LUCY ROSE THURMAN – BIRTH STORY

 

On June 6th we welcome our sweet little baby girl into the world. 

Lucy came quick and has been the perfect addition to our family.
We are loving every moment with her.

I wanted to share Lucy’s Birth story mainly for myself to remember years down the road since I know time is a major thief and my memory becomes a blur with time. I want to always remember June 6, 2019. 

Lucy Rose Thurman
Born June 6, 2019 at 3:20 pm
7 lbs 14 oz. 20 inches long
at Sharp Mary Birch in San Diego

I went in for my 38 week doctors appointment just as I normally did every few weeks, but this time I was really hoping to hear good news! My doctor and I had talked previously about scheduling an induction date for Lucy since I had a very quick labor with Edison. (You can read his birth story here) With knowing just how quick my labor was my first time, we didn’t really want to take our chances of me going into labor on my own, especially being 40+ minutes away from my hospital. We also kept in mind other positive factors for choosing to be induced early, which was to plan time for my mom to arrive a couple days early to watch and care for Edison while we were in the hospital. This being a big deal for us since we don’t have any family here in San Diego. 

Lucy’s actual due date was June 13th. Being induced a week early meant we could pretty much choose when her birthday would be. Before going into my 38 week appointment I remember asking Brandon, if we could pick and choose our daughters birthday what day would we want to choose? We had two dates in mind, either 6/6 or 6/11. Ideally we loved the idea of having her birthday on 6/6 since Edison’s is on 11/11. (And a cousin on 7/7)  Our second choice would have been 6/11 so both her and Edison were born on the 11th. Either day would have been special, but I am so happy it worked out perfectly and she was born on 6/6/19! 

 

I’ll admit, I really loved having a scheduled day for induction. I felt as prepared as I could be and I was really able to have some last one on one time with Edison the night before as we were getting him ready for bedtime. It was such a sweet, tender experience as I rocked my first born baby to sleep as the last night of it just being us. Edison could see the tears in my eyes and kept asking “you okay?” Over and over again. He sure is a sweet little kid

On June 6th we were scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 7:30 am. We arrived a little bit late and checked in around 7:50. After filling out paperwork we were guided up to our delivery room. We started to settle into our room before the nurse checked to see how far I was dilated. I was a 2 and 80% effaced. Which is what I was measured a week prior at my 38 week appointment. 

Around 9 am we started the pitocin. The nurse set up the delivery table as soon as we started, incase things proceeded quickly, that way they were prepared for the baby to make her entrance at any moment. The sweet nurse was new to the field and had a few little mistakes along the way. She was very supportive and sweet but struggled getting my IV in, which surprised me, because I have great veins!! I tend not to look as they are drawing blood or doing anything with needles, so I wasn’t aware of the blood that I loss when she was putting in the IV. 

 

Dr. O’Hara is known for giving a great prediction as to when his patients babies would arrive after starting pitocin. His guess was 3pm. And all the nurses kept saying hoe dead on he generally is!

Shortly after starting the pitocin and my doctor breaking my water the contractions started. They were very mild for the first hour then by 11am they started to progress enough to the point I asked to start the epidural. At this point I was dilated to a 4. ( I then wondered how the heck I dealt with contractions while being dilated to a 10 with Edison without an epidural – read more here) 

Either way, I was happy to get the epidural earlier on so I could relax and try to get some rest. 

 

 

One thing I felt that was different this labor compared to my first was how painful the epidural was. With Edison, I was dilated to a 10 before getting an epidural. Technically I shouldn’t have gotten one, but being a first time mom, they assumed I hadn’t dilated much in 2 hours, especially when I had gone from a 2 to a 10 in that short amount of time. When I told them the pain had progressed to the point that my body was pushing and I couldn’t stop it, we knew it was time for the Epidural. However they still never checked me until after I had gotten the Epidural. Since I was dealing with severe pain from the contractions I never focused on the anesthesiologist and had to ask if he was finished because I never felt anything. However, with Lucy, my contractions hurt, but they were nothing like contractions when you are dilated to a 10, so I felt everything while getting the epidural. My mind was focused on the needle instead of my contractions and I couldn’t believe how much it hurt! 

One of my goals with taking the epidural was to only press the button a minimal amount.  With Edison I felt I pushed it too many times that I wasn’t able to feel anything! So with Lucy I only pressed the button maybe 2-3 times and I was so glad I could still feel a little more in control. Most of the pain was gone, but I could at least feel more pressure and feel when contentions were starting which was helpful. I had enough epidural medicine, the pain was bearable and I was still comfortable. The perfect amount.

