Lydia Elise is here!

We have our new baby girl! She joined us on March 21st, just one day before my due date. Here is her birth story.

At 3:30 AM on March 20th I woke up with contractions. Nothing too intense, but I timed them for an hour and they were 5-8 minutes apart but after that not very close together, probably about every 15 minutes or so. Later that morning I stopped timing them but kept track of their pain level. After I showered the contractions were only about 3 minutes apart for a while but still didn't hurt very much. Ryan was home from work that day and I was glad I didn't have to worry about him getting back home quickly if needed.

After Dallin's nap we went for an hour long walk to try to pick up the pace on my darn contractions.

 By the end of our walk they were about 5 - 8 minutes apart and I couldn't walk through them anymore. I was still not in a significant amount of pain but decided to call the doctor anyway to see what was advised. I was told to go ahead and head into labor and delivery, so Ryan and I did that. We got the rest of the items packed in our hospital bag and had our neighbors come over to watch the kids until my dad could arrive after dinner. We left our house at about 5:15 PM and arrived at the hospital at 5:30.

When we got to the hospital I was put into triage. Yaaaaaaay. But guess what, Big Bang Theory was on, just like with our other girls while we waited in triage! It was meant to be. When we first got to triage I was at about 3 cm. After the allotted hour I was about 3.5 - 4 cm and my cervix was still pretty thick. It was rather slow going and my contractions still hadn't gotten very close together so they told us to go get dinner and after that maybe we would need to come back.

We left the hospital a little before 8 PM. As we were walking out the pain started to really intensify. I started timing the contractions on my phone and they were coming every 1 1/2 - 3 minutes and were A LOT stronger. I was hungry though so we still tried to go out to eat. At first we went to a sit down restaurant called DC Oakes just across from the hospital. When we parked I was quickly aware that I could not go into that restaurant and try to sit and eat without making a scene. I was in a ton of pain. Ryan drove to Chic fil A instead and we got some stuff from the drive-thru. We parked and he ate and I tried to eat, but the contractions were coming so hard and fast it was really hard to enjoy my sandwich and key lime drink!

Thirty minutes after we left the hospital I told Ryan we needed to go back. It was so intense at that point, I kind of wished we had never left but I think getting up to walk out of triage was what really got things sparked.

When we got back to the hospital we went in through the ER entrance (main doors were closed at that point) and they wheeled me straight down to L&D. (Random: one of Ryan's coworkers was there in the ER waiting room. I didn't take the time to introduce myself but Ryan said hello.) In fact, the lady pretty much ran down to L&D to get me in. I guess it was obvious I was not in my happy place.

Once we got back in L&D they said, "Put her in room 4?" and the doctor said, "Yes. I knew it wouldn't be long!" When we got in our room things got really rushed. The nurses were helping me strip down and into a gown. It felt a little panicked, and I got somewhat worried that things had progressed too fast and I wouldn't get an epidural. Once I was in bed I was checked. I was at 5 cm and 90% effaced. A lot had happened in those 45 minutes!

The nurses started trying to give me an IV but couldn't find a vein. Like, what?! I have never, not once in my life, had any needle sticking person complain about my veins. In fact, it's usually quite the opposite! "Oh, you have such beautiful veins!" To have this problem at a time like this was super no bueno. They decided to wait for the anesthesiologist because apparently they're amazing at such a feat (he was). The worst part of it was that I couldn't get an epidural until I had an IV and had gotten half of a bag of fluids in me.

Once I got the IV I waited. I watched that bag of fluids with every contraction. It was a very very long hour. At 10 PM they prepped me for my epidural and we got that puppy in! I am so grateful for that invention/discovery. Loooove me an epidural, especially this time. Pretty sure it was the most painful of my labors.

After my epidural set in around 10:20 PM the doctor checked me and I was at 6 cm, 100% effaced, and had a "bulging water bag". Ew.

At 11 PM the doctor checked me again. I was at 8 cm. She wanted to break my water but waited about 20 more minutes so that the baby had time to adjust to the crazy of getting an epidural and the intense contractions that followed (that I no longer felt).

