Cecily Elizabeth

Our fourth daughter has arrived!  This is her story.

10 days before Cecily was born

I have been pregnant for 1,069 days.  Nearly 3 full years.  Over 152 weeks.  We are so lucky to have 4 healthy perfect babies.  This pregnancy was by far the easiest for me, physically. Although, unfortunately, having my gallbladder removed still didn't end up giving us a complication-free pregnancy.  As was the case with all my girls, I had some really terrible morning sickness for the first 3-4 months, but everything seemed to be trucking along just fine.  At the beginning of April (20 weeks) we went to the obstetrician for our routine anatomy scan.  We were delighted to discover we were having our fourth girl!  But, the next day we got a call that an abnormality had been found in the ultrasound and we were referred to the high risk specialists to figure out what it was.  

So, for the fourth time, we found our selves at the high risk clinic, full of questions and trepidation.  The abnormality was a 5cm chorioangioma--a tumor on the placenta--right where the umbilical cord attached.  For the next two months we went in every 7-10 days for another scan to make sure the baby wasn't developing hydrops.  The high risk specialist repeatedly emphasized the importance of carrying the pregnancy to 28 weeks to increase her chances.  It was an incredibly stressful and scary time for us.  Thankfully, we made it to 28 weeks without developing hydrops.  At that point, we only had to see the high risk specialists every 3 weeks to make sure that the tumor wasn't squeezing the cord, there was adequate blood flow and baby was gaining weight normally.  It often felt like every scan was a mix of good news and bad news, but, ultimately, she continued to grow well and the mass did not end up affecting her at all--praise God!  At 33 weeks, baby dropped down really low starting some preterm labor.  I spent a night at CDH and was administered steroid shots to help her lungs develop, as well as being told to be on bedrest through the whole month of July. 

The preterm labor was kept at bay and we were released from high risk care at 36 weeks, with instructions for weekly hour-long non-stress tests until delivery.

It really is labor!

After knowing the last two pregnancies would require a 37 week induction because of cholestasis, it was strange not knowing when this baby would arrive.  And by strange I am euphemistically referring to my growing insanity at wondering IF she would ever come out.  Those last 3 weeks of pregnancy drag by like intensely uncomfortable months and we were all so eager to meet this girl!
I had been experiencing frequent contractions for over a month, but never increasing in intensity and often just going away with rest and water.  On Tuesday August 6, while I was making dinner, Ed and I were talking about how Wednesday August 7 would be about the most inconvenient day for me to go into labor.  Of course, right at that moment, I started having painful contractions and some other signs of labor.  That night, the contractions became more intense and soon were easily timed at 3-5 minutes apart for several hours.  I started to think it was the real thing and I was wondering if I'd even be able to wait until the next morning to go in as the pains became more intense.  Then, after about 4 hours, it all just stopped.  Part of me was relieved to not worry about middle of the night child care or delivering on Wednesday when I knew it was slated to be a busy day for Ed, but another part of me was intensely frustrated to have gone through that pain for hours with no result and also made me doubt whether or not I would even recognize real labor--I was getting emotional.  Wednesday evening, the same thing happened, 4 hours of painful contractions, increasing in intensity and duration, and then nothing.  I was beyond frustrated.
But, Thursday August 8, the contractions were back in the morning.  And they kept getting closer together and stronger all day.  But I was also still able to walk around, do housework, and take care of the kids (although perhaps with a bit of a short fuse.)  By this point, I was convinced they would just go away again, like they had the previous 2 nights.  But, when we found out that our sitter's brother was getting married on Friday, we decided to go ahead and call my dad to come up Thursday just in case.  Thankfully, he was happy to help out and headed right up.
But, it's a bit of a drive from Indianapolis all the way up here, and I asked Ed to come home at 4:00 because I was feeling so crummy.  We decided it was time to stop by the hospital to get checked out, but I was fully expecting them to tell me it was too soon and to send me back home.
What a surprise to find out that I was already at 5 cm!!  It was definitely labor and I was quickly admitted to the hospital.  About an hour after I was admitted, my dad arrived at the house and took over making dinner for the girls and Ed headed over the the hospital to join me.  He arrived just as I was getting my epidural.
The labor progressed quickly, without too much pain.  I stalled for just over an hour at 8cm but was still feeling really good and barely noticing the contractions.
Then 9cm came.  And that was awful.  I closed my eyes and tried to tune out all the noises, I could feel everything and couldn't handle any more stimuli.  I was numb from about the bottom of my ribs to the top of my hips, but it wasn't enough anymore.
Ed was perfect, he knew me well enough to not pester me with chatter, to just sit and hold my hand and be there for me.  As things progressed, baby started having some alarming decelerations in her heart rate.  I knew she needed to be delivered, and the quicker the better.  But the little stinker decided to turn face up for delivery, just like Matilda.  Matilda took me 2 1/2 hours to push out, but the epidural actually WORKED with her.  Cecily was in distress, but was stuck.  I have never worked so hard in my life, but, with a vacuum assist she was delivered in under 15 minutes of pushing.  And yelling.  It was by far my loudest and most painful delivery.  I have never felt pain like that and I know Ed was scared.

