Bringing Lillian into this World

I realized that I never wrote about the birth of sweet Lillian so I am going to share it now. I love using this blog as a journal and being able to go back and read posts so it just doesn't seem complete without the story of my birth in it. As I said in a previous post, I never thought I would make it to my due date and technically I didn't, I was an hour shy of making it to May 6th. Lillian came into our world at 11:19pm on May 5th weighing in at 7lbs 3oz of perfect:) My water broke at exactly 2am on May 5th, yep 2am I started labor and didn't have a baby until 20 hrs later, it was a VERY long day! So back to my water breaking, I was asleep and felt a very strong urge to go to the bathroom, which wasn't anything new being 9 months pregnant, but this was different because I felt like I wet the  bed so I jolted out out bed and ran to the bathroom and a gush of water came out and I was pretty sure my water broke. I yelled at Bryce and said "I think my water just broke! This is it we're having a baby today!" I thought any moment contractions would kick in and we would be on our way to the hospital, well that's not exactly how it turned out. We waited for two hours and still nothing! I was able to shower and get ready, eat, make coffee and get all my things packed up. My doctor was out of town so I called the on call doc and he told me to just go in and that labor should be starting soon. At around 4am we made our two minute drive to the hospital and got all checked in and started walking the halls just waiting for some action. I was on cloud nine in the hospital! I was so thankful to be there anticipating the birth of a full term baby. The first lap Bryce and I took around the hall we saw a door with a butterfly on the outside. I had a butterfly on my door the last time I was in labor and delivery so we knew that the mother's arms in that room were empty and that her precious baby was in heaven. We both looked at each other and started crying and praying for her. We were humbled and grateful that we made it this far and continued to walk and walk and walk. We walked the halls for SO long and not one contraction. I so badly didn't want to get induced but knew my time was coming before the doctors would intervene. They let me walk for 6 hours, so around noon I got induced and instantly the action started happening. I was still determined to not have an epidural at this point. Bryce was an amazing coach and stood by my side for every contraction. Our nurse, who was so wonderful and encouraging, helped too. She checked me every hour and I kept making progress, I was at a 6 within a few hours. Then I got in a very hot bath, which felt SO good and dilated two more centimeters before the pain really got intense. I was so miserable and started to get the shakes from being so exhausted. The nurse came in and checked me and there was no progress, for two hours I hadn't dilated any more. She gave me a good pep talk and encouraged me to get an epidural because I was so tense that I wouldn't be able to dilate unless I relaxed. With lots of tears and disappointment I decided to get an epidural. WOW, what a difference!! The guy who gave me my epidural was amazing and had me pain free in a few minutes. At that point I was having contractions every second and he was very calm and patient. So within minutes my labor went from chaos to calm and happy. My nurse was so happy to see my smile again:)  And Bryce's color returned to his face. He was so worried about me and watching the pain I was going through. So at this point it was evening, I believe around 6pm. I took a nap and Bryce ate dinner and within a few hours I was able to start pushing. Pushing was really tough with my epidural. I coudn't feel anything and my legs were completely numb so the nurse had to turn off my epidural and I had to push without it. I pushed for two hours and in the last half hour I didn't think I could do it, my doctor and nurse went out in the hall to talk and I just knew they were thinking the same thing. I started to praying really hard and begging God to let me do this without a C-section. When they came back in they said okay one more chance to push real hard, so I gave it everything I could and out came our baby, a beautiful, sweet, precious girl! I was so exhausted and couldn't believe that it was all real. I held my daughter for the first time and don't even remember it until I saw pictures. She came out great, really quiet with her mouth wide open looking for food, she is still that way to this day:) After they got me all stitched up I took little Lillian and took all of her goodness in. She was so calm and tired, she just stared at Bryce and I, it was a very tender moment for us. Labor was so long and intense but once it was all over I felt just fine. I was up and walking right after the delivery since the epidural wore off long before she was out. Things didn't go exactly how I planned but none of that matters when you have a happy, healthy baby in your arms. I think Bryce and i are going to wait some time now before we do it again. This will be my first fall in 2 years that I haven't been in the early weeks of pregnancy and feeling nauseous. I can't wait to enjoy it and not feel sick at the site of pumpkins. 

Just starting to get induced

pushing through a contraction

Lillian has arrived!

Mouth wide open

Our family of three, pure bliss

Summer Love

Summer is approaching it's end for 2012. This is summer was completely different than all the rest being new parents. With it being so hot it made it really hard to get out and enjoy it,but when we did, we had a good time going on walks, to BBQ's, live music, and weekend trips to see family. We also got all moved out of our house and into a rental for the time being. We are not sure what the future holds but we are learning to be content on where we are and be patient in God's timing.

