Thursday, January 16th, 2020
at 3:10 pm our precious
new addition,
Hadley Ruth Ryals
was born.
7 Ib 4 oz 20 in long
After a season of waiting and anticipating, our little family's world dramatically changed in a mere six days. We closed on our Rosebury home, moved in, and reached a place of feeling relatively settled just in time for Hadley to make her arrival.
It was a wild ride and we are so excited to share our birth story with you!
Wednesday, January 15th
was the date of my last OB appointment with Dr. McKenzie at OBGYN South for this pregnancy. I walked into the office feeling ready for some good news, a significant difference from previous appointments where we were praying for slow progress in hopes to move before going into labor.
My exam was disappointing, revealing that I was no closer to naturally going into labor than the previous two week's appointments. Hadley was still floating considerably above the birth canal. Because she had yet to lock her head into the canal, there was little pressure on my cervix. This meant that there was little dilating and "softening," which essentially just means that my body wasn't on board with the fact that I was nearly 39 weeks pregnant. An induction seemed to be the route we would be forced to take and I was so bummed! Dr. Mac encouraged me to wait another week in hopes that everything would progress on its own and performed a procedure called "stripping the membranes." This separates the amniotic sac from the uterus, releasing a hormone that tells your body it's "go" time.
Sometimes membrane stripping is effective and sometimes it's not... however in my case...
Thursday, January 16th, 5:45 am
I wake up Thursday morning feeling incredibly uncomfortable, achy, and definitely in denial! Zach usually gets up for work around this time and aims to leave at 6:15, so when he's sitting next to me on the couch as I moan in the fetal position, it would have been an appropriate time to ask him to stay... considering the indications of labor...
But, nope. I encourage him to head to work (a good 45 minutes from our new home) and promise to call if anything changes.
6:45 am
I'm laying on the couch when I notice that my water may have subtly broken. I stand up to go to the restroom and make it five steps into our master bath when a huge gush of water gets all over our brand new bathroom tile. My jaw hit the floor. I now run to the toilet and call Zach.
"Hey, pretty confident my water broke. I'm not saying we need to rush to the hosptial, but I do think that maybe you should work from home so I can labor here until it's time to go to the hosptial."
7:10 am
I'm still hanging out in the bathroom when I start noticing contractions. Things escalate quickly! Before my call with Zach, I was having no contractions; however, by the time he makes it home my contractions are at 2 and a half minutes to 3 minutes apart and are lasting 45 seconds to a minute. Holy Cow.
Panic ensues about the time I hear Hosea cry out on his monitor. How in the world am I supposed to warm up Mickey Mouse waffles and be having contractions at the same time?! I have a temporary emotional meltdown and call my mom because sometimes a girl just needs her mom REAL bad.
I proceed to text Zach:
"Water is everywhere."
"We need to go to the hospital."
"Please hurry."
"Also, call your mom."
Thank God for Life360. Ain't no shame in the stalking game!
I track Zach, my parents, and Zach's parents in between timing my contractions. Thankfully, Zay puts himself back to sleep, which I found a bigger relief than the time between contractions.
Zach rushes through the door.
"Look... *sobs*... at the water... *sobs*... it's everywhere." I proceed to start asking him to help get things together so we can leave.
My mom runs through the door, my dad giddy behind her. At this point, I'm on my knees by my bathroom counter attempting to blowdry my hair between contractions. Thank God for my momma. She takes over the blow dryer and kindly explains to me that maybe this isn't the best time for me to do my makeup as my contractions indicate Hadley's arrival could be closer than I anticipated and I could always do my makeup when I have an epidural. I wasn't thinking clearly... don't judge!
My in-laws arrive as Zach's loading up the car and I'm crouched down white-knuckling the master bedroom door frame. They take over Zay duty for us.
7:45 am
Mom and I are getting in the back seat of our car and Zach hops in the front seat, starts the car, and begins speeding down Rosebury.
My mom gets a text before we've left the neighboorhood from a friend down the street: "I just saw Zach rushing down the street with flashers on and the car packed! IS THIS IT?!" And this is the perfect picture of living in a small town. BAHAHA!
Amid my most painful contraction yet, my sweet... precious... cautious husband says: "any chance you could buckle your seatbelt, Lyd?"
To which I respond: "SHUT UP ZACH." I apologized for that later.
8:30 am
We pull up to the hospital emergency lane and I bolt to the elevator. As I walk, the flood gates open soaking my sweatpants. My slides squeak as skip-run to the elevator from the water that has dripped down my leg. I pass a very pregnant lady and take note of the horrified look on her face. I want to fake-smile and say "pregnancy is a beautiful thing!”
I arrive at L&D with Zach close behind. Thankfully, they're ready for me, rushing me back to where Dr. Mac is waiting to check me and see where we are at.
We were NOT crowning, despite how active my labor was. I am 2.5 centimeters and my cervix is fully ready for Hadley.
9:45 am
I'm in my delivery room and hooked up, ready to go. I have to be 3 centimeters dilated before they can give me an epidural. This means I continue to work through contractions for 2 more hours.
11:45 am
I received my epidural. With Hosea, the hardest part of the procedure was the local antisthetic. With Hadley, I could barely feel any of it.
I breathe through two more contractions before the epidural hits.
*Sidenote: so much respect for the woman that steps up to the completely natural delivery. I'm honestly your biggest fan.*
1:30 pm
We start pushing! Zach, my mom, and my sweet mother-in-law join the push party. I request a mirror to be in the room so that I can see what's going on "down there."
I'm not modest in the labor and delivery scenario so I feel comfortable being honest. The mirror helped me focus on "where" I need to push. Having an epidural makes pushing difficult because you can't feel where to put your energy. Visually seeing that my pushing is being effective is super helpful!
3:00 pm
Hadley's crowning and my incredible L&D nurse, (seriously, you become so attached to your nurses through the process. I love her.), tells me to relax as she calls in the delivery troops to finish out Hadley's arrival.
At this time, I can see Hadley's legs kicking in my stomach. As she kicks, her head pushes farther and farther out of the birth canal. My nurse is rushing around calling person after person from her work phone. Dr. Mac is nowhere to be found. The ER doctor on call runs in exhilarated. He stands there, eyes wide with a huge grin, obviously amazed at Hadley's self-delivery. Her ears are the only thing keeping her from popping out.
I try really hard not to sneeze, or move, or breathe.
Dr. Mac runs in. Removes his coat. Puts on gloves.
3:10 pm
I ask him if I should push, to which he responds "nope, I've got something for you."
And all of a sudden a tiny little girl with HUGE eyes is on my chest, staring at me right in the face.
She's beautiful. She barely makes a sound. I hear her breathing. I hold her hand. I praise Jesus and see Zach beaming at her and then me.
I verbally speak the five characteristics we have believed for Hadley:
She is joyful
She is temperate
She is beautiful
She is grace
She is kind
And she is all of those things come together in physical fruition.
All of our new baby love,
Lyd
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