Birth Story- LoLo

I am going to back track this to Wednesday May 13th. I left work early because people in my office were sick & this mama was not about to risk catching a cold so close to my due date. I spent the day laying in bed by myself. That night I had some pretty serious cramping, it had me thinking oh man this is IT! Come Thursday morning they had tapered off and I was doing my usual chores around the house, I was so bummed. Granted I was only 37 weeks but my doctor kept assuring me that I was going to have the baby ANY DAY! Once Krew was asleep Ryan and I were sitting on the couch and I jokingly told him that Friday was the day! It would give him almost 2 weeks off of work if I had her on a weekend. Thursday night came and I woke around midnight with a contraction. I had another one around 5:00 am and another close to 5:45. They were pretty strong, instead of laying in bed I decided to get up and walk around the house. I was not about to let those contractions let up like they did on Wednesday! I walked and walked.. Once it was time for Ryan to go to work I sent him on his way, he hesitated but went anyway. I didn't ACTUALLY think I was going to have baby that day. I can't tell you how many times I walked up and down my stairs and through my hallway into the kids' bedrooms. I was actually tired from walking but I didn't want to lay down because I was nervous it would make the contractions go away. I text a few friends updates and each one strongly encouraged me to go in. Around 9:30 I was having extremely painful contractions every 5-8 minutes. I refused to go in, I didn't want to be sent home. Ryan kept checking in on me, I finally told him to come home and he replied saying if he were to come home we were going to the hospital. So I told him to stay at work! The contractions were still bearable enough I could breathe through them. Close to 15 minutes later I was furiously texting Ryan to hurry home. The contractions were so unbearable I knew I was going to have a baby in the next 24 hours, I laid down and worked through them with my breathing and as soon as Ryan got home I was going to jump in the bath. Looking back I am so glad I labored at home. I was alone, calm, and was able to do things at my own pace. I even had time to snap my 37 week bump picture. I didn't think at the time I was actually in labor!



Ry got home and walked in the bedroom and saw me shriveled in pain on the bed and immediately started loading the car and changed his work clothes. I was fine with waiting and laboring at home but he knew I needed to get in and be seen. We walked slowly to the car and once in the car I had the most painful contraction of all time, in that moment I was so thankful we lived 2 minutes from the hospital. The thought never crossed my mind that I could potentially not have time for an epidural. Once we got to the hospital and checked in we were told I was at a 6 and if I wanted the epidural I needed it within minutes. The anesthesiologist had no time to go through the proper paperwork with me, I mean I was just raging in pain. He did explain that he would need to administer the medication they give to c-section patients to ensure it hit fast enough and strong enough. Five minutes later I was still feeling extreme pain in my left hip so he had to up the dosage again and after a few minutes I was pain-free. I always turn into a wisecrack when medicated. Ryan should have recorded me. I was actually calm, but so excited to meet my daughter! We had always planned on my older sister being in the room with us so as soon as we found out baby would be coming we immediately called her. Ryan told her she didn't have much time. She boogied there man!

I remember her walking in and I thought to myself "Ok, let's do this"! I don't remember how long I was at the hospital until I started pushing, but I do remember the encouragement I felt from my sister and Ryan. One hour later at 11:37 AM on 05/15/2015 our little angel baby was born and placed on my chest. I was never able to have skin to skin with Krew because he was not breathing properly when he came out. I remember kissing her sweet head and just staring at her, I couldn't believe I actually had a daughter! I was filled with so much love, happiness, & excitement. I also couldn't stop thinking about Krew, I couldn't wait for him to meet her. It had been a long 9 months and we, especially him talked about her non-stop. I was in such a dream land for that first hour of skin to skin. We had a photographer coming to snap pictures of Krew meeting his baby sissy for the first time and I couldn't contain my excitement. I felt REALLY good. Way better than I remember feeling after I had Krew. We decided we didn't want to share any pictures of her until Krew met her, so here she is. My beautiful, spunky, sassy, baby girl.