Lucy Ann Starbuck

 

 Two days before delivery.

A week before Drew got home I was really sick. I had been to Labor & Delivery twice with fever and severe itching. They took some blood and sent it off to the lab. I called the doctors office every day for over a week looking for answers and relief from my itching. They had sent the blood to specialists to be tested. Drew got home. The next day my results came in and the doctor called and wanted me to come in right away. We made the 30 minute drive out to Silverton and they immediately hooked me up to a non-stress test to monitor the baby. The doc came in and told me I had a liver disease that occurs in the later stages of pregnancy called Cholestasis of Pregnancy. Basically, instead of the liver bile breaking down fats the liver dumps the bile into the bloodstream, which then crosses over into the placenta and is poisoning the baby. The doctor was leaving town the next day (Friday) but told us to come back for another appointment on Monday morning with the new doctor who had just finished her residency. We worried all weekend, I received blessings and we prayed... a lot. I had this haunting feeling that I would be delivering a still born, which is one of the biggest concerns with Cholestasis patients. We went to my appointment on Monday and the doctor said we needed to take the baby out immediately and that they were willing to slowly induce me so I could still try for a VBAC. We were told to come to the hospital the next morning at 7 am for the induction.

 

When they said they would slowly induce me, they meant it. It was soooo slow. But they needed to do it slowly to ensure that I wouldn't have a ruptured uterus or a baby in distress. They started my pitocin at 8:30 and I started having contractions immediately.  I walked those hospital hallways about a hundred times, it felt like. The doctor came back at 12 to break my water. My contractions were so painful and I finally got an epidural at 1:45. I was dilating very slowly, which they expected. So we just settled in to wait.

Finally, at 8:30 I was feeling tons of pressure and just needed to push. I pushed for 30 minutes and there she was.

 She was born at 9:08 pm.

 

 

She came out and didn't even cry! Her eyes were just wide open and she looked at each person in the room. She never did cry despite the nurses trying everything they could to get her to cry and clear out her lungs. She was wide awake for 4 hours just looking at everyone and everything around. They put her right on my chest and we did skin to skin for an hour. She nursed right away.... it was such a wonderful moment.

 

We stared at each other for hours. 

 

  

Drew was so excited for his turn to hold her. She reached right up and touched his face the first time she saw him and just stared into his eyes. 

 Grace is obsessed with "UUUcy". It has been an interesting adjustment but each day is getting better. Grace is so used to getting all of the attention that this was a big shock for her.

I am so grateful for the experience I had with this birth, especially with the experience I had at Silverton Hospital. I would seriously fly to have all of my children here, that's how wonderful it was. We are so excited and blessed to have our Lucy here and are so grateful she was healthy and didn't need any time in the NICU. We love you, Lucy Ann.