Lilly's Birth Story

Lilly Ann Ireland was born on January 29th at 1:16pm. She weighed in at 8lbs 2oz (which is quite amazing considering the worry our doctors had about her weight gain throughout the last half of my pregnancy) and was 20.5 inches long. She is such a wonderful addition to our family and we couldn't be happier that our family has grown by another sweet little girl!

So, this pregnancy was unlike the other two we have experienced. We moved to the Chicago area half way through my pregnancy and I quickly found a Doctor. During my second visit (October 31, 2013) with my new OB, I had an ultrasound. This u/s was in part, due to the fact that at my 20 week scan in FL there was a cyst seen on Lilly's brain. This was of LITTLE concern for two reasons: 1.) Avery had the same thing and by the next u/s with her, it was completely gone. and 2.) this is a fairly common (so I'm told) thing and usually resolves on its own. My Dr. in FL was not concerned because this cyst was not accompanied by certain criteria that makes it something to worry about.  SO- since we had already been through this with Avery's pregnancy, I wasn't super concerned. The new Dr. in Illinois wanted to do another u/s to check the status of this cyst and PRAISE THE LORD... it was gone! (Just like my FL doctor said it would be!) I guess since it was my first ultrasound at this practice, they decided to do a full anatomy scan just so they would have all the information they needed. This quickly turned into a day I will never forget. The Doctor came into the room after reviewing the information from the ultrasound and told me that she was worried that Lilly wasn't growing the way she should be. She was above the 10th%, but certain parts of her body were small. Her femurs were measuring in the 2nd% and her head was also measuring small. The doctor referred me to a high risk doctor and I had to then wait 5 days for that appointment and it was TORTURE!!! We finally made it to the high risk doctor and after an hour long ultrasound, we were told there was nothing to worry about. She was measuring small, but her bone structure looked great. The doctor explained to us that her measurements would be a cause of concern for dwarfism or down syndrome earlier in the pregnancy, but by the time I saw the high risk doctor I was in my 3rd trimester and babies begin to develop at different rates and she was just measuring smaller.... which was no surprise to the Dr. after seeing that Chris and I are both rather small individuals. He said that he would be concerned if we were 6 feet tall, but clearly, we're not! He was guessing she would be a 7 pound baby- but probably no more than 7lb4oz!  It was a relief, to say the least, to hear that the high risk doctor did not want to see me again. He did recommend that I have another standard ultrasound around 36 weeks and I did. The doctor was concerned, again, about her size because she was measuring at least 2 weeks smaller than she should be. SO.... from that point on, every Monday, I would have an ultrasound and would be hooked up to the monitor to check on her each week. Every week she was perfect and the doctors kept guessing that she was just going to be a small baby. They estimated that she would be around 6lbs 10oz. (ha!!)

Fast forward to delivery day!!!!

Our last picture as a family of 4!!! This was taken just before we left for the hospital! 

8:00 am: arrival

8:40: Pitocin started and antibiotic given through IV
9:00: Palms and Head started to itch = allergic reaction to the Vancomycin (antibiotic)
         ~ This reaction lead to the Dr's decision to stop my antibiotic. I received only 50 out of the 200+ ml that I was supposed to get. As a result, their was now a concern for Lilly's health and there would be a possibility she would need to go directly to the NICU. My OB spoke with the neonatologist who said that sending Lilly to the NICU was not necessary, but she would be under close observation for 48 hours after delivery and would need extra blood work done during our hospital stay.
10:30: The Dr. broke my water
11:30: Epidural
12:05 pm: 9 cm
12:58: 10 cm
1:10: Started Pushing
1:16: Lilly arrived!!!!  This was the scariest minute of our lives. The cord was wrapped around Lilly's neck one time and she came out blue/purple and completely unresponsive. Things quickly changed to a more stressful situation and the Dr. was now rushing to get Lilly out and to the table. She cut the cord and passed Lilly off to the neonatal nurses. They had her crying and pinked up within a minute of delivery, but it was still the scariest minute of our lives. Chris was able to cut more of her umbilical cord at the table and she was weighed and cleaned up before I was finally able to hold her.

Did I mention that we were a little nervous about having a Chicago baby in the middle of winter for fear of a blizzard... yet it was a beautiful day and that same day GA and FL were shut down due to snow and ice. Who would have ever guessed it was going to be better to have her here rather than in FL where we wouldn't have been able to cross the bridge to get to the hospital because it was closed due to ice!?!?

God certainly had His hand in this pregnancy.

We are so thankful to God for protecting her and keeping her safe throughout the pregnancy and delivery. He taught us a lot during these 9 months leading up to her birth and we have really learned to rely on Him more.