Lucie's Birth Story

Short Version:
Lucie (Lucille) Joy  was born Monday, February 8th (9 days late! :0) at 7:00 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. We had a longer than expected labor but there were no complications and we are praising God for a very healthy labor and delivery. We think she looks so much like Maggie did when she was a baby. She is eating and sleeping well and growing. She is very loved by her big sister and brother and we are enjoying every bit of her. Thanking Jesus for Lucie!

Long Version:
Lucie (Lucille) Joy was definitely in some ways, the most anticipated birth of our three children – at least in the last couple weeks. Maggie came six days early – so we weren’t expecting her quite so quickly. Silas came 2 days early and we’d just moved into our house so each day was another day to unpack boxes and get organized to make things ready for his arrival. We weren’t sitting around wondering when he was going to come.

Lucie was another story. Because Maggie and Silas were both early, and because generally the more babies you have, the earlier they arrive, we were expecting Lucie and trying to be ready for her at least a couple weeks in advance. We were crazy busy in early January, getting together with friends “ before the baby comes” but had cleared the last couple weeks on our calendar just to be ready. Lucie’s due date was the 30th, so we were expecting her well before that. As the days went by we went from frantically trying to get everything all perfect to feeling under control, to almost getting bored. We’d cleared the calendar and as each day passed that she was later and later, the house got cleaner, I got more things organized, got bigger and more irritable. I felt like I wanted everything clean at all times so we could be ready and I was like a drill sergeant when it came to tidiness.

After a while, we decided to go ahead and spend time with friends that we’d put off until after labor. So we began to have friends over for dinner and carry on life like normal. Sunday the 7th (8 days after her due date!) we had friends over after church. I did notice that morning during the sermon that my contractions were frequent. I’d had so many days and nights of pretty strong contractions and so many times that I thought “this is it” and then been disappointed that I’d gotten very good at ignoring them and going on with life. I figured when they’d get bad enough, I’d notice. Sunday morning I noticed they were about 10-15 minutes apart throughout the sermon and afterwards, and were staying consistent. But they weren’t extremely painful or anything so I continued to ignore them. We did tell our friends and I think they were watching me a little more closely than normal to see how I reacted to things.

By Sunday afternoon I was thinking something was up because they were so consistent. I decided to just rest all afternoon and the kids and I sat on the bed and Todd read and I worked on the computer. I kept timing and they continued to be consistent so we decided to bring the kids over to Grandpa and Grandma’s just in case. They were planning on staying there when we were in labor, and though I wasn’t sure I figured if I was in labor, we wouldn’t have to bring them over in the middle of the night. If I wasn’t – they’d have a good time having a slumber party and Richard and Linda wouldn’t mind. We went over there and spent some time chatting and then went home and got ready for bed. I laid down for an hour or so.

At 9:00 pm they started to get stronger and I began to remember what labor really felt like. I was excited that it seemed to be really happening, while at the same time, fighting a little fear, because labor is hard work and painful. It is such a mixed feeling. I was glad it was here, but not looking forward to the pain. At about 10:00 or so we got up and I decided it was time. Contractions were only 8 minutes apart or so, but this was my 3rd and I also knew that because of a (fairly common) pre-existing condition I needed a certain amount of antibiotics when I went into labor. We were admitted into triage at about 11:30 after a bumpy wheelchair ride, asking Todd to stop when I had a contraction. They watched her heart rate and my contractions.

We called our support team and Mom, Mom Merry and Andrea arrived soon afterwards, coming in to say hi before we were admitted into the birthing room for the rest of the delivery. My doctor came and introduced herself. Because I am with a clinic of 6 women doctors who are all on call at different times, I hadn’t met the doctor on call, but she was very nice and did a great job.

We got all set up in gown and bed in the birthing room, met our nurse and settled in. When I first thought about pregnancy long ago, I had considered home birth. But Todd being the cautious fireman that he is has insisted on the hospital and I really have come to love having babies at the hospital.

As the night progressed, the contractions got stronger, but really not that close together. I was surprised by how long labor took. The antibiotics take a certain amount of time to go in and with both Maggie and Silas, we only got one dose in before I had them. Not so with Lucie. I expected her labor to be short. Maggie’s hard labor was about 10 hrs and Silas’s was about 5 so I assumed that Lucie’s would be even shorter, as is typical of a third baby. Not so. At about 2:00 I remember the doctor coming in and saying that at 4:00 she’d come back in to check on me. I thought that Lucie for sure would be here by then and said, “I hope that she doesn’t have to come back then.” Little did I know that Lucie wouldn’t be born until 7:00 am!

The hardest things about this labor was the length. The good news was that my contractions stayed at 6-8 minutes apart for most of the labor, giving me a nice amount of time to rest in between each one. The bad news was that I did not labor very fast and was rather stuck at 8 cm for a long time. I kept thinking it was getting close and our nurse was very nice but I know that she got tired of me asking to be checked. I wanted to be at 10!

I tend to withdraw into myself when I labor and hardly move and keep my eyes shut and relaxed, trying to relax even more deeply when I have a contraction. Words are rare and few and heaven forbid that I move at all. But at around 5:00 am I gave in to the suggestion of walking to speed up labor. I did NOT want to do it, but I did want to progress. As it was, I only walked about 5 or 10 minutes. Then I was down again. The contractions were intense. They start and you get a wave of pain, and then another wave and another wave and you think “it must have peaked now!” and yet another stronger one. Some of them were 2 or 3 minutes long.

