She's Here!!

Lily Reese Crabtree
7 lbs 5 oz, 19 3/4 inches long
Born August 14th at 5:20 a.m



There's gonna be LOTS of pictures.....but first here is what happened!

All day Friday I was feeling a bit achy- more achy and crampy than normal. I went with a friend to the children's museum on Friday morning and I was chasing around my kids and lugging them around. At one point as we were walking to our cars, I stopped and sat right down on the curb and said "I think I'm gonna give birth right here in the parking lot." Of course I was being sarcastic, but I really felt lousy. I just thought it was "end of pregnancy aches and pains". I got home and immediately had to make a 30 minute drive to the hospital in Riverside to get monitored for the whole preeclampsia scare. They hooked me up and of COURSE, the contractions were a flat line. Nothing was going on... nada. Everything looked fine and I fought rush hour traffic on Friday afternoon to get home (took me over an hour to get home). On the way home I talked to my Grandma who was checking one me and I reassured her I was not having this baby any time soon! I got off the phone with her, walked inside my house, and my sister called. I picked up the phone and walked over to the sink to start loading the dishwasher. She was in the middle of telling me something and all of a sudden I felt a gush and my pants were soaked. I interrupted her and said, calm as day,

"Umm.. Katie? I think my water just broke." She of course started laughing and was like "WHAT?!" Then I started doubting myself and thought "could I have just wet my pants and not known it?!?!?!" But then I felt another GUSH and told her I had to go. I was completely calm, and in complete denial that it was actually happening. I walked outside where Scott was with the kids and announced "My water just broke. Or I wet my pants. I'm not sure which."

Scott immediately got excited and started making calls and scurrying around the house. I was frozen and just stood there. Brent was TEN days late. I thought there was NO possible way that I would be having a baby 2 weeks early. So I kept telling everyone that I MUST have somehow wet my pants! Everyone told me to knock it off and pack my bags. I was in so much denial that Scott and I left for the hospital and I didn't bring a THING. Nothing. I was convinced that this wasn't real and they would send me home.

So we got in the car and drove BACK to Riverside to the hospital. We got to Kaiser and indeed my water had broken. They hooked me up to monitors and I was having steady contractions, every 2-3 minutes. They were uncomfortable but not painful. I was dilated to a 4 when I got there and the nurses had to tell me 100 times that I WAS IN LABOR AND WAS NOT LEAVING. Then I started regretting not packing a bag!! Things from that point moved SLOWLY. From 8:00 that night to 2:00 am I had only dilated 1/2 cm. I went from 4 to 4 1/2. They decided to give me a tiny bit of pitocin to help things along but had to be very careful because I was having a VBAC. The nurses and midwife on call were all so supportive of my decision to VBAC and I was so grateful for that.

The nurse anesthetist came in sometime around 1 or 2 a.m to give me an epidural. By that point I was having contractions so bad that I thought I was going to die! The epidural only worked on the left side of my body. My right side was completely fine. The nurse anethesist explained that sometimes the catheter of the epidural can slip off to one side. The poor guy spent so much time and energy trying to make it right for me. Finally at 4:00 am, after laying on my right side for 2 hours hoping that the epidural would go over to the right side of my body, he said that he should probably just totally redo the epidural. I felt every single contraction- but only on the RIGHT half of my body! It was the craziest thing ever. I couldn't decide what to do and by 5:00 am he came in, looked at me while I was laying in bed crying, and said "let's just redo the epidural." I was sobbing, exhausted, and finally the nurse said "You know, we better check you again! Usually when women get to the crying point, it's time to push."

Needless to say, the epidural was never fixed. She checked me and I was at a 9 1/2. About 2 seconds later I told her I felt funny, she checked again, and said "It's time!" People came running in, they were setting up, and the nurse said "Let's do one practice push." I did a practice push and she said "WHOA!! Ok. Stop! You are going to be a one push kinda girl!" So the midwife got all suited up and they told me to push. ONE PUSH and her head was out. It was completely PAIN FREE, EASY as pie, and I was in SHOCK at how wonderful a delivery could go. My only experience was pushing out a 10 lb 8 oz Brent which was the equivalent of DYING, so I was literally amazed at how easy it was. They put her on me and I started saying "OH MY GOSH!! SHE LOOKS LIKE A PREMIE! IS SHE OK!?!?!?!" The nurses were laughing saying "Honey! She is a normal sized baby! Your first baby was a toddler; this baby is normal!" But I just kept saying over and over that it looked like she was only 5 pounds.

Anyway, it was AMAZING. I think the Lord had a hand in this- actually, I KNOW he did. The day after I had Lily, my midwife who was on call, came into my room and said "This was divine intervention that you had her on your own. We just got back the results of your latest protein test and your protein in your urine had gone up dramatically. We would have had to have taken the baby via C-Section this week (because you can't induce a VBAC)." My mouth fell open. What are the chances? I would go into labor, on my own, 2 weeks early, ONE DAY before the lab results came back showing that I would need a C-Section due to the elevated protein in my urine. TENDER MERCY for sure.

Lily is the sweetest thing ever. If I had not seen her come out of my nether-regions with my own eyes, I would think the nurse switched her at birth with a Mexican family. She is our little Mexican baby! That 1/4 of Mexican in Scott has come out with a vengeance in Lily. She has SO much thick black hair that I can't believe it! She also has a dimple on her right cheek- again, is this our baby???! We are so in love and so grateful for a wonderful experience. We also had the best nurses in the world that made the experience even greater.

And I'll stop rambling now! Here is what everyone wants anyway (my parents especially!) They have plane tickets to fly out here in 2 weeks because no one dreamt I would have her this early!






















MEANWHILE, back at HOME, Brent and Sophie anxiously awaited their new little sister. Thanks to Grandma for taking such good care of them!


























So far, so good as far as Brent and Sophie go. They don't seem to mind her at all. In fact, they FIGHT over who gets to hold her and Brent is a bit TOO in love with her. He is ALL over her. Sophie is very concerned when she cries and they both want to help with diapers, etc. Brent has been an emotional wreck today, though. I wonder if it's Lily or if it's just an off day! We are taking it day by day.

I'm so glad I'm not pregnant anymore and we are so glad we have been blessed with another beautiful baby girl.