Lottie's Birth

                            

hours old

Six years ago today, my daughter entered into our lives.  As with all my children, their birthday signifies another stage in MY life.  This is my blog, so everything is about ME.  Hence, even the births of my children are about me. 

This is Lottie’s birth.  It was a quick labor and delivery.   I woke-up around 4:22 am with contractions.  Scott was sleeping on the couch, due to my pregnancy snoring.  Luckily, I seem to only snore when I’m pregnant. 

I had about 4 contractions in 15-minutes and they were so painful, couldn't stand being alone, so I woke-up Scott.  

Around 6 am, we call our doula, Isabelle, who was with another client, so we ended up calling the back-up doula, Jodi.  We also called my girlfriend, Anne, who came over to watch a sleeping Chase. 

The contractions were so intense, I just wanted to go to the hospital for an epidural.  I rode in the car sitting backwards on my knees, holding on to the headrest because sitting on my butt seemed impossible.  I kept thinking, that’s what my girlfriend, Milly, did for her birth.  Luckily it was a short ride to the hospital and it was still early and no traffic.

We got to University of Michigan Mott’s Children Hospital around 7am and fortunately, I was 0-station, fully effaced and 6-cm.   My fear of going to the hospital is that I wouldn't be far enough along.  I was far enough along that they took me in from triage to the birthing room.  I had my eyes closed and it basically remained closed until it was all over.

At one point in triage, they asked what my pain management option was going to be.  My doula, Jodi, quickly spoke up and said, “I’m her pain management”  I loved that.  That’s exactly why she was there and I was glad to have her there.  We got into our room and to help things along, they suggested breaking my water.   I wondered if that would adversely affect things.  Would it be against my belief of natural childbirth, funny that came running through my mind then.  They said no, it would just speed things along.  Whew—the pain became more intense and what seemed unbearable.  Being somewhat delirious, I asked why it was so painful, and the nurse or midwife said, the bag of water served as a cushion for the baby’s head and now there was nothing.  I then regretted having my water broken.  Before I knew it and before I could really complain about the poor advice I was given, I was pushing... I recall my husband almost saying, “she’s almost here, just o-n-e…”  luckily he didn’t say it because 3-years earlier, he must have uttered that about 100-times and it wasn’t true until the 101-time.  In my mind or perhaps I did say it out loud, “don’t say that because it isn’t true.”  In about 6-pushes-- Lottie was here at 8:30am. 

Jodi (my doula) Lottie & me

She was more light-skinned than I expected and plumper.  She couldn’t regulate her body temperature, so she was on my chest, skin-to-skin contact.  That wasn’t enough, so they warmed her up.   She nursed like a champ.  We call her the ‘champion nurser of the family.’  Even though she hasn’t nursed in over 4-years, she is proud of that title, as she should be.

She weighed 7 lbs - 2 oz & 20 3/8" long. 

Lottie is short for Charlotte, but I’ve never called her that.  She’s always been our Lottie-Girl.   We wanted to give her to option of Charlotte and all it’s variation than getting stuck with a nickname.  We choose her name base on the nickname.  Thank you, Amy, who calls her daughter, Trixie, short for Beatrix, for giving me the insight to have fun nickname. 

Daddy, baby and big brother

My girlfriends, Anne and Sonia came to visit in the evening.   We chatted and laughed.  They brought me flowers.  These are women who I met in a moms group at Lamaze Family Center, when Chase was a baby.  Despite living away from Ann Arbor, I still consider them my dear friends.  Anne took Chase with her son to their preschool that morning.  Not until later, did I realize that Anne’s son’s birthday was the next day.   She had a delightful Easter birthday festivities for Noah on the weekend, which I didn’t attend, but Chase and Scott did.  I did get delicious food from the event.

If I could suggest a couple of things: hire a birth and a post-partum doula and join a mom’s group.  I feel like both those things kept my sanity.  Lamaze Family Center continues to have mom’s groups, which I did join after having Lottie and after Christopher’s birth.  It’s a group of women, who for the most part are experiencing a lot of the same things you at the exact same time.

Where has the 6-years gone?

Lottie 20-days old