Birth Story

I am going to start at the beginning since that appears to be the most logical place to start. On Monday morning, I woke up at 3am and could not sleep. I felt nauseous and was not feeling Lydia move as much. I attempted to sleep in the guest room, the couch downstairs, and in the rocking chair in her bedroom. By 8am, I was still nauseous, but had felt her move a little more consistently and was able to sleep until 10:30. I woke up and ate 1/4 of a peanut butter sandwich and some watermelon wedges. I had a hard time getting any food in my system. By 11:30, I was concerned that Lydia's movement had decreased and my nausea was a pre-labor symptom. Dr. Birkholz had me come into the office for a non-stress test. The test is designed to determine how the baby reacts to contractions and to measure patterns in heartrate. Lydia was consistent in her heartbeat, but the doctor wanted to see more variablity in her heartrate. She decided to have me go to the hospital for a little more monitoring. She also suggested eating before I went to the hospital. To my shock, I was unable to eat my Avanti's Pizza Bread (note I didn't get grilled cheese and cheese soup even!). I think it was obvious I wasn't feeling well when I didn't devour my pizza bread, but even more shocking was when I couldn't finish eating my SMALL Dairy Queen twist cone. Luckily, my husband was happy to oblige to finish the cone for me.

We arrived at the hospital at 5pm. At this point, it was just to be monitored and I was not admitted yet. The nurse simply monitored my contractions and the baby's heartrate. She decided it would be a good idea to check my dilation and was excited to see I was dilated to 4cm already. At this point in time, I was having consistent contractions 5-6 minutes apart with very little pain or discomfort. She called the doctor and they determined that I would be admitted at 6:30pm. We called Gary, Denise, and my parents to tell them to start the journey to Peoria to meet their little granddaughter.

Once I was admitted, the nurse suggested getting an epidural. I had not planned on getting an epidural until later in labor, but the theory was that since we had some concerns with Lydia's heartrate, that putting an epidural in would better prepare me if we had to have an emergency c-section. In retrospect, I am SO happy I had the epidural. Within 1 hour, I was dilated to 6 centimeters and was progressing nicely. I continued to feel very little pain. At this point, I was still updating facebook and checking my email! Brett decided it would be a good time to give me my "push present." He gave me a Pandora bracelet that was personalized with Lydia's name! It is beautiful and perfect!

After I received the epidural, Dr. Luan came into to place a fetal heartbeat electrode on Lydia's scalp. This minimally invasive 'catheter' like contraption is designed to give a more accurate reading of the baby's heartrate- something we continued to need to monitor. While he was doing this, he also broke my water. It wasn't long after that that we went to 8cm.

I had developed a fever by this point and was nearly at 101 degrees. The nurses and doctor were obviously concerned about this, and I was given an antibiotic. They did not want this affecting Lydia or my ability to labor and deliver. At 1am, I was finally at the point where I found it difficult to avoid pushing. The sensation to push was intense. I began pushing at 1am and the nurses paged Dr. Luan. At 1:10 I had to "wait through" some contractions until Dr. Luan got to the hospital. By 1:15 he was there and at 1:19 Lydia was born.


Lydia weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful. The staff was concerned that she may have had an infection. After I was able to hold her for awhile, She was taken to the nursery for monitoring. This morning, the doctors decided that it was in her best interest to be transferred to the NICU at OSF to be monitored and recieve additional antibiotics to battle any infections she may have or develop. It was an emotional morning to kiss her goodbye to send her to Proctor. Although she has an excellent prognosis, she will be in the hospital for a week while they ensure she has enough medicine and any infections are avoided. Brett is able to go to the hospital and be with her. I will go as soon as I am released from Proctor.

In all, we have been very pleased with our experience at Proctor. The labor and delivery nurses were fabulous and I really felt comfortable here. I am looking forward to spending time with my little girl as soon as I am admitted and bringing her home in 1 week!