Lauren Kristen Murray
Born 11/13/12 at 1:34 pm
6 lbs 13 ounces
20.5 inches long
Lauren Kristen Murray has arrived! She is so beautiful and such a calm baby. We were sure she'd have the white fuzz hair like Lincoln, but she is our brunette! She's got light brown hair and we love it. Here is her birth story recorded before I forget all of the details...
My mom came into town on Lauren's due date, Friday November 9th. We were just waiting for any signs that I might be in labor, but nothing happened. A week earlier I started feeling some aches and pains, similar to the way I felt right before real contractions started with Lincoln's labor, but they left and never returned.
We had a fun weekend with my mom here. We went to a park, church, shopping, etc. My mom watched Lincoln a couple of times so Vance and I could go out on a couple of dates in before the baby came. On one of the nights, it was freezing and so windy, but we went on an hour long walk/run to try to get this baby to come! Because I knew my mom was coming into town and wanted to have the baby when she was here, I scheduled an induction date (Tuesday, Nov 13th). I wanted to be able to go into labor on my own, but was near the end of my pregnancy and getting desperate enough to not wait forever!
Tuesday morning finally came and we were sooo excited! I actually got up at 3 am and never completely fell back asleep again because I was so excited that it would be the day to hold my little girl.
Vance and I showered and got ready for the day. It was still dark outside and we had a light breakfast and got ready to leave. My mom and Lincoln awoke right before we left as well. We were out the door at 6:50 AM and headed to the hospital.
We arrived at Fairview Southdale hospital in Edina, MN and told the older man at the front desk we wanted to head to Labor and Delivery on the second floor. He offered me a wheelchair, but since I honestly felt great and wasn't even in labor, I declined and he escorted us up to the department. We were brought into room 215, the room I'd be having this baby in! They handed me the usual hospital gowns and a few minutes later had an IV with fluids started in me. My OBGYN, Dr. Grootwassink came in and and we talked about what would happen. It seems like it must have been around 8 or 8:30 when they started the pitocin after he had broken my water. I started feeling contractions pretty quickly and twice more they increased the amount of pitocin. Right before they were going to increase the pitocin amount the third time, they asked me again if I wanted my epidural. I definitely did by then because it was quite painful at that point... The anesthesiologist came and gave me the epidural. This time the epidural (in comparison to the epidural I received during Lincoln's birth) worked very well. I almost immediately felt relief and it made labor more relaxed and enjoyable. I definitely still felt the contractions but they felt like more intense pressure rather than pure pain.
The nurse, Sandy, came in once because my blood pressure dropped pretty low, but it raised again so there were really no worries. Near the end of labor I was given an oxygen mask to use because Lauren's heart rate would lower during each contraction. Apparently this isn't too uncommon so I wasn't too worried about this either. Around 1:00 pm or so, I felt some different kind of pressure. I told Vance that I'd let the nurse know when she came in again, but based on the monitors, she knew to come in anyway! She was there within a minute and she checked me and said I was at 10 cm! I had only been 5 cm dilated at 12:30 pm, so we were both pretty surprised that it was time to deliver this baby!
Because I had been dilating slower during the whole morning, my OBGYN had left the hospital to go to one of the clinics. But the nurse called him and he came right back. At 1:25 pm he came into the room and we were ready to push! I only pushed a few times and she came out at 1:34 pm! I was soo surprised how much easier it was for her to come out and how quickly it all went. She was nearly a pound lighter than Lincoln so that made a big difference.
She seemed so tiny and beautiful when she came out. She was laid on my chest for a couple of minutes before Vance held her and was placed under a heating element. I remember how her feet and hands were purple and white, but soon got their healthy pink color. I remember the overwhelming feeling of joy as I held her for the first time. I also felt so much relief that the delivery had gone well and she was healthy. We had waited so long to hold her and it was wonderful to be able to see her. It was such a happy, amazing experience that was one I hope to never forget.
Lincoln came with my mom a couple of hours after she was born and it was great to see him meet her for the first time. He was interested in pointing out her eyes, fingers, thumbs, ears, arms. He was pretty gentle but this is something we still need to work on. He does not know his own strength! When he gets jealous, he has been a little rough with her face, or may yank an arm, so we have to watch their interactions really carefully:) When he first wakes up, he asks to hold her and it is neat to see how excited he is of her. He likes to say, "Dada, Mama, Lincoln, Lauren." He also is getting better about not touching her eyes or forcing them open:) I look forward to seeing their relationship grow with time. We've been home from the hospital for three days now, and it has definitely been a little stressful, but very rewarding. The house hasn't burned down, and we are staying on top of laundry, and still alive! I definitely have not been able to exert the amount of energy that I was able to before I gave birth....still need more time to heal! Vance has been the best ever. He has done so much for me and I am so grateful that he has taken a week off of work. I also am eternally indebted to my mother, who watched Lincoln for the time we were in the hospital and who spent the time here before the birth as well!!!!
