Lucy's Birth Story

Oh my sweet Lucy.

I'm sorry this has taken me nearly seven months to record.  I hope you'll forgive me.


Lucy, my pregnancy with you was pretty difficult.  In the beginning I was weak and nearly everything made me sick.  I craved baked potatoes with butter and seasoned salt.  I ate one every day.

Soda make me sick.  Artificial sweeteners tasted horrible. I was extremely addicted to Coca Cola, and the withdrawals were difficult to get through.

12 weeks pregnant

My grandmother passed away when I was about 3 months pregnant.  I flew to Utah with Lily to spend time with my family.  It made me realize that I didn't want to be far away from them anymore.  We got to celebrate Lily's 4th birthday surrounded by my closest family and friends. I didn't want Lily, or you, to ever experience another birthday alone.

Daddy agreed.

So we started making plans to move back to Utah.

After the first few months, of pregnancy, all the sickness went away, and I felt fine again.  However, my hips were almost constantly in pain, and my ankles started swelling at 20 weeks.  Walking was difficult, but I still managed to take Lily to the pool every day, or every other day.  The pool is where I felt the best.

Lily, and I flew to Utah at the end of May 2016. We lived with Grandma and Grandpa for six weeks without Daddy. We called him every day.  You grew in larger and larger in my belly.  Daddy stayed behind to finish packing up our stuff so we could move back to Utah.

I became addicted to Sodalicious.

My hip pain intensified, making walking even more difficult.  Often the pain would cause me to double over and cry.

33 weeks pregnant

I gained nearly 70 lbs.

My blood pressure started to rise.

I started seeing stars.

I started getting light headed.

I told my doctor, and they sent me to the hospital to be monitored.  Where of course everything checked out and was "normal."

37 weeks pregnant

My next appointment was a few days later, and they told me I could be induced if I would like to be. Induced means that they give you medicine to start labor, and get the baby to come sooner than it would naturally.

They offered me the same thing with Lily, but I declined. While Lily came on her due date, it was a very difficult and extremely long labor.  I was worried the same would happen with you.

But also the pain in my hips/pelvis was so unbearable.

So I said I was done being pregnant. I was ready for you to be here. I couldn't wait to meet you!

I went home and packed a bag. Then we went to Cafe Rio where I ate a pork salad. I finished the entire thing.

When you're having a baby in the hospital, they don't allow you to eat or drink anything. You go hours and hours without food, and it makes it very difficult to get a baby here.  So I chowed down, hoping that I would have energy when the time came to push you out!

We went to the hospital, got all checked in, and hooked up to the machines and pitocin and started the waiting game.

We played Hand and Foot with Grandma.

About four hours in, I couldn't stand the pain of contractions anymore, so I asked for the epidural.

Contractions with pitocin are far more intense and painful than natural contractions.

With Lily, the epidural only worked on one side.  The same happened with you.  I pressed the button for more medication almost as often as I could.

I had very good conversations with my nurse, Taylor. She was amazing. She talked to me almost all night long.  She was concerned I wasn't sleeping, but I told her it was because I work nights! I'm not used to sleeping at night.

They gave me this giant ball to put between my knees.  I would also roll over and change the side I was laying on every hour.  This was hopefully going to help you not be posterior, like your big sister was.  It wasn't the most comfortable thing to have between my legs, but I was willing to do whatever would help.

I loved my midwife, Amanda. She was so nice, and was such a good listener. She made me feel special, and she listened to all my requests and did her best to make them happen.

Around 4:00am I texted Grandma that it felt like you were coming out, so Grandma came back so she could be there for us.

At 4:30 my midwife, Amanda, and all the nurses and helpers came in to prepare for you to get here.

I pushed twice.

Then there you were.  Perfect. Beautiful.

You did not cry. You grunted a little. They were worried your lungs weren't working.  They let me hold you and talk to you while they observed.  After a while, they let Daddy cut the umbilical cord, then they took you over to be weighed and whatever else it is they do. :)

You were born September 7th, 2016 at 4:46am. 7lbs, 10oz, 20 inches long.  You were a wonderful snuggler. And you loved to sleep. And eat.

Mommy had a second degree tear.  Apparently I started tearing before I was even pushing. But, Mommy would have never known if they didn't tell me. Healing went very well.

You had jaundice, and had to go to the hospital every day for the first week of your life to get checked out.

When you were a month old, we got thrush.

We had a rough start, but we made it through.

I love you Lucy!


Lily: 24 hours of labor, 19 hours natural. 5 hours with an epidural. 2 hours of pushing. Forceps. 3rd degree tears.
Lucy: 12 hours of labor, 4 hours natural. 8 hours with an epidural. 5 minutes of pushing. 2nd degree tears.