My darling daughter, Lydia Marie, is here! My water broke at 2:30 AM on December 18th and just six hours later, I was holding her in my arms. What a whirlwind. I can hardly believe it still! Her due date was the 22nd and even though I knew it was possible she’d be late, the thought of still being pregnant at Christmas was more than I could handle. I wanted that baby here with us and honestly, I really wanted to not be pregnant anymore 😂

The week she was born, I had woken up in the middle of each night hoping to be in labor, but no. So Saturday night, we ate the same pasta bake we ate the night before Dempsey was born and lo and behold, at 12:30 AM, I briefly woke up and felt what I thought might be a contraction or two then fell back asleep and really woke up at 2:30 when my water broke. They broke my water for me with Dempsey, so I figured the same would happen with this baby. What a shock! I woke Joey up and the two of us headed downstairs to call our OB’s after hours line. I gave my info to the operator and got a call back from the on-call doctor a few minutes later. He told me most times when your water breaks contractions will start on their own in a couple of hours so to just hang out at home till then. We debated going back upstairs to try to get some sleep but neither of us felt like we’d be able to, so we started up Love Actually. About half an hour later, those contractions did start, so we called my mother-in-law so she could head over to stay with Dempsey. She got there just after 4 AM, so Joey and I finished packing up our hospital bag and left the house just after 5 AM when my contractions were starting to pick up. I was getting antsy to get to the hospital and I also kept having these gushes of amniotic fluid so I was ready to get in that hospital gown and not have to change into another pair of pants 😂 I called my mom on our way to the hospital to tell her it was about that time.

They checked us into triage and got monitors going on baby and I and then they did a cervix check (I was still 2 cm just like I had been two days before in the doctor’s office, which I was kind of disappointed by) and did a test to make sure my water really had broken. After that, they moved us into our labor and delivery room and checked my cervix again (3 cm! this time) and suddenly, it felt like my contractions kicked into high gear. I wanted that epidural right away! I truly don’t know how anyone has an unmedicated birth. Contractions are AWFUL. I had Joey pushing on my back and was hyperventilating a little so that I started to feel lightheaded and my hands were getting tingly but one of our nurses instructed me to take longer breaths and that helped so much. I had my eyes closed and was kind of in my own world trying to get through contractions that seemed to come one on top of another but Joey later told me the nurses seemed a little anxious for the anesthesiologist to get there already. She did finally come and got the epidural in as quickly as she could. It wasn’t quite the immediate and total relief I had with the epidural I got during Dempsey’s delivery but it definitely made the pain tolerable. As soon as the epidural was placed, I had another cervix check and I was at 9 cm!!! So I went from 3 cm to 9 cm in 40 minutes! Would not recommend.

The nurses told me I’d be able to take a nap but at 9 cm I didn’t think I had long before it was time to push and I was right. I think the doctor showed up ten minutes later and said it was go time. When I gave birth to Dempsey, I couldn’t feel ANY pain, but I could still feel the pressure of contractions, so I knew when to push. With this baby girl, I could still feel the contractions PLUS I could actually feel her coming. It probably sounds like my first epidural was preferable but I think it was kind of motivating to know how close she was. I was able to reach down and feel her head at one point and then a few minutes later (I pushed for 20 minutes total), I felt the rest of her come out and next thing I knew she was on my chest and I got the shock of my life when I saw all her dark brown hair! I had pictured Dempsey with brown hair and then he came out a curly little blondie so I figured the same would happen with this baby, but no! I don’t have any memory of delivering the placenta with Dempsey but I felt this one come out and not going to lie, it felt kind of gross. I had a first degree tear, so the doctor stitched me up real quick and I hardly noticed because THERE WAS A NEWBORN IN MY ARMS 😍🥰🤍 Someone (though I can’t remember who) asked her name and I looked at Joey and he said “go for it!” because we’d had the name Lydia in mind for months and even though we had a few other choices on our list, to me, she’d been Lydia all along 🤍

We had time to order and eat the saddest hospital breakfasts of all time before they moved us all to our postpartum room. Lydia got weighed and measured and outdid her brother by coming in at 6 pounds 11.4 ounces and 20″ long. She was awake for about an hour after her birth, which was so fun, and then she went right to sleep. I could not get her to latch all day long and after our experience of low blood sugar with Dempsey, I was sort of worried but our nurse said that was normal and said even an attempt to feed her counted. She did finally latch toward the end of the day and so far, our breastfeeding experience has been about 100x easier than with Dempsey, hallelujah! In fact, our entire hospital stay, was super stress-free. It felt like we had doctors and nurses and lactation consultants in and out of our room every half hour with Dempsey and I thought that was just standard but I guess it was all because of his low blood sugar.

We hadn’t planned to have anyone visit us until we were out of the hospital, but once she was born, we were too excited not to share her! My parents came first and what a sweet moment to see them with their granddaughter 🤍 Afterward, Lori brought Dempsey over. Joey went downstairs to meet them and bring them up and I got to give my boy a big old hug before Joey walked him around to the bassinet to meet his baby sister. I think he was more interested in the buttons on my bed (and he hit the call button so that the nurse came in 😂) but he didn’t seem to mind her at least. Lastly, after seeing the depressing picture of our breakfast, my sister and Wayne offered to bring us dinner and got to hold her for a little bit. She wasn’t a fan of sleeping in the bassinet that night so Joey and I took turns holding her while the other one slept. We were discharged the following day at noon and now, boom, we are a family of four!

In the 11 days since she was born (how has it only been 11 days but how has it already been 11 days??), Lydia has had visits from her grandparents, aunts and uncles, great grandparents and a few of our cousins, celebrated Christmas, taken a million naps, had a million diaper changes, been held and kissed by her big brother and just been such a sweet and cuddly girl. I am just so terribly in love with her. The first few nights at home she seemed to have her days and nights mixed up and wanted to cluster feed from 10 PM to 3 AM but we are on track now and she will sleep really well in her bassinet, waking up (or being woken up) to eat every three hours. Dempsey has his moments (I think he saves the worst of it for Joey 😋) but for the most part, he’s dealing with this major life change really well. He’s been so sweet with his baby sister, wanting to help with every diaper change and waking up every morning asking to see her in her bassinet. My recovery has been super easy and mentally, I feel a lot better than I did the first time around. I think the ease of breastfeeding for a second time and also just not being under any illusions about how much time Joey would be able to take off or how clean the house would be or how much rest I would be able to get has really helped. Also, not being pregnant is the best!!!! Endlessly pleased over my ability to bathe my toddler, bend over and pick things up, zip my jacket, eat without fear of heartburn. It all feels amazing! I’m tired and sometimes I could use an extra set of hands, but I’m really loving being a mama of two 🥰