Dearest Lyla Jane--
One week ago yesterday was the big day that you finally joined us. We were waiting so long to meet you and you decided to show up one week early. I woke up at 5:30 that morning surprised that I had slept through the entire night without waking up. (I had been getting up 1-2 times each night at least before that.) As I got ready to go to school I thought I felt a contraction. It didn't seem strange though, because I had been feeling contractions on and off for a week and a half. As I made the fifteen minute drive to work, I felt another contraction about 30 minutes after the first one. I called your Daddy and told him that he better keep his phone near him at work because I felt two contractions already.
It was a big day for me at school and all week I kept telling my coworkers that I just needed to get through Thursday. My 8th grade students were having presentations that day that were open to the public and their families. I knew that having a substitute teacher that day would be a management nightmare. As the day was going, my contractions were still coming about every 30 minutes. I had an app on my iPhone to track them, but it was hard to do that as I was grading student projects, talking with parents, and managing the chaos that comes along with 8th graders and a project/presentation day.
I was so busy at school that I didn't check in with Daddy again all day and responded once to a text from Grandma telling her I was having contractions (she was very suprised!). As the day moved on, my students could tell that I was having contractions and I knew that they were coming closer together, but still only about every 25 minutes or so. The nurse at school was following me around yelling at me to sit down because she didn't want to deliver a baby at the middle school.
I finally made it through the day and realized that I better get things ready for a sub the next day and clear my last minute things out from the classroom. I knew in my heart that this was real labor and I would not be returning to school for 14 weeks. At 3:30 I finally called Daddy to tell him I would be leaving school. He answered the phone saying "so they stopped?" He was assuming the contractions had not continued throughout the day because he had not heard from me (I was just too busy!). I told him that now the contractions were just over ten minutes apart. Daddy was supposed to have his first night class for graduate school of the semester that night. He asked what he should do about class. I couldn't make up my mind at that point and asked if he could just stop at home before going to school to check in on me.
At that point I was having a hard time concentrating, which was causing me to take longer to leave school! I finally walked out the door at 4:00pm and my contractions were just about 8-9 minutes apart. I called Daddy from the car on the way home and asked if he could come home immediately. (I actually called about five times and he didn't answer, which made me nervous...turns out he had gone to the bathroom.) When I got home it seemed like forever before Daddy got home, by the time he got home my contractions were less than 7 minutes apart. We gathered our belongings and called the doctor to make sure it was time to go to the hospital.
When we left home at around 5:35 my contractions were about 4 minutes apart. Of course, it was rush hour when we had to drive from our house in South Minneapolis to the hosptial in St. Paul. Daddy was nervous and dealt with that by making jokes on the way to the hospital. (I did not really find it funny at the time.) When we checked into the labor unit at 6pm, my contractions were a solid four minutes apart and I was already dilated to 6cm. (I kept saying throughout the pregnancy that I thought it would be awesome if I made it at home until I was 5cm, so I was proud that I made it to 6!) I couldn't believe how fast my labor progressed from 3:00-6:00. The time was flying by.
At that point I decided that you had to be born before midnight so that we would share the same date of our birthdays just one month apart. Our friend Alyssa got to the hospital at the same time as we did. She was there to photograph your birth. During the first part of being at the hospital, I spent time in the bathtub and on the exercise ball. I was so surprised that I was doing well and didn't feel like I needed any pain medication at the time. It wasn't until later (about 8:00pm I would guess) that I had alot of pain and got just a small amount of pain medication. It helped me through the worst of the contractions and then it was time to push...and push...and push...and push. I pushed for 2 and a half hours total. It was exhausting. At one point the midwife started to tell me I had been pushing for too long (she didn't finish her sentence, which would have been that I might need to have you vacuumed out). As soon as I heard "too long" I kicked it into high gear. You were born shortly thereafter. I pushed you out in pretty much one big push at the end. I heard the midwife tell Daddy that he couldn't cut the cord because you'd done it yourself. Apparently your umbilical cord snapped at some point during the delivery. I will take credit for such strong pushing at the end. Thank goodness everything was okay with that. My midwife had never seen it happen before and the pediatrican of 30 years had never seen it either. I gave one last push after you were out and your placenta went flying out about six feet across the room and rolled on the floor. Basically, it could have been a scene from a movie. Most people take about 15 minutes of pushing to deliver the placenta. I made it nice and easy to be done.
You were born on January 24th, 2013 at 11:32pm. You weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and were 21.5 inches long. I was very surprised you were so big, because my midwife told me that Tuesday that you would probably be just under 7 pounds and that you probably would not be born in the next two or three days. She was wrong on both counts.
When they placed you in my arms you were so alert and looked up at me like you knew who I was immediately. You were the cutest baby I've ever seen. (If you have siblings when you read this, don't tell them, they will be jealous.) For me, the whole labor flew by so quickly. I made it through the day at school and pushed you out before midnight. While labor itself is anything but pleasant (in fact it's very painful) it was the best day of my life. Your Daddy and I were in awe when you looked at us. We were so glad you were healthy and happy. When your Daddy held you and smiled and talked to you, I fell even more in love with him, which I didn't think was possible.
And so you have it dear Lyla, that's the story of your birth. As I type this right now you are laying on Grandma Jane's lap sucking on her finger. You've been with us for a week (an exhausting week, but more about that later!) and we couldn't imagine our life any differently now.
Love you forever--
Mommy
