Special Delivery

No surprise that mommyhood is quite the adjustment. Lily has been what some would call an easy baby so far. She goes to sleep without a lot of fussing, eats heartily, and is generally adorable. But recovering from having a baby is harder than I thought. My body was just totally ravaged by her birth (what mother's isn't), and thankfully my mom was visiting during Lily's first week to help out and give me time to rest and recuperate.

Here is the story of Lily's birth:

Once I went past my due date, my doctor scheduled me for an induction on Wednesday, April 29. I spent the weekend and the first half of the week fretting over being induced and wanting the baby to come on her own. She didn't. I lost my mucous plug over the weekend and was sure that my body was making progress for the birth. So, after much discussion, Adam and I went to the doctor's office on Wednesday planning to refuse the induction. I told my doctor that I wasn't ready and wanted another week. Surprisingly, he didn't push the induction and gave us until Tuesday, May 5 -- two weeks past my due date. Unfortunately, he was going to be out of town through the weekend, so if I had the baby after Friday, another doctor would deliver. Before we left, I asked him to strip my membranes, a procedure I'd read about that could potentially spur on labor.

That night (technically, the next morning), my labor started at 2:30. I spent most of the night laying on the couch trying to rest before waking Adam up at 6:45. I was going a bit stir crazy, so we decided to go grocery shopping. We came home, timed my contractions, and rested. I was contracting every five minutes for 30 seconds to a minute, not enough to warrant going to the hospital. Around noon, a nurse from my doctor's office called. I told her I was in labor, and she asked if I could come in around 1:30. We took the dog to a friend's house, ate lunch, and headed to the doctor. I was 3 cm. dilated when my doctor checked me, and he wanted me to be admitted to the hospital where he would break my water. I was a little upset by this because I wanted to labor at home as long as I could and not be augmented any further, but Adam and I headed to the maternity ward and I was checked in around 3.

At about 4:30, he broke my water, which hurt a lot and made my contractions really intense. At 7, I was only 4 cm. dilated, and my doctor decided to put me on pitocin. I was also in terrible pain, and after a lengthy conversation with a lot of tears, I decided to get an epidural. The epidural was light enough that I could still wiggle my toes, but it took away most of the pain -- I was even able to sleep from 11 to 12:30.

At 1 o'clock Friday morning, my nurse told me that it was getting to be time to push. She called the doctor, and at 1:18 I started pushing. When the baby's head was out, they had to suction her because of some meconium that had seeped into the amniotic fluid. Then the doctor had me laugh to push the rest of her body out (something new he was doing with his deliveries), and with a few hearty laughs, Lily was born at 1:55 a.m. Adam announced that it was a girl, and I started bawling my eyes out.

The nursery nurse cleaned her up, and weighed and measured her while I was stitched up for the tear that occured when Lily came out. We were able to bond and breastfeed within minutes. Then she was given her first bath, and we finally got to bed around 4:30.

So, I didn't get my natural birth. But I wasn't induced either. And my doctor was there for the delivery, not a strange doctor I'd never met. I think back to the whole thing and wish that I had had more time to stay home and labor, but I trust that this was God's plan. Either way, I get to be a mommy to a healthy little girl, a job that's kicking my butt already but is worth its weight in baby gazing.