Home Is Where The Heart Is: Lily's Birth Story

Lily was born July 18, 2013 at 9:22am. We chose to have a repeat c-section (big sister Ava was born via c-section 3 years earlier due to being a footling breech) because we had a fantastic experience with our last c-section and there were several factors that made the possibility of a successful VBAC doubtful. We found out I was 100% effaced at 36 weeks and my doctor wasn't sure I'd make it until my scheduled surgery at 39 weeks, so we were a little anxious that our sweet girl would arrive early. We had carefully planned all of Ryan's paternity leave (3 whole days) and vacation days around the 18th, as well as my mom coming into town to stay with Ava, so we were very hopeful that the baby would stick to the plan! And she did. Already such a good girl :) We arrived at the hospital bright and early at 7am (not that I would have been able to sleep in anyways) and the surgery began at 9am. All went smoothly and we just chatted with the anesthesiologists until I heard a little baby crying, and someone exclaim, "You are NOT little!!" A couple seconds later, Lily was lifted above the curtain and I cried. She was so beautiful and precious! Right away, we could tell she was a blondie. The nurses began cleaning her up, weighing her (whoever said she wasn't a little baby was right-- she came in at 8lb 15oz.), and those sorts of things, until she was handed to Ryan to hold while they finished stitching me up. We were both so happy to finally have her here with us. I was especially excited when we moved into recovery and I got to hold her for the first time. The delivery was pretty pleasant and a good experience, minus a few pain management issues. The epidural was placed incorrectly, so after the spinal block from the surgery wore off, I wasn't getting any pain management. The nurses weren't really taking my pain complaints seriously and didn't want to call the doctor, but Ryan stepped in and made sure the problem was fixed. Most of our hospital stay was just spent soaking up our time getting to know our sweet little girl. We named her Lily, after the song "Lily's Eyes" from the musical "The Secret Garden," which we saw on one of our first dates during our whirlwind summer romance. Since then, Ryan has performed this song many times and I still go weak in the knees every time he sings it. Her middle name, Anna, is from Ryan's mission to the Baltics. It's a popular Russian name, which is the language he spoke while in the Baltics. Lily is such a sweet and peaceful baby and reminds us a lot of her big sister, Ava, except for the blonde hair (Ava had dark hair as a baby, although she is blonde now). We were so delighted to finally meet Lilyand welcome her into our family! We are so very much in love!!

6:45am. Off to the hospital!

Awesome surgical garb:

Holding Lily for the first time, right after the surgery:

Ava arrives a few hours later to meet her little sister. She burst into the hospital room so excited, asking, "Where is our new baby?!!" She adores her and keeps saying, "I love Lily! She is sooo cute!"