It is funny what you remember in labor. At one point I remember looking at Mom, Mom Merry and Andrea sort of dozing in and out and wishing very sincerely that I were them. At the beginning, with each contraction I was praying, “Thank You God that this is bringing me closer to Lucie. Thank You that Lucie will be here soon.” By the end my prayer had changed to begging “Lord, let this be done soon!” He was gracious though and overall, it was a good labor.

One thing that I noticed even as I was laboring was how mental it all was. I Cor 10:5 talks about bringing every thought you have to Christ in obedience. In this past year, a common theme that God has been teaching me about is how detrimental fear is in a person’s life, how much it controls many more aspects of life than we think. Fear is really the opposite of trusting God that He will take care of us. We don’t think of fear as a very bad thing, in fact, we often call it other words like “caution” or “wisdom”, but Scripture tells us not to fear around 200 times. That is a serious command. Fear is not just an emotion. Scripture says that fear is a spirit. Personally he has been showing me areas where I need to not make decisions based on fear of what “might happen” but instead on His goodness.

I remember as the time passed being so tired, and thinking about how long this was taking. When I was stuck at 8 cm, I remember thinking, “I still have to get to 10 – and then after that, I still have to push!” Every time I would think about what needed to happen still in the future, I would start to be afraid and think I couldn’t handle it. But if instead, I just focused on the contraction at hand and thought about what was happening right now, I was fine. I remember choosing to not think about the future and to discipline myself not to fear what was going to happen but to focus on what was happening, even as I was laboring. God was good to give me this insight, even in the midst of all that was happening and it really did help. He gives grace for the moment and we do not need to worry about the future as it says in Matthew 5.

At about 4:00 or so my antibiotics were finished and the doctor told me she would break my water. I was SO looking forward to that, because I knew that things would speed up afterwards. Exactly like Maggie, I was carrying Lucie so high and my water had not broken even though I was at 8. This labor was so similar to Maggie’s in many ways. From that time until about 6:30 or so I kept hoping that I was at a 10. When my body began to push involuntarily I knew we were there. The doctor checked me and I was given the go ahead at 6:40.

I was so tired and not looking forward to pushing and yet, I was impatient to get it over and done with. Because my contractions were still fairly far apart, I didn’t want to wait in between but to get it over with. I did wait though, because I learned the hard way in Maggie’s labor not to push when your body isn’t ready. The doctor asked if I wanted advice and gave me a new position. As soon as I changed to that position, and waited for the first contraction, it took about two pushes and her head was out. I remember asking, “Is her head out?” and receiving the yes and being so grateful. In another push her body was out and I just thanked God for Lucie over and over.

Lucie had meconium in her water so they had to suction her, but after that I got to have her and she was just perfect. She looked so much like Maggie did as a newborn and was healthy and pink. I had a small tear with two stitches but that was taken care of quickly and easily. I have yet to feel the ring of fire in my labors, and I am grateful for that. God was so good and we were very grateful for a wonderful healthy 8 lb 1 oz baby girl. Todd couldn’t stop smiling and held her even more than I did. The Grandmas were pleased and Andrea did a great job taking pictures. Lucie nursed well at 8:00 that morning.

My labor was so similar to Maggie’s and even some of the pictures of Maggie and Lucie as newborns are hard to tell apart. I went into light labor from about 9 am-9 pm with both Maggie and Lucie. I had harder labor from about 9:00 pm on and had to have my water broken for both labors. In addition to this, both of them were born at 7:00 am. Definitely sisters! Lucie took her time though. The pushing was so short that actually, her labor was even longer than Maggie’s because I spent quite a bit of time pushing with Maggie.

We made some phone calls and at 9:00 Lucie got to meet her sister and brother and Pada and Grandma Linda. Silas was a bit reticent at first, but he has warmed up to her well. He loves to do “jobs” for Lucie. He is the pacifier keeper and loves to fetch her blankets and diapers and whatever I need. Maggie’s the little mother, who hugs and kisses her all the time and says fervently, “I love Lucie sooooo much. She is sooooo cute.”

Lucie is doing well almost a week later and slept through the night, waking only twice to eat and then go right back to sleep recently – and we are very glad about that!

There was one very special thing that happened. On the way to Grandpa and Grandma’s Maggie was asking about when Lucie was going to be born. She has asked this a lot and usually I reply that God knows the perfect time for her to be born. This time I told her, “Ask God when she’s going to be born.” I was laughing a little bit and we continued on with the conversation, but a few minutes later she said, “God told me she is going to be born tomorrow.” It made me smile and I asked her when tomorrow, and she said, “In the morning.” I was pleased that she was conversing with God and I knew that no matter what happened, I was just glad for her to be praying and relating to Him. But when she WAS born the next morning, it meant a lot to me that Maggie heard from Him.

Whether it was a coincidence or not (which I don’t believe it was) the important thing was that she was enjoying a relationship with Him. And I knew it was a specific answer to a prayer of mine. I have been learning about hearing God’s voice, talking with Him and wanting to really be sensitive to Him. I was thinking about this, and about how John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb, and how God spoke to Samuel when he was just a little boy. So in the past couple weeks, I have been praying that God would speak to our kids and that they would know Him and believe that He is personal and that He relates to them. What a wonderful answer to prayer when we were able to talk with Maggie about it and how God spoke to her. I want her little faith to be built. And it built mine at the same time.

We are very grateful for all of our children and are excited to watch Lucie grow and her faith in God be built as well. He is good!