After she broke my water she said, "I think things are going to progress very quickly now. Let us know when you start to feel pressure like you need to poop." All righty then! At that point I tried to rest a little. It had been a pretty tiring last few hours. That rest did not last very long though. About 20 minutes later I felt that urge the doctor had so accurately described. I called the nurse to come back in.

I was now fully dilated (at this point it had only been 3 1/2 hours of active labor and it was go-time already. Did I mention how much I love epidurals?) but baby was still kind of high up in there. Regardless, the doctor wanted me to start pushing because baby's heart rate was dropping significantly with every contraction. I probably should have worried more but the same thing happened with Maya and Dallin so I was like, "It's cool. This happens."

I started pushing 10ish minutes later, at 11:52 PM. I pushed and pushed and pushed - starting with the baby high proved to create a challenge. Ryan did great at encouraging me! Then the doctor said, "If we can't get her out soon then we will need to use the vacuum because her heart rate is getting too low." At that point I realized how dire it truly was that she get out. I pushed through two more contractions and out she came!

She was flopped on to my chest and let out a beautiful cry. I was so happy to have her in my arms!!!

Lydia Elise Koenig was born on March 21st, 2019, at 12:06 AM. She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. She had a head full of dark brown hair and a sweet round face. Right after she was born we spent some time skin-to-skin and she was able to nurse. Just like all of her siblings, she knew what to do and was an instant pro. I don't know if it's me or the baby, but I feel blessed that all of my nursing experiences have been wonderful from the get-go.

After the crazy died down and we got settled we were able to rest a little. Lydia was pretty wore out from the experience of escaping my womb so she slept for a while and I got in a good 3 hour chunk. Doesn't sound like much, but I was sure grateful for it!

Later that morning we had to change rooms. Boo. The L&D department at the hospital was booming and they needed more delivery rooms, so we got bumped upstairs. Our second room was still good but not as big (although a lot bigger than we had at PVH when I had Dallin).

Ryan went home to relieve my dad from babysitting duty at 10 AM and then my dad came to visit Lydia and me at the hospital. Ryan came shortly afterwards with the other kids so they could meet their new sister. They were so sweet with her, even Dallin! He kept saying, "Baby!" and wanted so badly to hold her. I loved having us all together - our complete family.

Later that day Crystal, Brendon, Holly, and my mom came to meet Lydia. It was nice to have something to break up the day. There's only so much I can do while sitting in a hospital bed! Although I'm not complaining, it's very nice to get to sit and relax after having a baby. I got in a lot of snuggle time with Lydia and read a book.

Ryan was able to come back to the hospital with Dallin in the late afternoon. Maya and Brianna spent some time with their Browning cousins, but Dallin really needed some Mama time. Ryan and Dallin stayed and had dinner with me and then went home to get kids to bed, and then Ryan came back to spend another hour with me (thank you to Gary Blakely for sitting at our house of sleeping kids so Ryan could come back!).

We were able to take Lydia home the morning of March 22nd, and we were ready to start our life as a family of 6!

Now for an explanation of her name. When we first found out I was pregnant Ryan said he liked the name Autumn. I liked it too and it quickly became our #1 contender. We decided we wanted to use Elise as either a first or middle name - it is for Ryan's sister, Lisa. After a while Ryan said never mind to Autumn so we started trying to think of other names. For a long time we liked Elise Berlin and that was going to be her name. One night Ryan said he wasn't so sure about Elise Berlin anymore, and I was feeling the same way. We both liked it, and it wouldn't have been "wrong" per se, but we didn't love it enough when it comes to making a final decision. We went back to our list of names and Lydia stuck out to us, and we loved how it sounded with Elise. We also liked Charlise, but then we would have had to come up with a different middle name, because Charlise Elise? Yeah, no. I told Ryan I liked both of the names and he could choose after she was born. It took him half a day to make a choice, but Lydia Elise won!

I love this picture and am super bummed that the lens focused on her feet instead of her face.

One thing we did different this time was that we video recorded her birth story with a GoPro. We recorded snip bits starting when we were on our way to the hospital. We were able to document moments of my labor, Lydia being born, and her siblings meeting her. We are so glad that we decided to do that! It will make her birth extra memorable because we can watch it whenever we want.

We love you, sweet Lydia! Welcome to our family!