A Visit from the Sugar Plum Fairy

The Fairytale...Memaw arrived on Thursday last week in preparation for our newest addition to the family. Her arrival and departure were all scheduled for before my due date. In fact, she was set to leave this Saturday, an entire week before the baby was due. I fully anticipated this little one to come somewhere around 38 weeks just like Wyatt and Addie, so when I was having contractions all weekend off and on I thought we could be in business. But Monday came around and off to the doctor I went for a scheduled appointment where he announced I was once again 3 cm and 80 percent effaced. Some of my friends would give anything to hear those words, but to me the dreaded 3 and 80 indicates I could be another week or so. With Addie I remember being 3 and 80 for two weeks before I delivered! So I left the office determined with a stop at Deirbergs for six oh so heavy gallons of milk and one very spicy and large burrito from Chipotle. By Monday night, no significant changes. So Tuesday we were off to West County to play at the mall and have some lunch. I was beginning to fear Memaw would come and go without her third grandbaby to hold and we would once again be left to stick the kids with some poor and unexpected neighbor late at night! We came home for naps and not to my surprise I was having contractions again...a regular occurance that had amounted to about nothing lately! However, this time from one to four they stuck around about ten minutes apart. Around 4:30 they picked up to five minutes apart. I cooked some dinner and David went for a run. We planned to leave for the hospital after we ate and said goodbye to the kids. At dinner, Wyatt announced to David that the baby was coming now! David asked. "Right now?" Wyatt replied, " No, Daddy, you have to go to the hospital and I will stay with Memaw!" He was quite excited to have us leave and get out the house so he could be alone with Memaw. So with a quick kiss to my belly for what we hoped would be the last time, we were off to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital only to be sent to the Women's Evaluation Unit (for all St. Louisans, you can breathe a dreaded sigh with me...I was not excited)! My stop here wasn't long and really went well. After answering what seemed to be a thousand question, seeming to be a liar as I stated I only had my ears pierced (all the while the nurse is staring at my sparkling nose with suspicion), I confessed I must be in labor or turning 30 this year because I also have my nose pierced and I just happenned to have forgotten! She then checked my progress. I told her that I was 3 and 80 the day before and when she completed the exam she looked at us and said, there is no way you are 3 and 80 and we thought I was going home for sure, but in an instant she said I was 5cm and 100 percent effaced. So off to labor and delivery I went. I didn't want my epidural to slow down labor so I told the nurse in l and d that I wanted to be checked since it had been an hour. She said I was already at 6cm but I told her I'd wait on the epidural. My next contraction was pretty painful, so I called her back in about ten minutes later and I got what was truly the best epidural. I never even felt the shot of local numbing meds they give before the actual epidural was administered. I felt relief quite instantly and things progressed from their. I went to 8 cm within an hour or so. The nurse gave the latest status and withing about ten minutes of her leaving, I told David that if she didn't return within a few minutes he needed to get her because I thought it might be time. She came in and made her final check and said that I was ready to push, so she needed to quickly call the doctor from home! So we then waited with the ob nurse, the baby nurse, and the emergency doctor in case my doctor didn't arrive in time. I wasn't in any pain, so we just sat around and tried to wait to push until the doc arrived. She quickly made it and I have to say, I began my easiest delivery yet. It was just a few minutes and uneventful until our surprise was delivered! I was able to reach for the baby and tell everyone what we had. They let me bring our sweet little GIRL up to my chest and hold her while the nurse suctioned!

After about one minute, she was not crying and turning more blue than any resemblance of pink and they whisked her away. I was still okay at this point. David went over to her station with her. He was slightly blocking her warming table, so I asked him to move. Minutes had passed and there were no real cries. Then David stepped back in my way and I knew something wasn't right. Well, worry not, our Lila is fine, but she gave us quite a scare for her first ten minutes of life. David said she was really blue and purple and it was quite scary watching her and just wanting to hear her cry! Apparently she swallowed a lot of fluid on the way out because the nurse pulled out 24cc's of fluid from her lungs. As soon as she started wailing, her color returned and I was able to hold her shortly after. David and I realized that after two pretty average deliveries with our first two who cried right away, you quickly realize when things aren't completely normal! We are thankful that she didn't take too long to get that big breath and all looks great now! And so, we have this little girl that we are eager to share with you all. As with each of our babes, they all get a nickname in their first few days of life. Wyatt was the turtle frog, named for his long neck he stretched around. Addie was our peach, and we still call her that today. So we kept wanting to call Lila our peach as well. Determined to give her own special nickname, we began naming blue and purple fruits in an effort to stick with her sisters fruit theme and the scare she gave her parents. We decided she would be our little plum. She is already a joy to hold and touch. We thank our God for bringing her into our lives. We can't wait for you all to meet our newest package from the Sugar Plum Fairy!
Lila Elaine Juelfs
7lbs. 1oz., 19.5 in.
March 25, 2008, 11:32pm