two weeks

6 days old

She came!

Lucy Mae Jensen was born on Wednesday, June 5th at 10:40 pm. She was 7 lbs 3 oz and 19.5 inches long. Quick birth story: This was the most difficult of my four pregnancies. Now it was not near as bad as some women have it, but it was hard for me. Morning sickness was bad, swelling was worse, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome that made my hands and arms numb and tingly all the time, I had to be on bed rest from 28-34 weeks for pre-term labor symptoms, baby was breech, oh the list went on and on for this little one. However, it all came out fine in the end. At 36.5 weeks, we found out that baby had turned head down. Yay!!! Many thanks to my awesome chiropractor for that! At 37 weeks, I labored for 6 hours in the middle of the night. I started to get ready to go to the hospital, then contractions tapered off. Oh I was so sad because I was so done!! But, baby just needed a few more days I guess. Wednesday afternoon about 3:50 I started having contractions 5 min apart. Within twenty minutes they were 3-4 min apart. Jeremy got home from work, my friend came to get the kids, and we headed for the hospital. By this time I had been contracting for about two hours. They hooked me up to a monitor to see if I was really in labor. I think they didn't believe me since I walked myself up to labor and delivery and was not screaming in pain. But I assured them that this was my fourth and I knew what labor felt like. They checked me and I was at 4 cm and almost fully effaced. Over the next hour, and a half, contractions got harder and became 2 min apart. They finally said they would admit me! Hooray! So, I walked myself up stairs with the nurse (I had no interest in a wheel chair). We got up stairs and into a room. By this time it was about 8 pm or so. I laid on the bed while they got their IVs and other stuff going. Not my favorite part. I always have to get poked about 10 times before they find a good spot. But, I didn't complain mostly because contractions had backed off a little and were 5-7 min apart now, but still pretty hard. I just breathed through them. About 9 pm, the doctor came in to check me and said I was at a 6 and wanted to break my water to speed things up, but not until I got an epidural. I figured I'd get one since I got one with the other kids even though I didn't feel like the pain was unbearable at this point. So the epidural guy came in and did his thing. It worked for about 20 min and I was pretty comfortable. Then I noticed that I was starting to feel pain again on my right side. I knew what was happening because my epidural with Nora only worked on one side. But, because I still felt like I could handle the contractions and I had done it with Nora, I didn't ask the nurses to try and fix it. However, another twenty minutes and I realized the epidural was no longer working on either side. I realized this when I started to feel tons of pressure and the contractions had picked back up with a fury. I was still able to breathe through it all, though, so I just thought, "I'm gonna do this natural. I've always wanted to and this is my last chance. Here we go." The nurse came in about this time to check me and told me I was just about complete and ready to go. She went to inform the doctor. While she was out, I felt baby drop in place and told Jeremy to go tell the nurse this baby was coming soon. The nurse came back in and confirmed that the baby's head was ready to go. She turned to go get the doctor quick and then I felt baby just come all on her own and I said, "No! She's coming right now!" The nurse turned back around and baby's head was born. She yelled to another nurse to call OB STAT! down the hall for the doctor. Then she said I could push if I felt like it, so I sat up to push and baby just slid the rest of the way out. Doctor didn't make it! She was just born right there on the bed with the nurse watching. I couldn't believe how quick and easy it was! I thought that there would be so much more pain without the epidural meds working. But there she was--born at 37 weeks 6 days and crying a really good cry! Doctor came in a minute or two later and helped deliver the placenta, then ran back to deliver the other girl he was with before. Amazing experience for me and Jeremy. Lucy breastfed right away like a little champ. She has been a great joy to us the last few days. I still have TONS of swelling in my feet and legs, and numbness in my hands and arms, but we're hoping that it will all be gone in a few weeks. Somehow the pain of walking on swollen feet and using my hands is not so bad now that I have a sweet little prize to help me get through it. We are very happy to have finished our family off with this precious girl.