around 5:45AM, after I got my epidural, they lost her heartbeat. Three nurses ran in and began flipping me and roaming my stomach, trying to find her. They were concerned I'd fully dilated and she was distressed, but I was only at a 3-4. They finally found her and put me on oxygen to keep her still.

Around 6:20, a nurse came in to give me antibiotics. Within 5 minutes, I was gagging and vomited. When my nurse left, I looked at my husband and said, "I think my water broke." He said, "Are you sure you didn't shit yourself? Because you farted pretty hard." 😂🙄 I did not, but when my doctor arrived at 7AM, I told him I thought my water had broken. He looked and said it didn't look like there was any fluid, but that didn't mean anything.

I was wheeled in for surgery at 7:15AM. After getting into recovery, my nurse told me my water broke at some point between them wheeling me down the hall and transferring me to the OR table and it had meconium in it. Apparently my baby had come out green from it, and at one point, my doctor said, "Why are you trying to eat that yucky stuff, pretty girl?"

Lydia Mae entered the world on September 25, 2019 at 7:40AM. She weighed 7lb 9oz and was 20 inches long. 💜

Her and Big Brother Finnegan meeting 😊