Some time had passed, roughly 3 hours before getting checked again. At this point I had officially dilated to a 10 and my nurse had contacted my doctor, who was across the street at his office. My nurse informed Dr. O’Hara of my progression and he had given her permission to have me go ahead to start some practice pushes. We got ready and begin to start pushing. I pushed 3 times, counting to 10 with each push. After repeating the 3 pushes 3 different times my nurse called the doctor again to say that it was time. I remember hearing her phone call and Dr. O’Hara asked if he had enough time to visit one more patient. Her response was no, come now, baby is ready! 

 

 

 

Around 3 pm, the exact time Dr. O’Hara had made his guess of the babies arrival he entered the room. Everything was so quick from there on out. I remember feeling so exhausted when I pushed with Edison. I think I pushed off and on for 1-2 hours. I became exhausted, needing to sleep between each contractions. At one point the nurses even needed to give me oxygen to help me breathe because I was so worn out. So when it came time to push again for Lucy once the doctor had arrived it felt a million times easier. (can I even say the word easy when it comes to labor 🙂

Once we were officially set up to begin pushing with my doctor present, I pushed 2 to 3 more times and Lucy made her way into the world at 3:20pm! At this point in the room, it was only me, Brandon, my nurse and Dr. O’Hara. None of the other nurses had made it in time. Within minutes of them placing Lucy on my chest the other nurses walked in and gasped that she had already arrived!!! Lucy wasn’t going to wait for anyone! She was ready to meet us, and we were so ready to meet her! 

She was so sweet and tender the moment I held her. She had such big eyes and even bigger cheeks. I couldn’t believe her little cheeks and the amount of hair she had!! She had such a soft little cry as they were wiping her down on my chest. I remember thinking and feeling how much easier her delivery was with Edison. I could sit and enjoy her and watch her every move and motion. She was covered in more Vernix (compared to Edison), but so much warm and soft. 

 

After getting stitched and cleaned up, we were able to love on little Lucy for an hour before they weighed her. The day before we were scheduled to go in, I texted my family asking for everyone to place a bet on her weight. I guessed 7 lbs 14 oz, since my doctor had mentioned that Lucy was going to be quite a bit smaller than Edison was. He was 8 lbs 5 oz. To my surprise, Lucy weighed exactly what I had guessed. 7 lbs 14 oz! I guess the saying “mama knows best” worked out in this scenario. 

We ended up staying in the hospital two nights since Lucy was born on a Thursday and had to be checked at her 24 hour mark, then again when she is 48 hours. Since it was the weekend they advised us to stay a second night so we didn’t have to make an appointment with an after hours office on a Saturday filled with children who are most likely sick. As much as we wanted to get home, we decided to stay the extra night. 

 

 

The next day, Edison came to the hospital with my mom to meet Lucy for the first time. It honestly could not have gone any better! The smile on Edison’s face meeting his little sister was better than I could have dreamt up. He was so sweet and was so excited to see and touch Lucy, hence all these adorable photos. My heart was bursting with excitement watching Edison become a big brother. 

Edison stayed for a couple hours before becoming a little wild being stuck in one tiny room for a long period of time. But then again, I think we all were! 

We have been asked a few times now how we decided on Lucy’s name. There really is no connection with a name other than the fact we really liked it. Before becoming pregnant I remember mentioning the name to Brandon and he never shot it down, which was his typical response any time I brought up a new baby name. So since his response was “I like that name” I never brought it up again until we found out we were having a girl 🙂 After finding out Lucy was a girl, I brought the name up to Brandon again. And just like his first reaction he said he liked it. From that moment we knew it was her name. We really didn’t even bother trying to come up with any other options. Thankful it worked out that way!
Picking babies names can be so difficult.

Her middle name Rose, is after me. My middle name is Rose and I wanted to share that with her. 

After naming her Lucy and announcing to our families, my mom brought up the fact that her Grandmas name was Lucy, however she never went by her first name which is why it was a surprise to me when my mom mentioned her grandmas name to me. After a little research on my great grandma, we were shocked that she died on 6/6, the same day Lucy was born! 

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I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for following along on my journey through this blog, whether you have been here since day one, or are new, I am so thankful for all of you and that I was able to share my pregnancy journey with you.

 

Photography by Audrey Rodriguez

 

 

xo, Camilla