A Lilybelle Story

We welcomed our new daughter, Lilybelle Louise Bailey, on Sunday, November 5th, 2017. One month ago today! Our new little miss came fast and gave us quite the story to share about her arrival!

I’ll begin by rewinding back to the Thursday before. After days of feeling sick, I woke up shivering in night sweats and throwing up. To feel that miserable, so very pregnant was scary to say the least! I ended up calling my doctor, who told me to head in to triage to get checked out. I got admitted for most of the day with a low grade fever and got re-hydrated with IV’s. I was having contractions, but nothing consistent, and I hadn’t changed from my former status of 50% effaced and 3-4 cm dilated, so after a few IV’s they sent me home to get “well enough to have my baby.”

I felt like a new person on Friday, managing to clean a little bit of my very neglected house! I cleaned hard, and by evening was worn out! This night happened to be the start of the Tennessee Titans Alumni Weekend. There were plans for Patrick and I to go to the ‘Welcome Reception’ at Martin’s BBQ, but I just wasn’t up to it. I encouraged Patrick to go solo, telling him I’d have a movie night with the kiddos. He said he didn’t want to go without me (Aww!) I of course felt bad and promised him that I would go to Saturday’s dinner with him.

Saturday morning I felt no movement from our baby, which gave me quite the scare. I tried everything to get her to move, but nothing worked. I was in such a frenzy over it that I called my neighbor, Maureen, who is a nurse to see if I could borrow her stethoscope to find a heartbeat. She quickly came over to help me, but first warned me that we may not be able to hear anything and if we didn’t that it did NOT mean there wasn’t a beating heart. I totally understood that, so I wasn’t completely freaking out when we couldn’t hear a heartbeat…

I reached out to another nurse friend, Stacy, to ask if not hearing a heartbeat with a stethoscope was worrisome. She was able to completely put my mind at ease by letting me know she had a doppler that she would bring over right away! Almost instantly we heard that sweet sound setting my own heart at ease 🙂

Once I knew our baby was okay in there, I got ready for the Titans Alumni Dinner at Sinema. This included shaving my legs, putting on a dress and wearing heels! Three tough tasks for a very pregnant girl! Several people asked if I was going to go into labor that night…I told them I hoped so! As we drove home I snapped this photo of the full moon while silently begging it to bring my baby out! Did you know that the full moon brings babies out?! Nurses swear it’s true! Beau was born the day after the full moon and when I finally succumbed to taking him to the nursery, I turned right around with him after seeing all the babies in there! I remember asking why there were so many babies and the nurses laughed and said “Oh honey, it’s the full moon!” I just knew I was going to have another full moon baby…!

At 3:30 AM, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and found that I was bleeding. The blood paired with the lack of movement prompted the on-call doctor to tell me to go into triage again. I wasn’t contracting AT ALL, so I wasn’t sure if this was the real deal or not.

Myself, Patrick and the kids got to the hospital around 5 AM. Yes, you read that correct – us AND the kids! Initially, our neighbors were supposed to watch our kids for us, but they went out of town for the weekend. Our back-up babysitters were Patrick’s brother, James, and his wife Drew, who live an hour and a half away in Clarksville, TN. The plan was, we’d take the kids with us, and if I got admitted, we’d call them to come pick them up from the hospital, but once we got to the hospital, things moved FAST and there was no time for that plan!

As I was checking in, my water broke! Y’all, my water never broke on its own before! I kid you not, I had just said to my doctor at my last appointment “The only thing on my ‘Birth Plan’ is to have my water break at the hospital” I went on the explain that I did NOT want to come home with three kids and have to clean up amniotic fluid from my bed, the couch or our car! After having my water broken for me for my two previous births, I knew it was messy! I told my doctor “I don’t even care about an epidural! I just don’t want my water to break at home!”…I’d come to regret that last addition!

I was laughing out loud that my water broke literally as soon as I got to the hospital! I didn’t even finish my paperwork, they just put me in a wheelchair with a pad under me and rolled me back to a room!

After confirming that my water did indeed break, I quickly was taken to a delivery room with my husband and kids in tow. At this point, my contractions were about a minute and 30 seconds apart, and I was a “stretchy six” centimeters dilated. I told the nurse I was ready for my epidural at any point now, so they did all the blood work that needed to be done. After about 20-30 minutes, my sense of urgency set in, and I asked where in the world my epidural was! I was informed that my blood work still wasn’t back, but that they would send in the anesthesiologist to get the questions out of the way. As she headed in, my husband and kiddos headed out to grab some doughnuts across the street at Krispie Kreme.

I was beyond annoyed at the anesthesiologist! She wanted to chat about my makeup and I could hardly string sentences together! Do you think I was in pain?! Haha! When do I NOT want to chat SeneGence with someone?! Looking back, I was lucky that I was too lazy to wash my face that night! I went in with a full face of makeup after our big night out! There would have definitely been NO time for that!

