We welcomed Sydney Elizabeth Lynn into the world at 5:07pm on the 15th of April - just one day shy of her due date!
It was intense and amazing - and something I would do all over again in a heartbeat despite how hard it was at times - she is perfect in every way and I cant imagine life without her now.
And Brigsby has been great with her - a little curious (well a lot!) but he loves to lay near her or right next to us when we are holding her. I think they will get a long just great :)
here is the birth story:
I figured, while I lay here unable to sleep at 7:29am (we got a full nights rest last night, as did Sydney!) I would write out the events of Thursday-Friday.
Thursday I started feeling cramping right from waking up in the morning. It continued to worsen, so I called my OBs office and had my Drs appointment moved up to 11 from 2pm and left work after only 1 hour of being there. I was not seen until after 12 due to multiple births going on at the hospital next door. Anyways, saw my OB, and I was 0 station and about 3cm dilated. I was told to go home and relax and time any contractions as I was either in early labor, or it was false labor. So, I went home, got some rest and cramping and contractions stopped all together for a few hours. I was pretty bummed. They did start up again and around 11:45pm I got up to use the bathroom and my water broke (I will be honest and say I wasnt sure at first if that is what it was). So I hopped onto the computer to waste some time. Cramping came on stronger, and contractions. I went back downstairs to tell Ryan what I thought happened (he was sleeping as he was planning on going to work in the morning) and my water again started gushing out. So we got up, called the hospital and waited for them to return our call. I showered and we got everything together to go.
We checked into Unity just after 2am and got settled into our room. We walked onto the L&D floor laughing about my pants being a little wet - I think we were both a little nervous but I was glad we were still able to laugh about things!
Contractions were becoming more frequent and for a few hours I was tolerating them fine. I did choose to have an IV narcotic to help take the edge off - it was a low dose that is re-administered every hour as it wore off. I wanted the option of going back to nothing.
Things changed after a few hours and contractions felt like they were in my back, instead of in the front. The OB on call (who was supposed to be my primary but then was changed (I was sad for a bit)) checked me and determined that Sydney was now "sunny side up" and I was indeed having back labor. That scared me as I knew that it was just that much more painful. I opted for an epidural almost instantly after that, as the pain became almost unbearable. (I will take a moment here to give Ryan all the credit in the world for making sure that I had what I needed and was as comfortable as I could have been through out the entire thing - a lot of times just doing thing w/o me asking!). Once the epidural kicked in - the world was good again.
I had one more surprise coming to me - after my epidural was done I was told my primary OB was working at the office next door and offered to come over to deliver Sydney for us! I was so excited, I really like my OB and it was the same man who delivered me 27 years ago!
Because I was so relaxed I dilated pretty quickly to 10 and at 1:35pm I was pushing. Everything was going as expected but I kept a close eye on the clock. A few times Ryan tried blocking it from me :) The OB prior had talked about trying to turn Sydney, I dont think that ever happened. Once we got close, my primary OB came over and stayed with us until the end. Sydney gave me a good run and finally made her entrance at 5:07pm! Over 3.5 hours of hard continuous pushing - sometimes with no breaks between contractions, with less than 3 hours of sleep - was rough. But worth it. Totally worth it. Even though she left me a little beat up - which I will spare the details of.
She arrived with a head of beautiful hair with random curls and big blue eyes. Ryan says she has my eyes, nose and chin. She is very alert and loves staring. She hates having her hands restrained in a swaddle and always seems to have one hand by her face. I was told she came out with a hand near her face as well! She has a great grip and grabs onto anything.
I think that about says it all. We are so blessed and SO in love with her. Its something you cant put into words.
Sydney was 6lbs 12 oz. 20.50 inches long
Born 04/15/11
and her first monthly photo:
Thursday I started feeling cramping right from waking up in the morning. It continued to worsen, so I called my OBs office and had my Drs appointment moved up to 11 from 2pm and left work after only 1 hour of being there. I was not seen until after 12 due to multiple births going on at the hospital next door. Anyways, saw my OB, and I was 0 station and about 3cm dilated. I was told to go home and relax and time any contractions as I was either in early labor, or it was false labor. So, I went home, got some rest and cramping and contractions stopped all together for a few hours. I was pretty bummed. They did start up again and around 11:45pm I got up to use the bathroom and my water broke (I will be honest and say I wasnt sure at first if that is what it was). So I hopped onto the computer to waste some time. Cramping came on stronger, and contractions. I went back downstairs to tell Ryan what I thought happened (he was sleeping as he was planning on going to work in the morning) and my water again started gushing out. So we got up, called the hospital and waited for them to return our call. I showered and we got everything together to go.
We checked into Unity just after 2am and got settled into our room. We walked onto the L&D floor laughing about my pants being a little wet - I think we were both a little nervous but I was glad we were still able to laugh about things!
Contractions were becoming more frequent and for a few hours I was tolerating them fine. I did choose to have an IV narcotic to help take the edge off - it was a low dose that is re-administered every hour as it wore off. I wanted the option of going back to nothing.
Things changed after a few hours and contractions felt like they were in my back, instead of in the front. The OB on call (who was supposed to be my primary but then was changed (I was sad for a bit)) checked me and determined that Sydney was now "sunny side up" and I was indeed having back labor. That scared me as I knew that it was just that much more painful. I opted for an epidural almost instantly after that, as the pain became almost unbearable. (I will take a moment here to give Ryan all the credit in the world for making sure that I had what I needed and was as comfortable as I could have been through out the entire thing - a lot of times just doing thing w/o me asking!). Once the epidural kicked in - the world was good again.
I had one more surprise coming to me - after my epidural was done I was told my primary OB was working at the office next door and offered to come over to deliver Sydney for us! I was so excited, I really like my OB and it was the same man who delivered me 27 years ago!
Because I was so relaxed I dilated pretty quickly to 10 and at 1:35pm I was pushing. Everything was going as expected but I kept a close eye on the clock. A few times Ryan tried blocking it from me :) The OB prior had talked about trying to turn Sydney, I dont think that ever happened. Once we got close, my primary OB came over and stayed with us until the end. Sydney gave me a good run and finally made her entrance at 5:07pm! Over 3.5 hours of hard continuous pushing - sometimes with no breaks between contractions, with less than 3 hours of sleep - was rough. But worth it. Totally worth it. Even though she left me a little beat up - which I will spare the details of.
She arrived with a head of beautiful hair with random curls and big blue eyes. Ryan says she has my eyes, nose and chin. She is very alert and loves staring. She hates having her hands restrained in a swaddle and always seems to have one hand by her face. I was told she came out with a hand near her face as well! She has a great grip and grabs onto anything.
I think that about says it all. We are so blessed and SO in love with her. Its something you cant put into words.
Sydney was 6lbs 12 oz. 20.50 inches long
Born 04/15/11
and her first monthly photo:
with love,
Kristen, Ryan, Sydney & Brigsby
She is just precious. I love her blonde little hair, how cute is it!! I hope you guys are all becoming well adjusted to life at home. Congratulations again!
ReplyDelete