The Day Adaline Was Born
Little did we know we would be having two wonderful girls so close to each other! But so far we have loved every minute whether hard of easy with both of them. Here is the story of the day our family became 4.
I awoke about 2:30 am on Sunday morning with the feeling of contractions. I had been having contractions for about a week or so leading up to this but these felt a little stronger. I pulled out my phone and started timing them. At that time they were about 6 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds or so. A little after that Liliah woke up and I went into her room to help her back to sleep. She hadn't slept well that night (I think she knew what was up).
As I was sitting there patting her back for 30 minutes or so I stared tearing up. Thinking "can I do this??" "can I truly be responsible for 2 children?" I heard God say "yes" and that He would be with me. Liliah was finally asleep and I went back to timing contractions.
They were now about 5 minutes apart and lasting closer to a minute. I looked up when I should go to the hospital and at this point Liliah woke up again. Mark went in to help her before I could let him in on what was happening. Of course the website said I should be venturing into the hospital by now. And since Adaline had decided to sit in protest and be a breech baby, my doctor had said she didn't want me to get too far into labor just incase so that we would not be in a crazy labor/deliver/c-section crisis.
So I got up called Labor and Delivery and told them what was going on. They said to come on in. Actually in her words "don't leave you little one by herself but you should get on in." Well duh! So I called our wonderful friend Lindsey and she started her trek over to watch Liliah for us. Mark finally came out of pytting her back to sleep about 40 minutes later and I told him he needed to get dressed.
He sleepily said "ok" and went about getting ready. By this time I was ready to go and pacing, still contracting about every 5 minutes. The contractions weren't painful, just enough pressure to make you stop and catch your breath. I remember this was what early labor was like with Liliah.
Lindsey arrived and we headed out to the hospital. They brought us back and hooked me up to the monitor. They said this was the 4th day in a row that a breech baby c-section had come in right before the nurses shift change. One nurse had made a comment about it happing again and 5 minutes later is when I called. :) So she graciously said she would be our nurse since she "called it"
The funny part was they were amazed at how right no I was about my contractions. She said "how did you time your contractions so well?" I said "there's an app for that!" They checked me and sure enough I was dilating. That's when the process of the c-section started. Granted I had known Adadline was breech for a while and we had a scheduled c-section for a week out, but I still had no idea what I c-section entailed. I had no idea how long it would take or where we would go or when I would see her. I left that all in the capable hands of the Doctors and nurses.
The next hour was a whirl wind of meeting with doctors and nurses and anesthesiologist. Mark was given some scrubs to get into and then they wheeled me away. He could not be in there for the first part of it. While they gave me my spinal block and prepped me. I don't believe I have ever been in an operating room since the day I was born so it was quite the experience to see all the lights and machines and all. The spinal was hard to relax for. It took them a few tries and there was a lot of pressure on my back. But then my legs started to tingle and it was the weirdest feeling. I wanted to move my legs but couldn't. I could feel pulling and pressure but nothing else.
At this point they let Mark come in and things started going. Mark sat beside me and reassured me that all was well. I just kinda laid there and stared at the lights. Until I heard "alright good clear water" Then I knew she was coming. Mark stood up and watched them get her out. Play by play "a foot, a leg, another foot and leg, bottom, yes it definitely is another girl, belly and head!" They said she was so tucked in there, she was taking up every available space and that's probably why should couldn't turn around. I watched as they cleaned her up. Mark went over and stayed close to her.
I couldn't believe there we were parents again! She was so beautiful. 8lbs 5oz, 21 inches long and big blue eyes. They took us back to recovery after they were all done putting me back together. And we stayed there for 2 hours. I fought back wanting to sleep so badly because I wanted to hold Adaline. I still couldn't feel my legs and every time they asked me to move them it was so weird not to be able to. But 2 hours later I was at least moving my feet and feeling the tingly's in the rest of my legs. So they moved me on to the mother and baby unit.
From there it was a blur of spending time with Adaline and making sure Liliah was taken care of. After we left she slept wonderfully, and when she woke up she had a wonderful time with Lindsey. Playing and exploring. On Tuesday we brought Adaline home and we've hit the ground running ever since. Liliah absolutely loves her. She still has her moments of wanting mommy to herself and you can tell she's trying to place this baby and why she's here. But she loves to just go see her and want to continually touch her. It's really a wonderful sight to see.
