Lydia Lutitia was born on 10/27/2012 at 10:17 am. She was 18.5 inches long and 5.2 oz Original due date was 11/9/2012, however I was induced at 38 weeks due to IUGR. When we left the hospital she was only 4lbs 11 oz. So tiny!

Since I was a little preoccupied giving birth and stuff, my husband tried to journal everything that was happening, so this is his take on our daughter's birth.

Friday 10/26/12

11:10 AM: Manda goes in for her weekly check-up. We have been concerned for a number of weeks that Lemon isn’t gaining weight fast enough and she asks for a weight ultrasound. The doctor is delivering other babies but the tech completes the ultrasound and the doc will call later with the results. Lemon is moving around a great deal, apparently already sensitive about her weight…

4:20 PM: Manda gets a call from the doc. Apparently everything is going great except that we need to get induced right away… The doc had not completely looked through the results before calling. Lemon appears to be very healthy with the exception that she just isn’t putting on the weight that she should be and, according to the ultrasound test which can be off by up to a pound she is now at 5.25 lbs which
is in the bottom 5th percentile. The concern is that the placenta is no longer giving a sufficient amount of nutrients to Lemon, so it is time to get her out so that she can start feeding on her own. Ahhh, the first small steps towards self-reliance…

4:30 PM: Manda calls me and says: “It’s time to panic” and then proceeds to tell me what the doc said. I suddenly get nervous for the first time in a while. Over the next several hours I will have many “Holy cow we are about to be parents” moments.

5 PM: I get home and we load the hospital bags in the car and take the dogs to boarding. The first thing Manda says to me when I get home is “Oh no, we don’t have a Halloween costume for her.” She does not think it is funny to use the old dog Halloween costumes so I think it’s better to dress her up as Meatwad from Aquateen Hunger Force. Yep, we are ready to be parents.

6 PM: Manda suggests stopping for food which she will later say was my idea, though it was not. We stop at Smash Burger and she doesn’t eat much, but I gorge in preparation for the coming night.

7:30 PM: We are checked into our room and Manda is getting comfortable. Well, as comfortable as it gets. We have a very nice room looking out over a lake (we are told, it is dark at this point), though her hospital gown appears to have been constructed by someone with terrible astigmatism an none of
the strings come close to matching up. Hopefully the rest of their equipment is of a higher caliber of engineering.

8 PM: We meet with the doctor who outlines the plan. Manda’s cervix is quite high and not fully effaced and only a finger tip dilated, so the first step is to try to soften it up. They’ll administer cytotec once ever 4 hours for the next 12 hours to try to loosen the cervix up. It’s possible that this will
jumpstart labor but not likely. Then in the morning they will evaluate where things are and probably start the pitocin. Pitocin is a synthetic version of oxytocin which is the hormone that triggers labor, so pitocin should put labor into overdrive. So Lemon should be here by sometime tomorrow, probably early to mid-afternoon. The doc does not appear to be concerned about the long term ramifications of Lemon being so small. She is full turn so should have developed lungs and is just small, so this is really the best thing to do to give her the chance to get growing again. Manda and I are expecting a doll and a GI Joe action figure sized baby, respectively.

9:30 PM: I leave to get pillows, make sure the cat is OK and get my computer type this timeline on. I get moderately sick but it passes.

10:30 PM: I return to Manda who is annoyed at how long it took for me to get back, though she has not done the math on how much time I needed to accomplish my objectives. Manda goes to sleep while I finish up some work that I didn’t complete due to the phone call from the doctor.

Saturday 10/27/12
12:45 AM: 1 cm dilated and Manda’s water broke after the cervical check. Her pain level is currently a 3. This is a very scientific system so don’t bother trying to question the value
assigned later.

3:20 AM: Manda will likely say that more stuff happened between this time and the last entry but this is when I was woken up. Manda vomits. Smells like chili from Smash Burger. I say “oops” in my head.

3:40 AM: Contractions are now much more severe and regular. Sheri checks Manda’s cervix and she is now 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Manda is not impressed and begins talking about an epidural. Pain is now at a 5. She is several hours ahead of schedule

3:45 AM: Manda becomes mobile to see if walking around will help with the pain and moving the contractions along.

5:45 AM: The past two hours were very rough on Amanda but she developed a textbook labor pattern as her body is lining up great for giving birth, so far without Pitocin. But she has definitely been “singing her labor song” with many “ow”s and moans. For a little while it was relieved when she got in the whirlpool tub and actually started dozing off between contractions, but the contractions in that time got
more powerful and longer. Her pain climbed up to a 6 so they called in the epidural nurse. His name was Frank and he was super impressive. Very professional, very fast, and within 5 minutes from when he started he was done.

6 AM: Manda’s pain scale is already down to a 1 or 2. The difference was amazing and only took a few minutes. She went from essentially ignoring the rest of the world during her contractions to being back to her old self and making jokes. People who don’t get the epidural might be crazy.

6:30 AM: Everyone has left the room to let us try to sleep. Not sure if I will but Manda is completely drained and needs the rest. That said they will be coming in every half hour for a while to turn her to different sides to let the medicine slosh around in her back and get to the nerves it needs to.

6:45 AM: 3.5 cm dilated and almost fully effaced, so we are off to the races!

7:15 AM: Manda just had a contraction that literally went off the charts and Manda was laughing at one of my jokes during the peak. Anyone who is considering natural child birth needs to think again. The difference is astounding.

8:30 AM: Manda’s contractions have become a little less consistent than it was before the epidural. She will have a few contractions in a row and then may go 4-5 minutes without any. So they just started her on some pitocin to get her back to the more predictable interval and jumpstart the process.

8:55 AM: Fully dilated and Lemon is coming. Tom was getting breakfast and was called back after just 15 minutes away. Got to go help Manda, Lemon coming any minute!

9 AM: Our scheduled infant care class starts, with us obviously not there to take part. It will be trial and error from here.

10:17 AM: Lydia is born!!! She is so beautiful and her Mom did so well. 5 lbs 2 oz, 18.5 inches long. Insanely red lips Mom’s first words to Lydia: “She has HUGE feet!”

11 AM: Lydia pees on Manda for the first time.

11:01 AM: Lydia pees on Manda for the second time.

11:30 AM: Lydia, after much coaxing, breastfeeds for the first time.

12:50 PM: Lydia sneezes her first sneeze.

Pictures are of her strapped into her carseat to leave the hospital at 4 lbs and 11 oz and then what she looks like now at almost 3 weeks and 5 lbs 12 oz.