Lexie's Birth Story

It took us a really long time to come up with a name for our baby girl. I couldn't decide between two, either Makenzie (middle name either Mae or Michelle) or Alexis (middle name Abigail). If she was going to be Makenzie we would call her Kenzie, if Alexis it would be Lexie. I was also thinking of calling her just Lexie Lyneth (my mom's middle name is Lyneth). We finally decided the day after she was born to call her Alexis Abigail but to call her Lexie. And here is how she arrived:

I was due March 31st but I was scheduled to be induced on March 30. My work had changed their time away from work policy and it went into effect April 1st. I wanted to use the old system so I needed to be induced before April 1st. But I really, REALLY wanted to be able to go into labor on my own. I've been induced with all three of my other kids and I wanted to see what it was like to have labor without pitocin. I also really hate getting an epidural but my labors have all been really fast on pitocin. I wanted to see if I could go without an epidural if I went into labor without pitocin.

Luckily, I woke up on Mon, the 26th and started having some contractions. I'd been having some simple contractions off and on about every day for the last 4 weeks or so. And these felt the same as those did. Just annoying, but not really painful. They were coming every 3 minutes or so but they weren't really long and I was sure they were going to stop. So I took the kids out on a nice long walk to see if that helped to keep them going. They didn't stop, but they didn't get any harder either. So during quiet time after lunch, I decided to go ahead and make dinner just in case. Around 2:30 they started to get a little more painful. So I decided to call my mom who was waiting in Houston for me to call her and tell her I"m in labor so she could come watch my kids for me. I called the doctor and they told me to go to the hospital. Luckily, (sort of), Kevin was actually at home. He had been sick for the last week and a half and he had gone to the doctor just that morning and found out he had bronchitis. Poor guy was resting in our bedroom when I went in and told him I hoped he was feeling better because he needed to take me to the hospital.
So we called around to find someone to watch the kids while we were gone until my mom could get here. (Thanks Maria! You're a lifesaver.) Then Kevin took me to the hospital. It was about 4:30. They put me in triage and checked me out first. I had been almost dilated to 4 cm at the office a few days before and when they checked me I was only 4 cm. By this time the contractions were starting to get painful and I couldn't talk through them. I was so annoyed that I hadn't dilated more than that. They decided to wait for 2 hours and see if I dilated more which would have been around 7 pm. Luckily the triage doctor decided to come introduce himself at 6 because he took one look at me having a contraction and said, "Yeah, we're going to admit her." He checked me and I was only 4 1/2 cm but they still put me in a room. Darn good thing they did too. I got settled by about 6:30.
So they had to start an IV because I needed antibiotics. I HATE IV's. They always hurt so bad putting them in. I must have a lot of nerves right next to all my veins or something because my hand always goes numb when they do it. I told them I was a total baby and I was right. They tried once and it hurt so bad I was crying so they stopped and said they'd get the anesthesiologist to do it. He was great. I barely felt a thing. By this time the contractions were so bad I was asking for an epidural anyway. No position was comfortable and I was getting light-headed because I couldn't breathe. It hurt from my chest all the way down to my knees. Kevin was doing his best to help me relax but he was all white faced because he was feeling crappy himself. Poor guy. I think I yelled at him a couple times because I told him to do something that helped for awhile and then suddenly it would stop helping so I yelled at him to stop. Unfortunately they said they had to get the first round of antibiotics and then some fluid into me before I could get the epidural. I kept throwing up and shaking during this whole process too. For some reason I was freezing and I couldn't stop shaking. By about 8 pm I was begging. My doctor came in and checked me and I was only dilated to 6cm but completely effaced. I finally got the epidural by 8:30pm. It was a different anesthesiologist than before but he was really good too. I was worried I wouldn't be able to sit still long enough to get it in so I made Kevin hold me really hard to keep me from moving. I also kept chanting to myself that this would make it go away and that's the only thing that kept me still. My doctor checked me again and lo and behold, I was at 9 cm and the bag of water was bulging. So she said I had two options. She could break my water and she was sure I'd have a baby really soon after that. Or we could wait and let me rest for about 30 minutes and see if she came down any farther and then break my water and have a baby right away.
I chose option 2. It ended up being about 45 min later but she came in and said the baby was almost crowning so she got everything set up and got all dressed and everything. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to push well because I couldn't feel anything. The doctor was sure I wouldn't have to do much at all. I had actually told them to turn the epidural off after I got some relief to see if I could feel something during delivery but it started hurting bad almost immediately so we turned it back on. So by 9:30 everything was ready. At 9:31 the doctor broke my water. I pushed for half a push and her head was out. I pushed one more time to a count of 10 and her body was out. Lexie was born at 9:32 pm. I couldn't believe it when they gave her to me. She doesn't look like any of my other kids. She has so much hair!! All three of my other kids were practically bald with a little peach fuzz on their head. She was covered in hair. And she looked chunky! I've never had a chunky baby before either. Most of that was edema from delivery and she's slimmed down a bit but she's still my biggest baby.

From the minute she came out she's been as wide eyed as she can be. Both eyes were wide open taking in the world. She is so alert all the time.



And that's her story. Hope you enjoyed it.