We pray for Adaline that she knows the Lord early. That she feels loved in our family and that she continues to bring us as much joy as we have experienced so far with Liliah. We love our little family!!
I awoke about 2:30 am on Sunday morning with the feeling of contractions. I had been having contractions for about a week or so leading up to this but these felt a little stronger. I pulled out my phone and started timing them. At that time they were about 6 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds or so. A little after that Liliah woke up and I went into her room to help her back to sleep. She hadn't slept well that night (I think she knew what was up).
As I was sitting there patting her back for 30 minutes or so I stared tearing up. Thinking "can I do this??" "can I truly be responsible for 2 children?" I heard God say "yes" and that He would be with me. Liliah was finally asleep and I went back to timing contractions.
They were now about 5 minutes apart and lasting closer to a minute. I looked up when I should go to the hospital and at this point Liliah woke up again. Mark went in to help her before I could let him in on what was happening. Of course the website said I should be venturing into the hospital by now. And since Adaline had decided to sit in protest and be a breech baby, my doctor had said she didn't want me to get too far into labor just incase so that we would not be in a crazy labor/deliver/c-section crisis.
So I got up called Labor and Delivery and told them what was going on. They said to come on in. Actually in her words "don't leave you little one by herself but you should get on in." Well duh! So I called our wonderful friend Lindsey and she started her trek over to watch Liliah for us. Mark finally came out of pytting her back to sleep about 40 minutes later and I told him he needed to get dressed.
He sleepily said "ok" and went about getting ready. By this time I was ready to go and pacing, still contracting about every 5 minutes. The contractions weren't painful, just enough pressure to make you stop and catch your breath. I remember this was what early labor was like with Liliah.
Lindsey arrived and we headed out to the hospital. They brought us back and hooked me up to the monitor. They said this was the 4th day in a row that a breech baby c-section had come in right before the nurses shift change. One nurse had made a comment about it happing again and 5 minutes later is when I called. :) So she graciously said she would be our nurse since she "called it"
The funny part was they were amazed at how right no I was about my contractions. She said "how did you time your contractions so well?" I said "there's an app for that!" They checked me and sure enough I was dilating. That's when the process of the c-section started. Granted I had known Adadline was breech for a while and we had a scheduled c-section for a week out, but I still had no idea what I c-section entailed. I had no idea how long it would take or where we would go or when I would see her. I left that all in the capable hands of the Doctors and nurses.
The next hour was a whirl wind of meeting with doctors and nurses and anesthesiologist. Mark was given some scrubs to get into and then they wheeled me away. He could not be in there for the first part of it. While they gave me my spinal block and prepped me. I don't believe I have ever been in an operating room since the day I was born so it was quite the experience to see all the lights and machines and all. The spinal was hard to relax for. It took them a few tries and there was a lot of pressure on my back. But then my legs started to tingle and it was the weirdest feeling. I wanted to move my legs but couldn't. I could feel pulling and pressure but nothing else.
At this point they let Mark come in and things started going. Mark sat beside me and reassured me that all was well. I just kinda laid there and stared at the lights. Until I heard "alright good clear water" Then I knew she was coming. Mark stood up and watched them get her out. Play by play "a foot, a leg, another foot and leg, bottom, yes it definitely is another girl, belly and head!" They said she was so tucked in there, she was taking up every available space and that's probably why should couldn't turn around. I watched as they cleaned her up. Mark went over and stayed close to her.
I couldn't believe there we were parents again! She was so beautiful. 8lbs 5oz, 21 inches long and big blue eyes. They took us back to recovery after they were all done putting me back together. And we stayed there for 2 hours. I fought back wanting to sleep so badly because I wanted to hold Adaline. I still couldn't feel my legs and every time they asked me to move them it was so weird not to be able to. But 2 hours later I was at least moving my feet and feeling the tingly's in the rest of my legs. So they moved me on to the mother and baby unit.
From there it was a blur of spending time with Adaline and making sure Liliah was taken care of. After we left she slept wonderfully, and when she woke up she had a wonderful time with Lindsey. Playing and exploring. On Tuesday we brought Adaline home and we've hit the ground running ever since. Liliah absolutely loves her. She still has her moments of wanting mommy to herself and you can tell she's trying to place this baby and why she's here. But she loves to just go see her and want to continually touch her. It's really a wonderful sight to see.
We pray for Adaline that she knows the Lord early. That she feels loved in our family and that she continues to bring us as much joy as we have experienced so far with Liliah. We love our little family!!
