We welcomed Lillian Belle Lankster into this world at 11:51 a.m. on Thursday, December 3, 2009. She weighed a whopping 5 lbs. and 14 oz. at birth and was 19 inches long. It was quite a ride, particularly since my due date was not for another 2 weeks or December 17th. For those of you who don't know the story (and are interested) and of course, for posterity's sake, I will quickly fill you in. On Tuesday, December 1st, and Jeremy's birthday, I had a particularly long day of painful Braxton-Hicks contractions and then a couple of hours that night of actual contractions, albeit irregular. I had a regular appointment scheduled with Dr. Simms on Wednesday, December 2nd, at lunchtime, but I was feeling better, so I scarfed down some peanut butter crackers since I had only had a bowl of cereal and headed to the appointment. When I reported to Dr. Simms what happened the day before, she asked about the baby's movement. I told her I thought it had decreased some, although I still had 10 kicks in 10 hours as required. She decided to put me on the fetal heart monitor, which I had done the previous week before with no problems. Unfortunately, she noticed a drop in the baby's heart rate during a contraction (that I did not feel). Dr. Simms decided to check me into the hospital for the night for prolonged fetal heart monitoring and an ultrasound, with the possibility of being induced in the morning. Dr. Simms said that even if the heart rate turned out to be fine, she could still induce me in the morning if I wanted, but I was so freaked out that I wasn't ready to make that decision.
Jeremy and I headed to the hospital, where I sat hooked up to the fetal heart monitor for most of the day. They didn't let me eat or drink anything, so I was absolutely starving and actually started having uncomfortable contractions every 5 minutes due to dehydration. I was wheeled off to an ultrasound that showed everything was normal other than the baby was small. A previous ultrasound, done a week earlier, estimated her weight at 5 lbs. and 11 oz. This ultrasound estimated her weight almost the same. By 7:00 that night I had not heard from my doctor and was worried about what was happening. A mix-up ensued in which the nurses informed me that they could not locate my doctor (I later discover that they apparently didn't try very hard) but they located Dr. Owen, who is in practice with Dr. Simms and helped deliver Olivia. Dr. Owen took a look at the stats and informed us that he was going to induce me at 5:30 the next morning because the baby was small and apparently not growing.
So Jeremy and I settled in for the night and I did not sleep at all. They moved me into a labor and delivery room at 4:30, induced me at 5:30, I was dilated 3-4 cm at 8:30 and Dr. Simms arrived to break my water. After my water was broken, I followed the doc's advice this time and went ahead and got my epidural. Boy, what a difference. I can safely say that my epidural did NOT work with Olivia, as this was a completely different experience. I felt nothing for the next several hours, despite contractions and dilating. In fact, I slept for a good hour before I woke at around 11ish with the pressure that ultimately led to 4 rounds of pushing before Miss Lillian entered the world at 11:51 a.m. It was a wonderful experience and we will always treasure it! I hope you enjoy the photos of our little Lilly Belle!
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