Crazy Long Labor story

It all started 2 weeks ago from today, at midnight. I started having contractions, we had just gone to bed and I wasn't sure what I was feeling was contractions. At about 12:30 I was very sure they were contractions they were happening every 5 minutes or so. I woke Levi up and we were timing them and we did this for hours, they weren't too painful. I was skeptical about them because I didn't want to get my hopes up about having the baby and end up not having her. By about 2 am Levi called Nancy and told her what was going on and my contractions were 3 minutes apart and were lasting 20-30 seconds. She told us we could come in whenever we wanted, she told me to relax in the tub and see if it slowed them down, it didn't. Before we left for Nancy's around 5:30 am I decided to give Levi his gift for his birthday, I hadn't wrapped it yet so I hid it behind my huge body and he closed his eyes and I handed it to him. Kinda funny how that all went down. We got to Nancy's and she checked me and I was only dilated to 1.5. I was bummed and realized I have a long way to go so we went back home and I laid down for a nap, we were so tired from getting no sleep. I woke up around 9 and decided to get up and start moving and my contractions came back more regular. I soon became tired and laid down again and the contractions slowed down. I felt bad that we weren't able to go to lunch like we had planned for his birthday so I made waffles with strawberries and whip cream for lunch since we missed breakfast. I didn't mind making them, it kept me busy and moving which helped me with the contractions, it's just funny that I did that now that I look back at it.

After we ate Levi forced me to walk around, which I didn't like but it helped speed up the process. We were walking around the yard, I felt pretty dumb, I'd get hot so we'd go inside, then I'd get cold so we'd walk some more outside. By about 3pm my contractions were getting very painful and I didn't want to be at the house anymore, I was getting nervous and wanted to know how far I was. We stayed home for about another hour and then left for Nancys again. When we got there I had dilated to 3 and she said I could go home or stay, I refused to go back home. We walked around for a while and at this point I was plotting what I could possibly say or do to get some drugs in my body, I knew that wasn't possible but I was seriously thinking I would never do this again, ha ha I saw that coming. I was in a lot of pain and doubting if I could get through it and that was hard I knew I could but it was a weak moment in there for a little bit, I was scared. Levi then asked Nancy what we could do to speed up the process. She said she could put me on an IV or break my water, or do both. I was scared to have her break my water, in my mind I had imagined that after she broke my water then the contractions would be crazy intense very suddenly. Thank goodness that wasn't the case. Nancy put me on an IV and I waited 30 minutes before she broke my water. The IV definitely helped me with strength, I hadn't kept down any of the food I had eaten that day. Breaking my water, that was a weird feeling, I wondered what it would feel like when/if it happened on it's own. After about 10 minutes I went into the tub and tried to relax, my contractions were getting harder to get through and the tub did help. I put on the jets because I thought that would feel good but man did that mess with me, I couldn't stand the noise I couldn't concentrate, so I shut them off. I was in the tub for about 45 minutes and my contractions were so so strong and I was having a hard time breathing right and my hands were cramping. This was the hardest part of labor for me I felt like my body was about to go out of control, my contractions were so close, it felt like they weren't ending. It was hard too because Levi would try to help but there was nothing he could do to help, I just wanted him to be there, I really needed it quiet. I knew I was getting very close to having the baby, I could feel a lot of pressure so Nancy and Levi helped me out of the tub which was not easy to do, I couldn't really move or help them.

Nancy said I was now dilated to 8 cm and she was going to help speed it up, she told me to start pushing with the contractions. This part all happened very fast to me, even though I pushed for 45 minutes to me it seemed like 10 minutes. The contractions felt weird at this point, felt much lower and not as painful, I was feeling a lot better at this point I started cracking jokes in between contractions, I don't remember what I said, I was just happy I was going to have my baby soon. I looked over at my mom and she looked like she was teary eyed watching me having a hard time pushing, I asked her if it was hard for her to watch me go through this and she said yes. Nancy asked Levi if he wanted to catch the baby and he said that's ok and she said o no come on I'll help you, it's easy. It was funny she kinda made him do it, he's happy he did in the end. I then was seriously at the point of pushing and I would push but it wouldn't be enough and I'd have to start over and that was frustrating. Levi and Nancy and my mom were cheering me on and Levi's mom was just outside the door. Denise was supposed to be handing out graduation diplomas for the high school and Levi texted her and told her I was starting to push and so she ditched out on that. I was pushing through the last few contractions and I finally decided that I was just going to keep pushing and I wouldn't take another breath until I passed out or something because I was sick of getting "so close." The 3 of them cheered me on and it helped so much, it was hard, but she came at 7:38 pm and they handed her to me and it really was love at first sight, she cried for about 3 seconds and stopped. She was so calm, quiet and very alert. It was the most amazing experience I've ever had. It was so hard, so worth it, I will be doing it again the same exact way. I love the fact that I can remember everything so clearly. Thinking about it makes me cry it was such a spiritual tender moment that I'll never forget.

Lydia is asleep in my lap right now and I can't even explain the love Levi and I have for her and we've had this love the moment she came. It feels like we've had her longer than 2 weeks from today. She is such a beautiful baby, we are so blessed that she is healthy, she is so sweet, and she sleeps so well. I get a good amount of sleep for having a newborn. She is finally starting to outgrow the preemie clothes. She has these cute long fingers and toes, Levi's cheeks and her nose I think is a mix of ours, if you look at our baby pictures it's not like either exactly. She has my eyes and my lips, unfortunately, I was hoping she'd get Levi's lips. She has adorable fuzzy blonde hair. We adore her she is such a good baby. I love watching her wake up she is so funny, she stretches her arms , pouts her lips, squirms, raises her eyebrows while trying so hard to open her eyelids but she just cant do it. It's so cute when she giggles in her sleep, it's precious. Our family feels so much more complete (even though there are more babies to come, eventually) having her with us, I couldn't imagine suddenly not having her anymore.