After my epidural was in, I was instructed to lay down, as I did, I couldn’t help but push – like this is the real deal push! In immense pain when I should have been starting to get some relief, I shared this bit of information with the nurse. She said “It’s okay, you’ll feel better once we get your catheter in.” As I laid there waiting for my catheter, my husband and kids walked in. Beau was SO excited to tell me that they got doughnuts, but I was in so much pain I said “I can’t talk right now buddy.” I remember him sounding so sad as he said “I just wanted to tell you we got doughnuts!” I felt bad and tried so hard to sound excited for him and his doughnuts, but y’all I was in pain, and here’s why…when the nurse went to put the catheter in, she found that I was crowning! She said “Whatever you do, do NOT push! You are crowning!”

Y’all it was beyond crazy! Nurses were rushing in, the delivery table was being set up, all while Patrick was trying to get the kids settled with their doughnuts and a movie! I asked my nurse if someone could take photos and she said “I can take the photos if you DON’T PUSH! If you push, I’m going to have to deliver your baby because your Doctor isn’t here yet! So if you want photos, DON’T PUSH!” I tried SO hard not to push! My doctor quickly rushed in telling me how I was correct when I said I was going to have this baby early! As she got me ready to push, I asked if I could have a mirror to watch the delivery. In the rush of events, no mirror was brought in my room. I remember my doctor saying “If you want a mirror, don’t push, if you push, you’ll miss this birth!” So again, I tried SO hard not to push!

The mirror was rolled in and I FINALLY was encouraged to push! My doctor said “It’s ‘no-stitch’ Sunday, lets take this nice and slow.” I pushed once and our little Lilybelle Louise was born into this world at 7:37 AM as Sarah Bareilles sang “Brave” in the background. She didn’t cry at first, which was a little worrisome, but they had her on my chest so I assumed she had to be okay. After about 20-30 seconds she began to cry, which I was so thankful to hear! It turned out that our little lady was playing dress up in my womb, using the umbilical cord as a necklace…she had the cord wrapped around her little neck 3 times! When things settled down a bit, my doctor shared that we were lucky she came so quick because the cord around the neck was acting like a noose choking her. Her heart rate was dropping as she came out, which explains why she wasn’t crying immediately.

I really had NO IDEA if I was having a boy or a girl, so I was genuinely surprised we had a girl! I really didn’t mind either way, nor did Patrick. We just wanted another healthy baby. The only one who was really affected by the gender was Beau…and he was NOT happy – at all! He voiced his opinion right away! After hearing “It’s a girl!” He immediately got a pout on his face saying “But I wanted a boy!”He didn’t warm up to his new baby sister right away, but Greta was instantly smitten! She just kept saying “Baby Sister! Baby Sister!” She wanted to hold her and kiss her…it was adorable! But I still felt bad that Beau wanted no parts of his new baby sister. Lilybelle was so alert for a fresh newborn baby! Her eyes were wide open and her little hand was already gripping my skin.I may be biased because she’s mine, but I think she was a beautiful newborn baby! Usually newborns need a little bit of time to grow into their wrinkles, and recover from their entrance into the world, but not this little lady! There was not a wrinkle or mark upon her skin! I can’t even believe I managed to capture a smile on her first day! I guess she was as happy to be out as I was to have her out! We got a taste of parenting three kids quick! It was pretty chaotic in those precious moments after the birth. The kids were running around the delivery room and climbing on things they shouldn’t be climbing on, while I was trying to bond with our new baby. Lilybelle didn’t caIm for me immediately and I remember feeling a little scared and helpless at the craziness my life had so quickly become, but also immensely thankful that this was indeed my life! Looking back on the past month, those first moments were as crazy as it got. Things have thankfully been pretty smooth and the adjustment to three kids hasn’t been nearly as scary as I envisioned it to be! Sure, there are stressful times…from diaper blowouts and potty accidents to all three kids wanting to eat at the same time…my hands are definitely full! I’m swimming in laundry and dishes and covered in breast milk. It’s not always easy, but I feel like most of the time I’ve got things pretty well under control. At the end of the day, I feel immensely thankful and blessed – and of course TIRED!

James and Drew came to pick up Beau and Greta as I was about to head to my hospital room. Patrick took the kids one direction as I headed another. It was so nice to have the kids be there for the birth of their baby sister, but Patrick and I both agree, we didn’t get to enjoy this birthing experience like we did the other two. Ultimately it was God’s plan and it all worked out though!

Later that night, the kids came back to visit. Knowing there was a 50% chance that Beau wouldn’t get the baby brother he so badly wanted, I decided prior to the birth to plan a Birthday Party for the kids. Complete with party hats, decorations, cookies and of course gifts…Beau came to really like his baby sister 🙂 He finally wanted to hold her and was so very sweet to her! He’s been so loving to her ever since which has really melted my heart to witness! She seems to equally love him as well! This month has been one of the sweetest of all my life! I’ve really been savoring the moments. Lilybelle is likely our last baby, so I’m just trying to enjoy her. I enjoyed all my babies, but it’s different this time around, maybe because now I fully grasp just how fast time goes with a newborn!

Lilybelle has been an absolute dream baby! She is so calm and content. She loves to be snuggled and quickly falls asleep in your arms. Baby girl has been sleeping through the night since she was 6 days old! She eats well and loves bath time. When she’s awake, she’s alert and looking all around. She has been the absolute perfect addition to our family and we are so very thankful she is ours!