Lyla Brooke part II

A few people have asked for more details on the whole delivery process so feel free to skip if you don't care or don't want to know! :)

Last Friday, December 4th, I had my weekly doctor's appointment. I wasn't expecting much but he told me I was dialated to a 2 1/2 or 3, 90% effaced, and the head had dropped. He stripped my membrane and told me that 50% of the time that would bring on labor within 24-48 hours. Most huge pregnant women would have been celebrating at that point, but for me the anxiety attacks began! I thought I had one more week before all of the changes would take place and I'm one who likes to plan things out and mentally prepare. I have a hard time with any kind of change so the thought of leaving the pregnant lifestyle that I was used to was scary. I was worried about labor, worried about all of the plans i had for the next week, and worried about my ability to be a good mother to a newborn!!

Friday night, Paul and I went to The Forgotten Carols with Jeanne and my parents. It was great as usual, but I had a hard time focusing because I has having braxton hicks contractions constantly and they were getting stronger. I went home and stayed up blogging, emailing, & cleaning, which probably wasn't a good idea- sleeping would have been smarter. After about an hour and a half of sleep, I woke up at 2 am with pain in my stomach. I didn't know exactly what it was and kept telling myself these weren't contractions- just random pain that was caused by something else and just happened to come right then!! I figured that if i never admitted to myself it was labor it would just go away for a few days! :)

Paul woke up around 3:45 because i was breathing hard- trying to get through the pain. I made him try to sleep for awhile but then at 5 we started timing them- and sure enough they were less than 5 minutes apart and lasting for a minute. We started packing, getting dressed, I tried to do the last minute things in the nursery- all in between contractions. At 6 we drove to the hospital and called my parents. I was dialated to a 4 so they checked me in. It definitely got more intense and the next few hours weren't fun- but paul, my parents, and Jeanne all helped me through one contraction at a time. The nurses were great- my delivery nurse especially was amazing and sweet!! After 1.5 hours I started throwing up and shaking- so the nurses said that i must be in transition meaning dialated to a 7. That gave me hope, so it was pretty deflating when they checked and said i was only at a 4.5 or 5. And I had to get all the way to 10? Ahhhh!!!! Mini freak out session, but everyone calmed me down. I ended up making it to a 7 before getting an epideral- and despite my hesitation to get one and my desire to see if i could handle labor without, it was the most amazing blessing to suddenly feel only tightening in my belly instead of lots of pain. I'm so grateful for modern medicine and have respect for anyone who can handle that entire process naturally! The atmostphere in the room quickly changed- instead of stress and pain we were talk and laughing and reading the ensign!! I even closed my eyes and tried to nap a bit! The dr was supposed to come right down to break my waters, but it took him 2 hours to get there!! When he finally did he said I was fully dialated and it was time to start pushing. Lyla was born a few minutes later at 10:49. It was such an amazing experience and I'm glad it all went so well!! It definitely made me have so much respect for my mom's willingness to go through so much to bring me into the world. I also am starting to understand the love that she has for each of us and how she really would do anything for us. She's such an amazing example to me of a righteous mother who raises her children the way the Lord would want her to.

Here are some pictures of that first big day of Lyla's life. I love just holding her and looking at her beautiful little face.

Paul was so supportive and such an amazing help thru the whole process. The nurse kept commenting about how good he was in that situation and it definitely helped me find the energy to keep going when I thought I just couldn't do it anymore.

Here are pictures of my cute, supportive family who all came to visit within 2 hours of Lyla's birth. I really appreciate each one of them so much!

Jeanne is such an amazing sister and friend to me and I was so glad that she was still in town when Lyla decided to join us. I'm constantly asking her baby questions and would be lost without her advice and tips.

This was taken the morning we left the hospital. It was nice to stay thru Monday so that we had two nights there with constant help. I soon realized after going home for our first night that my choice would be to stay in the hospital for the first two weeks instead of just the first two days!! Of course Lyla decided that it would be fun to stay up all night to celebrate coming home. :)

Can I just point out the fact that in this picture I'm actually able to hold Lyla in a normal position? Because my huge belly is mostly gone? Yay! A few days ago I showed Paul my new trick- bending down to touch my toes!! It's been months since I could do that...

Cute grandpa came to say hi in between his surgeries since he was operating at the same hospital!
Paul had class when I was discharged so my mom helped me get home.

Lyla already loves being held by Grandma!

Being a mom is very challenging and there is so much to learn and to remember, but I love it and I'm excited for all that is ahead for us! I realize that this picture isn't at all flattering of me, but I just had to put in this perfect moment that Paul captured of both of us sleeping in the same position. The question is- who is more tired these days, the new mom or the new baby...?