The Mommy Project: Lily-Pie's Birthday

(Davey and I the night before Lily's birth)

Well, Lily-Pie is actually 3 weeks old now so I have some catching up to do. It's been hard to find the time to blog with a new, very cuddly, baby around but I'll try to keep the updates and photos coming.

Here's a bit about the day she was born...

Maddie and Jamie's births were both scheduled for first thing in the morning. This meant Davey and I had to be at the hospital for 6 o'clock. But, Lily-Pie's birth wasn't scheduled until 2pm...so we didn't have to be there until noon. That was nice because we didn't even have to set the alarm. We just got up, got ready, packed, and headed to the hospital. The only thing was, I wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight the night before and I kept walking into the kitchen to grab something to eat all morning only to remember I wasn't allowed any food. The big girls headed off to school as usual and their Grandma was able to pick them up after school, so that was great.

When we got to the hospital we realized we didn't even know where we were supposed to go. Good thing I had delivered there twice before and as we headed to the elevators it all started to come back to me. Once we checked ourselves in we got sent into the same little room that I had been in before and I was changed into my hospital gown and hooked up to fluids in no time. Then it was just time for the wait. Two hours of sitting on that hospital bed, with my big belly, waiting to meet my little girl. That is a long two hours, I'll tell you. I could feel her moving around in me like crazy...as she had through-out the entire pregnancy...and I felt a little sad about the fact that she wasn't going to be there anymore but, more than that, I was just excited to meet her. I was so anxious to see what she would look like. If she would have a ton of black hair like her sisters did. If she would have blue eyes like her sisters did. If she would, in fact, be a she.

Just after 2 o'clock they were ready for me. I made the trek to the operating room (they have you just walk over yourself..they don't wheel ya' in) with my bag of fluids and my little gown. As I was walking there I got a little nervous about the spinal and became very appreciative of just being able to walk. I really hoped that wasn't going to be my last time walking! But, before I could stress myself out too much about that, it was time for me to hop up (can a 38 week pregnant woman hop?) onto the surgery table. I sat on the side of the bed and had to curl over slightly to allow the anaesthetist to deliver the spinal. I remember when I had Maddie that I was very nervous about it, but it really didn't hurt very much at all. When I had Jamie I wasn't as nervous because I wasn't expecting it to hurt - and it didn't very much. But, this time, it hurt. I could feel the doctor redirecting the needle and I could feel the local anaesthetic as it went in. A lot of pressure and quite sore. But, then, before you know it your legs become very heavy and as you lie back on the table you start to loose all connection with you lower body. The nurses have to swing your legs up on the table for you. It's pretty freaky.

My wonderful doctor then came into the room and said, "Hi" to me over the drapes and I could hear them starting to get to work. Only, they had forgotten to invite Dave in! Just then one of the nurses said, "Does she have someone with her?" and then someone else said, "Oh! Yes! Her husband! Go call her husband Dave in". A moment later Dave was beside me with the camera and the video camera. We weren't "technically" allowed to have either, but my doctor is so cool that she let us anyway. For Maddie we don't have any video of her birth or even pictures. We were only allowed to take pictures after she was born. That really bothers me, because we have video of Jamie's birth and it is so wonderful to have - especially to hear her very first cries on tape. So amazing. But, luckily, we were able to tape just as Lily-Pie was being born...which was so soon after they started. Seems that Lily was much easier to get out than Jamie was as there was much less pushing down on me and much less struggling. At 2:25 my doctor said, "It's a girl" and made it official. I could hear her little cry and see them carrying her over to the tables at the side of the operating room.

The very first thing I said was, "OH! She is so CUTE!"

She really was an adorable baby. So tiny, and sweet, and perfect.
Dave brought her back over to me as quickly as he could and held her right by my face so that I could see her and kiss her as the doctors worked away on stitching my belly back up. I couldn't wait to have her in my arms so that I could hold her, too.

It probably took about half an hour to finish up with me and then they wheeled me into the recovery room. That's when I finally got to hold my Lily-Pie.

The doctors and nurses in the surgery room had all been amazed that I was able to carry her to 38 weeks with my wonky little uterus. She was my third miracle baby.