Meet Lorelei Grace, the littlest Loop! Lorelei made her appearance on October 25 at 10:30am on the nose. Not only that, but her real life BFF showed up the same day!
You may know Amie over at Kitty Cats and Airplanes and I are real life friends who met in Blogland. Shockingly, she and I got pregnant with only weeks of each other. We were due three weeks apart, but since Lorelei wanted to stay in my belly FOREVER and Lily couldn't wait to have her first playdate they ended up being born on the same day only hours apart. You can read Lily's birth story here.
Lorelei's story is a long one. Mainly because it lasted three weeks! My due date was always bopping around according to my doctors. I stand by my claim she was due October 9. They say it was the 17th. I started having regular contractions on the 7th and ended up going to the hospital only to be sadly sent home.
I continued to have regular and sometimes painful contractions all the way up until Lorelei was born. It was so not like in all the movies. I really wanted to be that girl whose water broke and rushed to the hospital, but as you know babies have their own ideas.
When I went to my dr on the 17th I begged for an induction. I was insanely swollen. My flip flops didn't even fit. My dr was extremely unsympathetic and said he would not induce until I was 10 days past their version of my due date. I returned to my nasty dr on October 24 for my non-stress test where they informed me I was in actual labor and my fluid levels were low. It felt exactly the same to me so I would have never known had they not told me. They sent us immediately to the hospital.
At this point you would think I would be pumped, but I was in a panic because I hadn't eaten yet that day and was starving! It was 3pm and we were planning on heading to On the Border after my appointment. I convinced the hubs to stop at Chik-fil-A and let me order some fries. I think I was mostly in a panic and trying to do anything to seem like normal.
Once we got to the hospital Amie came up to keep me company so John could go pick up the bags. We were doing our laps around the labor and delivery unit and Amie started having contractions too! I think it's like how women's cycles sync up, so did our labor!
I was in labor for 18 hours and progressing nicely. Then the good dr went home around 8am and the craptastic one showed up for his shift. I was 8cm and fully effaced when he showed up. He asked me if I had had any pitocin to which I replied no. He then said, "Well that's funny since you were begging me for it a few days ago." Let me give you a tip. Don't mess with the 10 month pregnant lady who has been in labor for almost 3 weeks. She will hurt you. Luckily for him there was so much stuff shoved up my lady parts I was unable to get out of bed to punch him in his smug face.
After this he came back in an hour and my cervix had started swelling and had gone from 8cm down to 7cm. Dr. Douche proudly announced that I needed a c-section. Now let me give you a little background on why this was extra devastating. Like most women I did not want a c-section. We didn't have any family or friends to help us at home and I NEEDED to be able to get around. When I was begging Dr. Douche for my induction I explained that I wanted the best possible scenario for avoiding a c-section and going weeks past my due date was going to make it more probable. He then replied that given my body type he found it unlikely that I would be able to deliver vaginally. Oh so encouraging and positive!
As soon as my impending c-section was announced, I pretty much lost it. You know the kind of crying where you can't breathe and your nose instantly clogs itself. Luckily Amie's husband David was in the room next door with her and he was able to come over and help my husband give me a blessing.
So I headed over to the OR more than a little heartbroken. I'm so grateful for all of our wonderful nurses who were there to help me. I had a nurse named Aimee when I first checked in and she wanted to come and stay with me for my surgery even though she was assigned to me anymore. She was awesome and very reassuring. People named Amy/Aimee/Amie must just be special!
I will say the c-section was awful. I knew it would suck but I was unprepared for how violent it felt. I mean it's pretty traumatizing to be naked and numb from the neck down while they move you all around and yank on you. Then when they strap your arms down like you're on the cross you start to panic a little. To make matters worse when they started to cut into me I could still feel it! Luckily it was all over in a few minutes and we had Lorelei to show for it!
She was such an awesome baby and latched right away in the recovery room. She must have known her momma needed something to break her way that day. The days in the hospital were kind of a blur. My dad showed up on Friday to meet his first grandbaby and our awesome photographer came to the hospital so we'd be able to share those first few days with our family back home.
It was so nice that Amie delivered at the same time because she and her husband have lots of family here so we got to share some of their visitors.
Lorelei has been an amazing baby and we are so blessed. She honestly rarely cries and is so happy. I'm so grateful for all of her patience with me as a mom as I try and figure her out.
