Living Sweetlee: Welcome, Lillian!

So, I've pretty much fallen off of the blogging train, there's nothing like kids to make you quit doing all sorts of useful things (dishes, cleaning house, showering, blogging, etc...). I haven't written anything since we found out we were expecting and now she's here and three months old! It's strange how time passes so quickly when you have children. You blink and another month has passed. I feel as if we were just here with little man and now here we are with baby girl. Somehow I turned thirty and had two kids over night. It's been quite the adventure since around August.... seems so long ago.

In August, Andy's health started to scare us a bit. He kept getting these nasty colds and every single time they'd go straight to his chest and cause some serious breathing issues. After three colds, three rounds of steroids, and lots of breathing treatments, we went for Andy's "well" visit which was not so well and he was loosely diagnosed with asthma. So, we started a preventative breathing treatment twice daily to help his fight off the yuck. Not long after, maybe a week later, Andy ended up in the hospital with low oxygen and very labored breathing.... this wasn't the greatest timing. You see, that was September 26th... a Friday. On September 29th, I was scheduled to be induced with Miss Lillian. I couldn't believe this could be happening... not to mention it was my 30th birthday weekend... (seeing your baby hooked up to oxygen and tied in a hospital bed for three days might be the worst birthday present ever).

Andy was having a hard time keeping food down at first, so he was eating popsicles. On our second day he had to have a shot and I asked if he could have a popsicle afterwards... when asked if he wanted red or purple he said, "Red AND purple!" So, here he is with both.

So, we waited for Andy to get better... spent three nights in the hospital... and had chocolate birthday cake in the hospital. I tried to share with all the nurses and technicians, but not one person ate my Julia's Birthday cake. It made me rather sad. It was okay though... more for me. I had gestational diabetes this go around and that chocolate cake may have been the best thing I'd ever put into my mouth! Anyway, Saturday, after we found out that Andy may be there for a while, I called my doctor and she moved my induction to Tuesday. Well, then I started getting sick.... induction moved again to Thursday. Andy was discharged Monday and we spent the night in our own beds. It was glorious. After sleeping on a hospital couch or recliner for three nights, my very pregnant body was so happy to be on my soft mattress. Tuesday, we started our day as normal. Took it easy around the house. Around lunch time we were all still in our pjs and getting ready for lunch. Andy and James were already eating and I went into the kitchen to fix something for myself... water broke. WATER BROKE! I was not in labor, but I told James... "I think my water just broke." He sort of had a panic moment (got to go right now!) but after I got him calmed down I decided to take a shower. We slowly got ourselves ready to go to the hospital. We were going to have a baby.

One last picture before heading to the hospital.

We made it to the hospital late that afternoon and I started walking the halls trying to get the contractions to start. Some progress was made, but not enough. Several laps, a couple of popsicles, and a movie later, they started the pitocin. A small dose at first and the contractions started... but still not enough progress. My LD Nurse, Quita upped the dosage about every hour until things started moving along. Finally, I was pretty uncomfortable and I could tell the contractions were getting more intense and I asked for an epidural... sadly, I transitioned to a 9 while getting the epidural. It was a completely different experience than when I had Andy. I was terribly shocked at how slow they were with the epidural this time. It seemed like it took forever! Maybe I was just in a lot of pain and that took forever. I did better managing my breathing and staying relaxed this time around. Quita and James were the best coaches. Couldn't have done it without them. We waited for the doctor for a few minutes and then it was time to push!

Me and my popsicle.

For those of you that know me well, and have for a while you are probably shocked that I could get through any of this without fainting.... but I watched myself give birth... It was so amazing. One good push and here she was. :) AMAZING!

My beautiful baby girl was born September 30th at 11:39pm weighing in at 7lbs 13oz and 20 inches long.

That's one proud daddy right there.

There's my itty bitty girl.

After delivery, Lillian's blood sugar was very low so they whisked her away for a few minutes to give her some formula and monitor her. Evidently, that is common with gestational diabetes. During that hour away from me, I ate a cheeseburger. Yep, at about 1:00 am I was eating a cheeseburger and fries. It never tasted better. My girl came back and we headed to our regular room.

A full couple of days ahead of us, I was thankful for a little rest. We had lots of visitors at the hospital and all of the usual newborn screening tests with a couple of extra ones. Finally, a couple of days in we were able to go home. We were greeted by the sweetest Big Brother and my parents.