LEVI'S BIRTH STORY!!

DADDY AND HIS BOY:)

SO VERY THANKFUL FOR THIS PRECIOUS GIFT.... FINALLY IN MY ARMS!!

OUR GREAT DOCTOR...

AHHHHH.... TO FINALLY HEAR THAT PRECIOUS CRY!!

OUR FIRST FAMILY PICTURE WITH LEVI:)

I have to say right off the bat that God was more gracious than I could have imagined the day we had Levi...

I do also want to say that being a previous doula and natural childbirth instructor this post may give too much information... but I will try my best to make it child friendly as I know my sweet nieces will be reading:)

LEVI'S BIRTH:

They put me on a low dose of pitocin Sunday night because they figured he was head down. They continued to bump that up just a little each hour over night and then at 5 am they were bumping it up by bigger increments each half hour. I had such a hard time sleeping overnight... but I think I managed to get in a few hours. I think my mind was totally on overload and the contractions were probably 5 minutes apart, but were totally manageable.

My wonderful doctor came in around 7 and right away asked, "They did scan you last night to make sure he is head down right??" I told him that they hadn't for some reason. He did that right away and confirmed that Levi was indeed head down. I was so thankful that God did the turning and we didn't have to even venture down that path...

I was around 3-4 cm so he tried to break my water. Greg and I had to laugh because I notoriously have a strong bag... Honestly it took probably 5-10 minutes for him to break it... And even then he wasn't sure he had gotten it... but with time and a few contractions it was quite obvious that he had gotten it done:)

I know that I said it before, that because of my total concern over Levi and the pregnancy in general that I hadn't really prepared for the labor and delivery itself. I really went into it just praying that God would help me make the right decisions as far as pain meds and everything. I have had natural births that were beautiful before and epidural births that were wonderful too. I wasn't sure what I could handle with the pitocin and really I was more concerned about how I would be emotionally this go around.

That being said, I got an epidural around 10:30 am. I was 5-6 cm. dilated. I wasn't sure what to expect. I figured the labor would go quickly seeing as it was our 6th delivery. But I have never been induced this early at 37 weeks. In fact all my babies have been after my due date, from one day late to 12 days late. This was just sort of slow and steady the whole time.

One major blessing was that Levi's heartrate was really stable for the most part. We only had one time where he was having some decels during and after the contractions... man it seemed to get way too slow for my liking, but they were still ok with it. They did have me switch sides and then he liked that much better. Besides that short bit... he had a strong steady beautiful sounding heart beat the whole time. That was such a gift from God as I could hear that he was doing great in there:)

Around 1:00 p.m. my doctor came in to check on me. I was 8 cm. dilated. He left to do another delivery. Around 2:40 ish the nurse check me and said I was complete. This is where I am just in awe of how God allowed things to work out so beautifully for me.

The nurse asked me to give a little push and when I did she told me, "STOP... don't push, don't sneeze, don't cough... we saw the baby's head." She called for the Doctor to come back over. He was just in his office which is attached to the hospital. He rushed over.

(I distinctly remember with the birth of Samuel when they said I could push, I totally broke down... I just couldn't do it. I wasn't ready to meet him knowing he wasn't alive. Greg prayed for me and then we heart breakingly pushed and delivered our still son)

This time was SOOOOO VERY DIFFERENT! When my doctor came in, the nurse quickly told him that he NEEDED TO HURRY, that the babies head was coming. I clearly remember my doctor saying if he didn't get gloves on he was good. I remember asking Greg to pray... and he just snuggled right up to my ear, grabbed my hand and prayed for Levi and me. Literally I didn't even need to push, his little head just slipped out. I gave the tiniest push for his shoulders and out he slid. It was so very peaceful. It was absolutely perfect. And then we heard that beautiful cry... it was music to my ears...

God was so gracious to make this its own beautifully wonderful experience for Greg and I. I have ALWAYS said over and over again... that Levi is his own precious person... totally separate from our Samuel... but I feared for how Samuel's birth would affect me this go around. Honestly, in the moment it wasn't even an issue. Levi's birth was so healing for me. I couldn't have dreamed for it to go any better. God showed His faithfulness to us in such a precious way on Levi's birthday and I am so grateful!

The only thing that could have been an issue with Levi's delivery was that I had a small abruption that probably occured minutes before he was born. Basically that is when a part of the placenta separates before it is supposed to. In our case it was fine because we were already delivering then... but if you have a complete abuption prior to delivery it can be catastrophic for mom and the baby. We are so thankful that it was just small and that it occured when it did where we could be exactly where we needed to be had it caused any complications... which it didn't at all, to Greg and I, there just seemed to be a bit more blood than usual.... praise God for His protection!

They put him right up on my chest and Greg and I just marveled at how small and perfectly created he was. I have to tell you the minute I saw him... from the very first second... he just totally felt like our baby. There was not one single feeling different for me than the other 5 I have delivered. All the worry and fear for Levi's life that I had over the last 9 months, totally disappeared in that instant. I had wondered if when it was born it would feel any different than my other kids because he was an adopted embryo and not genetically ours... but honestly even now if it weren't for the fact that I am completely in awe of God's miraculous work in Levi's life to get him to us as an adopted embryo... I would have to remind myself that he isn't genetically ours.

I look at him and he looks like the other kids... Our donor mom has said on more than one occasion that Levi looks like me. I think that is so funny and wonderful at the same time. God is so good to do that all, it is like a cherry on top for me.

So that is the story of the day that our precious Levi entered this world. I am so thankful that God wrote it for us... I could not have had it go any better if I tried... He is so good to us!

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Greg and I went out tonight to hit Walmart and get a bite of dessert with the little guy! We talked over many heavy things. I am so thankful to have such a loving and supportive husband. Due to circumstances, Greg was only able to get off the day that Levi was actually born. He is such a hard worker and I am so grateful for that... but I have missed him like crazy. This is not at all how we thought the last week would go... but God has been faithful there as well, to provide the listening ear of friends when I needed them when Greg just could not be available. And truly I am really fine with that. I know that his job is one where sometimes things just come up and there are other circumstances that have to take priority. I know we are all looking forward to being able to spend some long overdue time together celebrating that Levi is here safe and sound. Having a baby in the house has been a long time in coming:)

There are so many emotions that have come up since having Levi... it is like emotional overload at times for me. I am sure that the hormones don't help either:) I will try to post about that soon.

My mom leaves this Wednesday... we will all be sad to see her go. She has been an unbelievable help to us all. At this point, I am not quite sure how it will go with her gone... I know it won't be long and we will get into a new groove. I am thankful to have older kids that can help out so much.

But for right now... we are savoring every precious moment we have together. I am not sure that there are enough hours in the day for all of us to get in enough loving on this little guy!