She's our chunky monkey

Our first home as a family

She is a total Daddy's girl

Lillian with her Uncle Domenic and his wonderful girlfriend Lacey

I loved this pic for 3 months because she is always talking and singing. I love it!

Lillian is going to be 4 months in a few days, I just can't believe how fast it goes by. Everyday brings new things and excitement as she develops. She plays and sings more than crying, YAY! She is still really uncomfortable most days, not sure if it is gas or acid reflux, but she handles it so much better. She doesn't like to be rocked anymore, which brings relief to mom and dad's arms, but is making it hard to get her to fall asleep. For two weeks she was waking up every couple hours in the night crying and nothing seemed to soothe her. I finally just resorted to putting her into bed with me. I, of course loved sleeping next to her and waking up in the morning to her smiling face but it was not a habit I wanted to continue. I prayed hard about these sleepless nights and for the last couple nights she has slept through the night in her crib! We are so thankful for the rest and hopeful that it will continue.

Lillian is now just over two months! She has become a bit of a difficult baby over the last few weeks. It has been very challenging for both Bryce and I. She does great most of the time but has moments of crying and seems very uncomfortable. The doctor says its colic and she will grow out of it, but the more I research on colic the more I am not convinced that she has it. I am pretty sure it is acid reflux. I am hoping she will grow out if it in a few months because this is miserable dealing with a fussy baby all the time. Thankfully, she still does good in the car seat so that has been a life saver! She is really starting to interact now and respond to us with smiles and little giggles. Those moments, even if they can be brief, make all the crying worth it:) 

Is anyone else over this heat?! It has been so hard taking Lillian anywhere past 11am because of this heat. Bryce and I have an offer pending on our house and will be moving at the end of the month. We are moving to a house with no air conditioning so I am praying hard that this heat eases by the time we move in.  This summer has just flown by with a newborn! We have had lots of visitors this summer. My sister was here for Memorial Day weekend. My best friends threw Lillian a welcoming shower in June so Lillian got to meet her Aunties that live far away. It was so fun! Just last weekend we had our friends from Wisconsin passing by on a long road trip. We went up to Red Lodge for one of the days and the next day Bryce took them rafting on the Stillwater. I am excited for when Lilly is old enough to go. This weekend we will head to Sheridan for their annual Rodeo Days. It should be a good time but it will also be SO hot that we wont be able to be outside much:( We will have another shower in Miles City at the end of the month. If all goes well with selling our house Bryce will move us out and into our new place that weekend while Lilly and I are occupied. I am glad to be getting out of moving:) So that is what is new in the Bennett house. We are also planning a trip to Leavenworth, WA this fall. I sure hope it works out and that Lillian is starting to feel better by then. 

Lilly with Auntie Courtney

Lilly and Kensley with their Aunties

Lilly and Christen

My sister and Lillian

 

Sweet Lillian

/

Lillian is just over three weeks! Life with her has been wonderful, but I will admit the first week was very tough. I am pretty sure I got a touch of the baby blues. I cried for two days straight about everything, it was so crazy. Now, everyday is just so great and special. She is a great baby, she sleeps really well and eats very good. She is weighing in at just over 9lbs already! It really is true that they grow SO fast. We took our first road trip with her to Sheridan, WY for her Uncle Domenic' s high school graduation. She did so great!

Lillian Grace

Baby Bennett has finally arrived! To much of our surprise it was a Girl! For some reason I convinced myself it was a boy so when they said "its a Girl!" I was in awe, couldn't believe it. I am so happy she is finally here! She is perfect!

39 weeks

Only 5 days from tomorrow before my due date. I made it past April, so this will for sure be a May baby. I really thought I would have the baby by now. I just couldn't fathom being this far along in pregnancy. I was reading my journal last night and remember writing entries from a year ago and praying for God to be preparing my body for a full term pregnancy. It was hard for me to read those because I had so much doubt this whole pregnancy. All I knew was preterm birth and so I thought for sure the baby would come early. I had fear and anxiety everyday almost. And now here I am only days before my due date, I may even go past. My last doctor visit was a week ago and baby was still high and my cervix was just starting to open. I have had no contractions and tomorrow I will get check again to see if any progress has been made. I am feeling really good! Not too uncomfortable except for when I eat too much and rolling over in bed is extremely hard, but other than that I feel really good. No swelling either:) I sure hope my next post is announcing the birth of the baby! I'm ready!!

39 weeks 2 days