Finally...Introducing Lydia

We are so happy and grateful to have added another member to our family. Lydia Marie Snedaker (we've been calling her Lyddi) was born three weeks ago on February 16th at 2:12 pm. She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. We have loved having her in our family... three kids is busy but we're enjoying it. I'm finally getting around to posting pictures and telling the story of the day she was born.

First let me say, that for lots of different reasons, I wanted to go into labor on my own this time (I've never done it before) and I wanted to have this baby naturally. In a nutshell, because of some weird health things that I've dealt with, especially after Kambri was born, our family has made some changes. We have completely changed the way we eat and try to follow a whole foods diet...but that can be a post for another day. For now, I'll just say that even before I was expecting this baby, I knew that I wanted to do things differently than I had done previously...so Dave and I decided that we wanted to have her naturally. So I read a number of books about natural childbirth and hoped it would be enough to get me through it!

So with that short background, we'll go back to the Monday before Lyddi was born...she was due on the upcoming Saturday, Feb. 18th. On Monday, I had a doctors appointment and hadn't progressed any more from the previous appointment. My doctor didn't pressure me to be induced, but she was slightly concerned because I wasn't measuring any bigger and she had already been concerned a few weeks earlier because she felt like I was measuring small...she said that if I made it to the next week we would need to run some tests. So I went ahead and scheduled an induction for Friday, just hoping and praying that I would go into labor on my own before then or that if I was okay to wait until the next week, the hospital would be full and not have room for me on Friday.

Thankfully, on Thursday morning, things got moving. At about 4 am that morning, I woke up having contractions that felt different than my usual Braxton Hicks contractions. They were about 10 minutes apart. When Dave's alarm went off at 5:30, I told him I thought he should stay home from work. We got up, got showered, and then I went for a walk outside trying to keep things going. The contractions weren't consistent...sometimes 15 minutes apart, sometimes 3 minutes apart. We decided to go ahead to the hospital and luckily my mom was already here with us to tend the kids. Here are the kids' pictures before we left...they were so excited...and I was worried about them being excited because I thought the hospital might send me home!

Here I am before we left. In this picture pretend my eyes are open. And in all following pictures of me, pretend I have make-up on and that my hair is done:

We got to the Riverton hospital at about 9 am and they sent me into a room to be checked. Thankfully, I was dilated to a 6 so the charge nurse said, "today is the day!" She then introduced me to the nurse that would be with me and we were off to a labor and delivery room.

My nurse was great...and so funny. She started talking to us about the epidural and I told her that I didn't want an epidural. She said, "okay....um...why?" So I just said that it was something I decided I didn't want to do this time and she said something like this: "Okay....okay....this will be great. Now it can complicate things because we don't have as much control over everything and the doctor may not get here in time if you go fast...but this will be great. We'll just do it and it will be fine and things will go great." I was surprised she seemed to be so hesitant because I know I'm not the first to go without an epidural...I know quite a few people who have done it. But anyway, we got situated and put on some relaxing music and we started the waiting game!

Our nurse came in a little later and said something like this: "Now, I've let the anesthesiologist know you are here...I told him you didn't want an epidural...but just so you know, he knows that you are here...but you'll do great. I'm sure everything will be fine and just be great, but I just wanted you to know that he knows you're here." So I kind of chuckled and told her thanks...and we went back to listening to our relaxing music (btw, I really thought the music made all the difference) and I read my book as the contractions started getting stronger.

At noon my doctor came (it was her day off, but so good of her to come). I hadn't progressed much, I was at about a 7, and she went ahead and broke my water. She then said that she had to go pick her kids up from school but she would be right back...if anything happened the on-call doctor would take care of me. The contractions started getting much stronger but still very manageable. At one point when I was having a particularly strong contraction, Dave and the nurse (originally from Denver) started having this heated discussion about the Denver Broncos and I lost my relaxation focus for a minute and got a little agitated, but then I was fine. I like to tease Dave about his making me lose my focus as he discussed the Broncos...I never realized before how much concentration it takes to relax!

At about 2 pm the contractions got much more painful, but I still hadn't progressed much past 7 cm. My doctor came in and recommended that we try a little "trick." She had me lie on my side and bend one leg, keeping the other straight... and that did the trick...suddenly I was fully dilated. I pushed through 2 quite excruciating contractions and she was born at 2:12! She started crying immediately and I held my little Lydia right away. She had dark hair like Kambri did at birth (my girls love to sport the mullet look at birth...not much hair on top, but lots in the back), but her face looked a lot like Parker's did. She looked perfect. I was amazed that the pain subsided immediately after she was born and I really felt so good. Here we are:

Here I am with Dr. Langer:

And with the nurses/Dr. Langer:

Soon after, I was able to get up and walk to the bathroom. My cute nurse said, "I just knew this would be great...and this is why I like natural childbirth, because you feel so well afterwards...see how you can just get up and get around. This is just really great." We really did love our nurse...she made us laugh and treated me so well. She took us to our recovery room and she passed us off to another nurse. I feel so grateful that things went as well as they did in the delivery. I felt like our prayers were answered and I was able to do it naturally...I feel grateful that the most painful part was quite short and it really was an overall good experience.

Here is Dave, father of three with the kids! Poor Dave did all the picture taking and didn't make it into many pictures. He was so helpful, supportive, and calm through everything. He is a great dad.

Here are the grandmas that came to visit us at the hospital:

Here's the proud big brother Parker. He takes his big brother role so seriously and has been so helpful. I obviously was not paying attention during this picture...because I promise I don't usually allow the kids to hold her upside down.

Here's the proud big sister...and she really is excited to be a big sister. Cute Kambri can't say her r's yet so she is always telling everyone that she is a big sista. My favorite Kambri quote: "When I was a little sista, I use to wear diapers. But now I'm a big sista so I wear underwear." We love and are so proud of our potty-trained big sista!

Here's another of our cute Lyddi:

Here she is at home, meeting Grandpa S. for the first time.

And here are a couple more pictures of our little Lydia Marie. We love how she frequently has her eyes wide open looking around. She gives us the sweetest, most innocent little faces. We just love her!!

And one more picture of her first bath at home...you can tell she didn't love it...but gotta make a record for posterity, right?