Simply Sellers: Lily's Birthday- Her Birth Story

WOW- our baby girl is over a week old---where does time go?!?!?! I'm not quite sure what Mr. S & I did without her here. It is true when they say, your world completely changes when you have a baby...& yes, I would agree, it is for the better!

Now that we have somewhat gotten settled into this whole parenting thing, I wanted to document Lily's birth, so we can share it with her one day & never forget any of the details...

*Warning- this will be long & detailed!*

It all started on Friday, 12.14.12- I got home from work & decided to take Tyde on a walk while we waited for Mr. S to get home from work. Our walk turned into a walk/run--running 1.5 miles and walking 1.5 miles (Tyde was super happy!). When I got home, I noticed that I had some cramping, but nothing significant. With our due date right around the corner, Mr. S & I had decided to go out to dinner at Scalini's to test out the legendary Eggplant Parmigiana---known to send preggers into labor!

While I'm not sure this had much to do with Lily's arrival, it was a DELISH meal! Mr. S is also excited that we will receive a $25 gift card since Lily came within 48 hours of me eating the meal...hello date night! :)

Once we arrived home from dinner, we settled downstairs to watch some TV & hang out. At this point, I noticed my cramps (ie contractions) were coming every 15-20 minutes, but weren't too painful. We went to bed around 11:30, not sure if I was in early labor or if my head was playing games on me! Luckily, I slept pretty well, until 4:30am when I woke up to what were stronger, much closer together contractions. At this point, I decided not to wake up Mr. S, so I headed downstairs to hang on the couch & time my contractions for a bit. Once they reached 7-9 minutes apart, I decided to call my mom to have her confirm I was really in labor! I know this sounds wacky, but I seriously had a fear of thinking I was in labor & not really being in labor. With most my family in Alabama, I didn't want to have a false alarm situation.

Once Mom confirmed that I was indeed having contractions, I woke Mr. S. It was probably the most nonchalant waking ever- "Hey, I think I'm in labor" was whispered to him! We proceeded to get ready, finish packing, pick up the house, swing by Chick-fil-A to get Mr. S some grub & then we headed to the hospital around 11:30am on Saturday. At this point, my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart & we had alerted all of our family that Lily was on her way! Sugar, Boss, my grandparents, brother, Papa & Denise were all in route to Atlanta, while my sister & Mr. S's mom & sister were all waiting for more info.

The Labor & Delivery at Kennestone Hospital was wonderful! We were immediately escorted back to the triage area to be observed & make sure I was in "real labor". After monitoring my contractions & Lily's heart rate for about 30 minutes, they checked my cervix---I was still just 2cm---same as my appointment I had on Thursday :( I was SO disappointed. The nurse advised me that I could be in false labor and it could last 2-5 days. At this point, I told Mr. S "we are not leaving here without a baby!". After some discussion with the nurse, we decided to walk the hallways of the hospital for an hour to see if that would help me progress...I was skeptical, but we took to the hallways & were joined by my mom & sister about half way thru. I wish y'all could've seen all of us walking the halls---me in hospital gown & socks, stopping with every contraction---if only we had had a video camera! Anyway, turns out the walking helped because when they checked me again I was at 3cm & considered in "active labor"...music to my ears!!!

I was admitted & Lily was coming ready or not!!! :) Since the hour of walking helped me progress, I took to the halls for another hour & a half...way better than laying in a hospital bed! I also had some wonderful company along the way- Boss, Mama Chelle, Papa, Cody, Bebe and Robin all arrived and took turns walking with me. It helped the time pass & before I knew it I was at 4cm!

Doctor Tackitt (SO thankful he was on call b/c he was wonderful!) came in to discuss our plan for the day. After some conversation, we decided to administer a little bit of pitocin to help move things along...& boy did it! The contractions definitely got harder & more intense. I knew I really wanted to try to make it to 6cm without an epidural---not sure why I picked 6cm...I guess I thought that was far enough along to where I'd feel like I had experienced true labor. Much to my surprise, I made it to my goal & so at 6cm I got an epidural---HEAVEN! :) Our anesthesiologist was awesome. I could feel my legs & move them, which was my one request. It made the labor much more enjoyable & relaxing.

We waited a couple more hours for some progression & at around 8:30pm Dr. Tackitt arrived again to see how things were moving along. Good news was I was at 8cm---so so close to meeting Lily---bad news was my water still had not broken naturally (which is pretty common, but I was hoping mine would break on its own). Because we were eager to meet our baby girl, the doc broke my water & estimated Lily would arrive between midnight & 2am on December 16th. He also warned me that new moms usually push for 1-2 hours---talk about a long WOD! (sorry for the CrossFit lingo...I couldn't resist!)

We waited and waited. Mr. S prayed over me and Lily & at 11:58, on December 15th, I started pushing. At this point I was famished. I had not eaten since the morning & all I could think about was the pizza my sweet husband had delivered for me to eat once I finished pushing!

At 12:20am, on December 16, 2012, Lillian Pace Sellers was born!

Yep that's right---I only pushed for 22 minutes! :) Not nearly as bad/long as I expected. Another special part of this day---Lily was born on her great-grandmother's 75th birthday & she was there to be apart of the whole day! :)