Birth Day

Six months ago tomorrow our baby, Lydia Claire Gall, came into the world.  After nine months (and 5 extra days… but who’s counting!?) of pregnancy, Lydia was born.  I’ve been wanting to write out her birth story for a while, but have never had the time to sit down and actually do it (duh, I have a baby to chase after… and yes, I’m already chasing her a bit as Miss Rolie-Polie has learned to roll away from me!), so here, on the eve of her six-month birthday, the story of Miss Lydia unfolds…

Let me start at the very beginning.  On August 25, 2009, I found out I was pregnant.  I had a feeling that I was, but just didn’t think it was possible.  I remember coming home from school (it was a Tuesday and we were on day four of the school year), closing the truck door VERY quietly, because I didn’t want to have to let Ruby out to interfere with my plan, and went in and took a pregnancy test.  During the three minutes the test took to stop flashing, I kept telling myself “Melissa, you have to be pregnant.  But you can’t be pregnant yet.  But you have to be pregnant.  But it’s just not possible.  But, girl, you HAVE to be!”  Well, when the digital test stopped flashing, it definitely said “PREGNANT”.  Let’s be real, I have a picture to prove it.  A fuzzy picture, but a picture nonetheless.  After I saw that, I went straight to our local Hallmark store and bought the only “We’re having a baby” card they had.  I wrote in it and put it on Tyler’s side of the bed for him to open when he came home from school.  Well, Tyler came home that night and was in one heck of a sassafrass attitude from his day at school.  He came in, changed his clothes, and slapped my card onto the other side of the bed.  When he went to leave the bedroom, I said “Aren’t you going to open the card?!”  He said “I guess so” and opened it.  He read it, looked up at me, and said “Right now?! Are you serious?  SHUTUP!” And then the kicker…”No WONDER you’ve been so crazy lately.”  Nice.  Did he understand the hormones that go alone with pregnancy?!  We decided, though, that we wouldn’t tell anyone (including our parents) until we had been to the doctor for the first time, had seen the baby, heard the heartbeat, and then we’d share.

So, my first appointment was scheduled for Monday, October 12, 2009 (Columbus Day).  We received ultrasound pictures from the doctor, put them in a Halloween card along with pictures of Ruby, and gave them to our parents and my grandma that same day. It was amazing to see that little piece of rice residing in my stomach flashing.  It was the heartbeat flashing and if I thought seeing it was amazing, hearing that little thump-thump-thump was even better! 

Fast forward to May 8, 2010: Due Date.  This day, a Saturday, happened to be not only my due date, but also my graduation day from the Masters program I had just finished.  I ended up getting to go to Marshall, MN to walk across the stage in all my pregnant glory.  I felt it appropriate, though, to warn the people I was sitting by that it was my due date.  I made it through that day, but by that afternoon I was getting antsy.  I had prayed, hoped, and crossed my fingers that I would make it to my graduation.  I had worked SO hard to get there!  That weekend was also Mother’s Day (probably the saddest I’ll ever have, but that’s a story for another day…), and I wanted to be a real-live mom for that special day.  Let’s be real, I had a kid swimming around in me for nine months at this point – I was already someone’s mom.  But say it with me now: “hormones.”  Enough said.  So, my due date came and went, and I still had no baby to prove anything. 

At my final doctor’s appointment on May 10, we decided that if I had not gone into labor on my own by Thursday of that week, I’d be induced.  The hospital in Watertown only induces two people at most per day – one at 7:00 a.m. and one at midnight each day.  If the rooms are full with people who are naturally in labor, inductions are pushed to the next available time.  My doctor was going out of town for a conference on Friday, May 14, so Thursday was our only hope to have the baby before the weekend (and before I was 10 days, yes, count them 10 (!!!) days overdue!). I was scheduled to be the 7:00 a.m. induction for Thursday, May 13 (unless I went into labor on my own…which, let’s be real, I was definitely still rooting for!). 

By Wednesday, we still had no baby and no sign of baby, as I never was dilated. I did have a few things left to do at home, like boiling bottles and pacifiers.  I decided Wednesday night that I probably should get that done, so I got the pot of water ready and boiled my little heart out.  Literally five minutes after I finished boiling, my cell phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize, so I didn’t answer it (okay, and to be honest, I couldn’t waddle my way to find my phone as it was ringing).  When I did get to it, I listened to the voice mail --- it was my OB/GYN asking me to call her as soon as I could.  I called her right away and she said that she had just delivered her last baby for the night, and unless someone came in before about 10:00, I could come in and be moved up to the midnight induction!!

We left Milbank to drive to Watertown at 11:00.  It was SO foggy out, but literally the second we pulled out of the garage, Bennie and the Jets by Elton John started playing (my single-most favorite song in the whole wide world!).  I knew everything would be good! We ended up driving about 40 the whole way to Watertown, dropped Ruby off at Tyler’s parent’s house, and arrived at the hospital about 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 13, 2010.  After being admitted, doing some paperwork, getting weighed, and changing into a hospital gown, I was hooked up to the fetal monitors.  At about 1:15 a.m., I was given the first of two doses of Cydatec (I’m not sure of the spelling), which started my labor.  I still was not dilated at all.

I labored through the night, while sleeping (for the most part), until I got up at 6:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom.  While in the bathroom, my water broke.  That was the strangest feeling!  As I was in the bathroom, the nurse had come back in to administer the second dose of Cydatec.  The contractions increased steadily after my water broke, and because my body had taken off and just done its thing, I didn’t need the second dose of Cydatec.

By 10:30, I asked for a dose of Nubane to help ease the pain and allow me to rest between contractions.  It was a wonderful reliever, and when it started wearing off at about 11:30, I was ready to begin pushing. Now, pushing was definitely the worst pain and more than likely the most work I’ve ever done, but after about 40 minutes of pushing, Lydia entered the world at 12:09 p.m. 

Lydia’s birth was the best moment of Tyler’s and my life.  It was a culmination of almost 8 years of knowing and loving each other, nearly 4 years of marriage, 9 months and 13 days of waiting/worrying/anticipating, and 10 hours, 54 minutes of labor (not that I was counting!). It’s hard to believe 6 months have already passed since that day.  Lydia has grown and changed so much already and little newborn isn’t that anymore.  We are so excited to continue to watch her grow.  She is such a blessing!