I have always been in labor during c-section prep, so this was a change for me. Everything was very relaxed, and I felt very good during the entire process. Before we left for the OR Jordan and I prayed together over the surgery and over the life of our unborn child. I knew many had been praying for us and our baby, and I was fully confident that everything would go well.
The surgery took a long time. I think it was something like an hour and a half. I had a lot of scar tissue and my OB wanted to take her time so she wouldn't damage anything. And while nothing went wrong, they began to worry that the spinal would wear off and they warned me if that happened I would need to be put under. Obviously I didn't want that, but I understood the situation. Luckily it didn't come to that, a few minutes later at 10:45am our 4th baby girl came wailing into the world.
I didn't see her at first, they took her over to be dried, weighed, and measured. "Your baby has black hair, Hannah!" one of the nurses shouted, "And lots of it!" They brought her back to me and placed her against my chest for skin to skin. She was with me about 3 minutes after her birth. This was a huge deal to me. In the past, my babies were taken from me within minutes back to the nursery where I didn't see them again for an hour or so once I got into recovery. This made having a c-section okay. As soon as they gave her to me she stopped crying, and I could feel all those good hormones being released as I held her. I just kept looking at Jordan and telling him how perfect it was. Despite the surgery, despite everything, her birth was perfect.
We even tried at one point to nurse right there in the OR, but she didn't have much interest. I just continued to hold her and kiss her and tell her how much I loved her. They took her away before they wheeled me into recovery so that she could be wrapped in a blanket and she was not too happy about it. But as soon as she was with me she calmed. Being able to be with my baby within minutes of her birth completely changed the experience and provided me with some much needed closure. I no longer feel like I missed out on something by having a c-section. I didn't need a natural childbirth, I just needed to be with my baby.
Once in my room she stayed against me, and a few minutes later she decided to latch on and nursed for two hours, stopping for a few minutes here and there to snuggle. Perfection. Absolute perfection.
We named her Lydia Robin. Lydia was a woman in the Bible who sold purple, and was the first European convert to Christianity. We had never talked about the name with my other pregnancies but it got stuck in my head very early on and I convinced Jordan that it was her name. I've seen a few meanings, my favorite being "beauty", but most often I see "standing pool". I think the name is just beautiful, and it suits her so well, especially since we can call her Itty Bitty Liddy (she was by far our smallest baby; 6 pounds 3 ounces, and 17 1/2 inches long. She was about 5 1/2 pounds when we left the hospital). Her middle name, Robin, is for her great grandfather, Robert. 10 days before her birth Jordan's grandfather was killed in a house fire. He was an incredible man, a three war veteran, and when we learned of his death we knew we wanted to honor him. Robin means "bright fame". So many times robins symbolize the coming of Spring, the welcoming of new life, and it is so fitting of this tiny baby entering the world days after her great grandfather left it.
So far she is a very easy baby. She is sleepy and eats well and doesn't wake up much during the night. I have only heard her cry when she's hungry or in need of a snuggle. She has made my difficult recovery much easier by being the best baby I could possibly hope for. We are head over heels in love with her.
Welcome to the world, sweet Lydia Robin. We love you so much.
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