lauren's birth story..

On August 16th, I woke up having a lot of contractions. I had been on a long, fast walk the night before after receiving the news that I was barely progressing, so I was excited to be having more frequent contractions. I didn’t believe they were doing anything though. They were coming about every 2-4 minutes and I had lost more of my mucous plug. This had all been going on for weeks, so again, I wasn’t very excited. I got ready to go to my scheduled NST and kissed Rob and Robert bye. I told them I would meet them for lunch after my appointment!

When I got to the office, the contractions were about every 4-5 minutes. They got me hooked up to the monitor and measured my fluid levels. The fluid looked good, so now we just had to make sure Lauren’s heart rate did too. This is when everything changed. Within about 10 minutes of monitoring, the sweet nurse told me that Lauren wasn’t having very much variability in her heart rate. What they like to see is a baby kicking and moving with a resulting increase in heart rate. Lauren wasn’t doing that. They changed my position and watched me for about 10 more minutes. At that point, my doctor came in to talk to me. Never a great sign. Lauren was not liking my contractions. She was having “late decelerations”, meaning that after the contraction, her heart rate would dip. This is the worst kind of deceleration and could mean that the umbilical cord is kinked or my placenta was simply failing. She sent me over to L&D to be monitored some more. 

I called Rob as I walked over to the L&D unit and told him that I may need him to come. He was headed to lunch with Robert and his mom and was going to try and wrap it up quickly to come be with me. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, so I told him not to rush..

I checked into L&D and they got me hooked up to the monitor again. Within 3 minutes, a doctor and 2 nurses rushed in my room. Lauren’s heart rate had dipped quite low after a contraction- I could hear it on the monitor and I was really scared. The doctor who came to take care of me was sent from heaven. He could not have been more calm, confident or reassuring. He introduced himself and told me I was going to meet my daughter today. He checked me- I was 4 cm, 50% effaced (that walk really worked!). The plan was to admit me and start pitocin. If Lauren tolerated the Pitocin, then I could labor on my own, but with any decels, I would go under general anesthesia and get a c-section. He told me Rob needed to come right away because we had no idea if Lauren would tolerate labor and I could need a c-section any minute. 

I called Rob and told him the news. He was frantically trying to settle Robert into a nap.. who was throwing a huge tantrum because he did not want his daddy to leave. I was being admitted and settled into my room. In the end, Rob got there right before the pitocin was started. It was about 2pm at that point. 

After this, it just became the waiting game. Lauren tolerated the pitocin and labor better than anyone had anticipated. I labored for the next 8 hours and she was born at 10:38pm after just 5 minutes of pushing. She came out screaming and pink. It was the best moment of our life.. only equaled by the arrival of her brother 3 years prior. There just can’t be any more of a magical moment on this earth than when you see your babies for the first time. God is good. We are so blessed.

Lauren weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces. She was 19.25 inches long. Her APGARS were 8 and 9. She nursed within 20 minutes of being born (and has not stopped since!) and loves to be skin to skin. 

A quick side note.. the doctor who came to see me when I was first admitted stayed 3 hours late to deliver Lauren. We were SO thankful :-) It meant so much to us and we just loved him! He was funny, upbeat and very good at his job. 

Here are some pictures from our magical day..


(sent this pic to robert to let him see mommy was ok!)

(last pregnant pic!)










we love you, little princess. you completed our family. you fill our hearts in a way we could never describe. we are so blessed by you.

LOTS more pics to come..