Lillian’s Birth Story: Part 4 (the final installment)

(Disclaimer: This is a birth story and as such, it will contain details of a personal nature. If you’re offended by TMI or get queasy at the mention on bodily fluids or functions you may want to bypass today’s post :))

Catch up by reading Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. You can also visit the Our Birth Stories page to navigate through all 5 of our labors and deliveries.

[tweetherder]Where is the Doctor? and Sudden Relief in the Form of a Beautiful Baby[/tweetherder]

Thankfully, that first lying-in-bed-super-strong contraction ended with the feeling of the tiniest urge to push.

I told Tim and Dawn I would need to push soon and asked Tim to rub my legs (they still hurt even when I wasn’t having a contraction). Dawn also told Tim that he might want to remove my shorts (that’s sure to be helpful ;)).

As soon as the next contraction hit, I knew I would need to push. I told Dawn the baby was ready. She called into the hallway for the doctor, then glanced at me quickly and said, “oh, that’s just the amniotic sac.” Tim looked and told her it was definitely the baby’s head. Actually, they were both right!

Dawn told me not to push…I have no idea how to do that! For a split second, she even tried to push my legs together, but Lillian was coming and coming quickly. With the next push her head was born. My water had not broken and Lillian’s head was born while still in the amniotic sac. As soon as her head emerged the sac ruptured and I felt a tremendous relief of pressure, especially in my upper thighs.

Tim was towards the foot of the bed, but the doctor had still not returned when Lillian’s shoulders and body emerged. It was now 5:33 PM, only 3 1/2 hours after active labor began.

Thankfully, Tim (and the bed) caught our little girl. Within a few seconds the doctor was in the room and, after checking the cord, told Tim he could lift the baby up to me.

About this time, Belinda, one of our midwives, rushed breathless into the room. Once she saw that Lillian had already been born she went right back into the hallway. (I learned the next day that she had rushed in from yard work, showered, drove to the hospital and ran up 5 flights of stairs to try and make it in time…no wonder she was out of breath!)

Tim carefully placed Lillian on my stomach, kissed me, and admired our newest little girl before slipping into the bathroom to thoroughly wash his (un-gloved) hands.

We chose to delay the clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord, so Lillian hung out like this, wrapped in warmed blankets for a few minutes. During this time I easily delivered the placenta (onto the bed as the doctor had slipped back out to the hallway :)).

After Tim clamped and cut the cord, I was able to snuggle with our little girl.

Lillian began nursing within 15 minutes and caught on right away. Within a few moments she was contentedly swallowing and staring up at me. In fact she nursed so well and got so much milk (I’m still nursing Amelia, so there was no waiting for my milk to come in) that her body temperature dipped and she spent a little time next to my bed under a heat lamp. Thankfully, her temperature came up easily and she was handed back to me to hold.

When we finally got around to getting her weighed, we discovered that she was smack dab in the middle of all of our babies by weight.

I think I was actually the closest in guessing her weight this time, but Tim would probably disagree with that 🙂 I’m just glad she wasn’t any bigger than Amelia!

After a hearty dinner (in which I ate my usual after-delivery cheeseburger) and making phone calls to family, Tim and I simply enjoyed admiring our newest little blessing.

Around 8:30 PM Tim left to go spend the night at home with the four older kids. The adrenaline from labor hadn’t worn off, so I spent several hours happily bonding with Lillian, before finally falling asleep with her nursing by my side.

Lillian ~ Tim’s Mom’s middle name, Tim’s great-grandmother’s first name
Grace ~ a constant reminder of God’s grace to us
July 6th, 2013
5:33 PM
6 pounds 11 ounces
20 1/2 inches

We’d love to hear your birth stories. Feel free to leave links in your comments. Have you had a C-section or a vaginal birth? How long were in active labor? Did you have to push for 3 minutes or 3 hours?