My Baby Story

Our baby is finally here! Lindy Faith was born at 4:06 p.m. on January 18th and was 7 lbs, 3 oz and 19 inches long. A few people have asked how it went so here is my baby story. This is just the physical process of what happened. I'm going to post my emotional story later.

I went into the hospital on Sunday night so they could put me on an IV overnight to start softening my cervix and they were going to start the induction on Monday. Around 4 in the morning, the medication they gave me to soften my cervix really kicked in and I started having contractions. This was a good sign! Things were progressing really well. I held out until I was at a 5 to get my epidural. I'm telling ya, I will never do it naturally. I have no desire whatsoever.

We did have a scare. I had about 4 contractions very close together and she couldn't get enough oxygen in between them so her heart rate dropped drastically. I didn't even know what had happened. All of a sudden there were about 5 nurses in there moving very quickly. They gave me an oxygen mask and even started to wheel me out of the room when her heart rate came back up.

Because her heart rate came back up, they decided to wait it out and see how she held up. Her heart rate never dropped that drastically again, but it did drop with every single contraction. Because I was only at a 5, they estimated I'd still be in labor for another 8 hours or so because I wasn't dilating quickly enough and just didn't want to risk Lindy being without enough oxygen that long. They told me they were going to do a c-section and I heartily agreed. I knew from the very beginning that a c-section might be necessary so I had already come to terms with it. However, Allan hadn't.

Allan was by the bedside telling me that everything was going to be ok. I told him I knew. I was completely calm. He told me not to be scared and I told him I wasn't. He responded with, "I am!" After getting his clothing on for the surgery, he started doing the running man. He definitely had some nervous energy. It was pretty funny.

During the c-section, they put me on a table and then put a big tarp like thing up right at my chest so I couldn't see a thing, nor feel a thing. I was numb from the chest down. It's kind of weird to not feel a thing but know that you're being cut open. Allan was the only one who could be in the OR with me. My dad and I were both telling him how jealous we were that he could watch the surgery. He didn't agree. He didn't want to look. He kept his head down right next to mine until he heard, "Here's her head!" At that point he just had to look so he did get to see her come out.

From the time they started the surgery to the time she came out was all of about 5 minutes. After she came out they took her over to clean her off and all that jazz. It then took them about 15 minutes to sew me up. So Allan took the camera & took pictures of her since I hadn't seen her and brought them back to show me. About 10 minutes after she was born he got to hold her and bring her to show me. My first thought was, "It's just not fair! I should get to hold her first. I carried her for 9 months and gave birth to her. Isn't it just a right for the mother to hold her first?!" I wasn't really THAT upset, but it was a little disappointing. After I saw her, it all went away. I was just thrilled to see her finally.

Lindy right after birth

Our first family photo