the lugbill family: introducing...

Ivy Sue Lugbill, the newest addition to our family!

Funny story...I had scheduled my "happy due date" post for Saturday with full confidence that the due date would be uneventful. However, I was very wrong. The full story is below. If you don't want details, just skip to the end for the happy news. :)

I was up LATE on Friday night with strong, regular contractions, but had been up the night before as well, and knew they would probably go away when I got exhausted enough to fall asleep. I was sitting on the couch reading at about 3:40am and felt a little "gush." I wasn't too excited, because this happened to me when we were in Florida and they basically told me I must have peed my pants, since it didn't test as being amniotic fluid. (Sorry if this is too much info.) Anyway, I finally went to bed and, sure enough, the contractions stopped. However, I woke up with more fluid, so I knew we probably should go to the hospital and get it checked out. Our good friends from church, Phillip and Katherine, were ready to come over and stay with Silas, so we called them up and took our time getting ready for the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 11:30, and they put me in triage. They swabbed my fluid and said it was negative (not amniotic fluid) so I texted my mom and Katherine telling them it was a false alarm. But then they said they would do another, new test called "Amniosure" just in case. And it was positive! I was beyond shocked...why wouldn't it show up on the swab? I have no idea. I must have a weird chemical makeup compared to most people. (Side note- I am 100% sure now that it was amniotic fluid the first time as well, and they just didn't have the right test to prove it. I am really thankful they didn't; otherwise, we would have had Ivy in Florida via C-section and the story would be much different...)

So I was admitted! I was going to try for a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). They started me on pitocin around 3:00pm. The contractions started coming hard and fast within half an hour, much more quickly than they had with Silas. From 3:30 to 7:00, I went from 1cm to 2cm. Boo. They asked me at that point if I wanted my epidural, and I declined, hoping that I could make it a little further. But of course, right after that the contractions got super INTENSE and right on top of each other. I thought I was going to pass out and was so torn, wanting the epidural but not wanting to risk slowing things down. The doctor and nurse both assured me that it wouldn't stop labor, since I was on pitocin. So around 8:00 I finally decided to get the epidural. BUT THEN IT TOOK AN HOUR AND A HALF TO GET IT. So I was exhausted and kept asking Nathan how much longer it would be before they got there because I was going to die. Poor guy.

They finally gave me the epidural around 9:30, and I entered warm tingly bliss. At 10:00 they checked me, and I was at 3cm. At this point I was not feeling very optimistic, thinking this was like deja vu and that soon they would tell me I wasn't progressing and we would have to do another C-section. So I slept on and off from 10:00pm to 12:00am, and then read until 2:00am. It was a really good book (Rebecca), and the time passed quickly.

At 2:00am, the doctor checked me. I was positive she would say 3 or 4cm, since it sure didn't feel like much was going on with the epidural. She was like, "Oh. I think we need to call Dr. Franklin. You're at 9 centimeters." I was shocked for the second time that day. And super excited with a rush of emotion, because I thought we had such a long road ahead of us still! Dr. Franklin took about half an hour to get to the hospital (bless her for coming), and then we got ready to push. Pushing wasn't bad at all; I was still able to feel the pressure with the epidural, and it felt RIGHT, kind of a relief. At 2:59am, the baby emerged...Nathan and I were both looking, looking...It was a GIRL!!! Nathan cut the cord, they wiped her off, and put her on my chest. What an amazing feeling of instant bonding. She calmed down right away and was so peaceful and alert lying there. So special.

Here I am after they told me I was 9cm.