Lucy Jane's Birth Story

Even since I was pregnant with Ruby, I knew that Ruby wouldn't be our last baby. I was excited and nervous to find out that we were expecting baby #5 this past Summer. Nervous because each of my pregnancies have gotten progressively more difficult, and my pregnancy and labor and delivery with Ruby were really difficult for me . The first two trimesters of my pregnancy with Lucy Jane were definitely not easy, so I was expecting the worst when the third trimester began.  Much to my surprise though, I was able to feel healthy and strong through the end of the pregnancy. It was such a blessing. Since before I got pregnant, I had 3 goals (I use that term loosely)  for myself over the things that I could somewhat control based on my experience with my other pregnancies and labor and deliveries for this pregnancy: #1- only gain the recommended 25-30 lbs., #2- wait for baby to come on her own and not get induced, and #3- not get an epidural. I believe I gave up on goal #1 about half way through the first trimester since eating a lot helped me keep the nausea at bay. :) We decided not to find out the gender of this baby and keep it a surprise until delivery. My whole pregnancy I was 100% sure that this baby would be a boy. We had a boy name picked out, but had no idea what we'd name her if it was a girl mostly because I refused to entertain the idea that it would be a girl.

Anyways, I had been having pretty regular annoying/exhausting Braxton-Hicks contractions every day since about 38 1/2 weeks. I knew realistically, that I wouldn't be going into real labor until I was most likely past my due date. Luke was 1 day early, Grady was 3 days late, Reddic was 1 day late induced, and Ruby was 4 days late induced. My due date, March 8th, came and went without any sign of delivery being imminent. I saw the doctor on March 10th, and she said I was still at 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and baby's head was still really high which is exactly what I was the week before. Finding out that an entire week of contractions did absolute nothing was depressing. That evening my sister, Emily, came to visit from Chandler. She brought our cousin Jessie to visit Jessie's sister and mine and Emily's other cousin Lauren who lives in Pima. That night Emily painted my toenails for me. We joked that the baby was refusing to come out, because it demanded that it's mother's feet be more presentable. 

Me on the morning of the 11th, 3 days past my due date.

The next morning, March 11th, I felt pretty sure that the baby was going to come that day, but I still wasn't having any contractions. I took the kids to breakfast at the school and then Emily, Lauren, Jessie, and I had a great day together. It was so nice not to constantly be thinking about how pregnant I was. Around 4 or 4:15 pm, I had my first real contraction. Lauren and Jessie left at around 4:30. At 4:55, I sent my husband this text:

Emily and I took the kids with us and headed to Safeway to pick up a few things and something quick for dinner that night. The whole time we were at Safeway, I kept thinking, "I should not be here. I should not be here." The contractions were getting more painful and closer together. They were about 7-8 minutes apart when we left Safeway. We sat down to eat dinner when Ty got home from work at about 6:15pm. After only a few bites, I realized that I didn't feel like eating and that we needed to start getting ready to leave for the hospital. At 6:30 my contractions were already 5-6 minutes apart. Ty got the kids bathed and in their pjs while I got the last of my things together and tried my best to get through my contractions.  I got all the kids into the car with Emily's help, and was wondering where Ty was.  He insisted on taking a shower before we left. We finally left our house, dropped off our kids at my in-law's house only 1 mile away, and pulled up to the hospital at 7:07pm. We walked back to the OB department and they ushered us right into a delivery room since I had told my doctor that I would probably be coming in that night. I changed into the hospital gown, sat on the bed, and the nurse checked me. I was 9cm dilated. She ran right out of the room to go call the doctor. Just a couple minutes later, my water broke, and it was a giant gush of water. The nurses were scrambling to try to get me hooked up to the monitors, and trying to get me to breath through the contractions, so I wouldn't push. My body really wanted to push though, and I felt the baby shoot through me so quickly. The nurse, I think her name was Joni, caught the baby, and the doctor walked in during the next contraction as the rest of the baby's body came out. She was born at 7:28 pm. One of the nurses said "It's a girl!". I had been secretly worried about what we would name the baby if it was a girl. When the nurse said it was a girl I calmly said to myself "It's Lucy Jane." and I replied to myself "oh.". That was my reaction to finding out it was a girl. Just "oh". I was in a lot of pain at that moment though. When they put her on the scale and said she was 8lbs 12 oz, that is when I was completely shocked. She's our biggest baby! So that is Lucy Jane's birth story. She came so quickly the nurses only had the contraction monitor on for 1 contraction before she was born, and I did it without any pain medication. I didn't even get an IV put it. I'm also so glad that my sister Emily got to be there for the birth. Emily had to leave to go home a few hours after she was born. Anyways, I just feel so very blessed that she is here and that she is healthy. 

About her name: When I was pregnant with Ruby, I knew I eitehr wanted to name her Ruby Belle or Lucy Jane. When I held Ruby in my arms after she was born, Lucy just didn't fit her and I knew she was supposed to be Ruby. Lucy Jane is the name of one of my Mormon Pioneer ancestors. I have a lot of fond memories of my Grandma Smith telling us grandchildren Lucy Jane's story as children. I can't wait to tell her the story myself. Lucy Jane is also most likely the last grandchild on Ty's side of the family. She's grandchild number 36, and she evened out the boy/girl count with 18 grandsons and now 18 granddaughters for Ty's parents. We decided to honor Ty's mother by giving our daughter the middle name Patricia. She has done so much for our family, and we are so grateful. 

My cousin Jessie, happened to be at the hospital with her camera when my older children came to meet their new little sister. Jessie is a fantastic photographer, and you can check out her work here or here. I just love these pictures so so much! Thank you Jessie!