Lillian’s Birth Story, part 1

At Lillian’s 40 week appointment, everything looked great, except for the fact that she hadn’t made her arrival yet. I wasn’t too concerned about rushing to induce and wanted to go into labor naturally, so we scheduled a non-stress test the next Monday and induction for Wednesday. I would be 9 days post-term, similar to my last baby, Zane, who we induced labor with herbs my midwife gave me. (he was born next day, 10 days post-term)

All week, I walked, bounced on the ball, and looked up all the methods I was willing to try to prepare my body for a natural labor, such as red raspberry leaf tea and evening primrose oil.

The week slowly slipped by and still no baby.

Saturday was my nephew’s first birthday, and since she had waited this long to make her arrival, I hoped she would let me celebrate little Everrett’s first year with family.

She waited.

Sunday evening we planned to have a birthday celebration for Brent, who would turn 5 on Monday—just some cake and ice cream with family.

Sunday afternoon, I felt a big movement and exclaimed, but went on with my preparations, deciding it was nothing. A few hours later, I noticed that her kicks seemed to be low. I made a comment to Marty but hoped I was wrong.

Brent’s party was so much fun and he was thoroughly pleased with the cake he helped to decorate himself. Simple was my theme, but his smile never ended that night as he soaked up the birthday love and attention.

That night, however, I battled fears of the unknown. What if she had turned breech? By this time I was certain she had. I prayed and cried and finally got peace and went back to bed for a few hours before waking up at 6 to go to my appointment.

It snowed a lot that weekend, and the roads early the next morning were snow covered. Thank the Lord for his protection and my husband’s experience with snowy roads as we crossed Cheat Mt.

We made it safely to the hospital where I checked in to start the none stress test.

To be continued.