Just born

But then she was here!  And that moment is indescribably beautiful.  She had her cord all wrapped around her arm and body, that was causing the heart rate decelerations.  But she had arrived and she was safe and gorgeous and healthy and perfect and, just like the first three times, we were instantly in love.  I held her and Ed cut the cord before she was taken away to be weighed and measured.  She was born at 9:13PM on August 8, 2013 (just about 4 hours after I was admitted to the hospital.)  She weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and was 20 inches long with a 35cm head circumference.  She was loud!  She yelled for nearly the first 2 hours of her life, before she got tired, took a good nap and has been pretty easy to please since.  

After her first bath--look at all that fluffy hair!

Her head full of downy soft fluffy black hair is so pretty and will make it easy to tell her newborn pictures apart from her sisters.  She's a good eater, only lost 9 ounces at the hospital, and is getting stronger and more alert every day.  And oh goodness does this baby love to snuggle and be held!

The day after she was born (about 14 hours old) the Bella Baby photographer came to do her portraits.  She is such a beautiful baby and this is always one of my favorite parts of the hospital stay because I so cherish these images and know how difficult it is to find the energy and time to set up quality shoots at home while she's still a newborn.

She posed with us and with the white blanket I knit for her while on bedrest in July.  I'm so glad I learned to do that.  Knitting for a baby I am carrying is so satisfying and calming and I feel like the texture is really beautiful in the pictures and love that my baby has something special, made with love, just for her.

Daddy, of course, was smitten from the start!  He spent the first night with us and came back to visit on Friday.  The hospital gave us a pair of special desserts--deep dish apple pie and chocolate cake to share to celebrate her birth.  And Ed made sure to pick up some champagne to toast with when we got home!

We named her Cecily Elizabeth.  I'd had the name Cecily in my head from very early on in the pregnancy.  Matilda actually picked her middle name.  Once we found out baby was a girl, Matilda and Evelyn were eager to suggest names.  While Evelyn's suggestions frequently changed and included such gems as "Keena" "Snack" and "Fork" Matilda consistently suggested Elizabeth.  She was so infatuated with the name and it paired beautifully with Cecily so we gave her the honor of helping name her youngest sister.  When Ed went home and told her the name, she was so excited!  She was shouting, "I knew it! I knew it!" and, indeed, she did know that it was very special that she was able to pick out that name; I hope it's something they'll bond over as they grow up!  Evelyn was still not sure.  She thought perhaps "Flower" would be a better name than Cecily, but once we actually introduced them, she's fully embraced Cecily Elizabeth and I often overhear Matilda and Evelyn talking about baby's name.

I prefer not to have visitors at the hospital, I'm so often woken up or "pestered" by a nurse or insurance administrator or, this time, even the hospital chef coming by with a survey, that I'd rather take the rest of my short time there to sleep, nurse and just get used to my baby (We were discharged 37 hours after she was born!) But, it's our tradition to have the older sisters come along to pick me up when it's time to come home so they will be the first to meet the baby.  The car was SO full with 4 carseats!  And the girls were so excited to meet their baby sister.  They remarked on her tiny size and her dark hair and how soft her hair and skin were and unanimously declared that she was very pretty and the best baby ever.

It was a treat to introduce her to my dad when we got home, this is by far the youngest he's met any of our girls, I think the others were all at least a month old.  And I'm so grateful for his help and willingness to come up with virtually no notice.  The girls had a great time and were very well cared for while I was away.

Since we've been home, Ed has been busy--he still has to meet the demands of school, check in at work and attend meetings every so often and has been taking the big girls out to burn off some energy and give Cecily and I some quiet time to rest.

Adelaide runs to Cecily's crib first thing every morning looking for baby and says "baby" clear as day.  She's also surprisingly gentle when she touches or holds baby, but can be predictably rough and wild when she's not paying attention to where baby is, so we have to watch out for that.
Evelyn can't get enough of our new baby, every time she gurgles or whines Evelyn wants to look and see what she's up to and asks to hold her dozens of times a day.  While she holds her she always asks the same questions "Why is her __ so tiny?" (because she's little) "Is she looking at me?" (yes) "Why is she smiling at me?" (because she loves you) "Oh! I love her, too!"
Matilda likes to sing her lullabies.  She's been surprised about the spit up and the umbilical stump (which fell off 2 nights ago, already! Just 8 days old!) and she's eager for baby to be ready to play with toys and likes to talk to her about all the things she can teach her to do when she's older.  She's also been a super star helper, brining me clean diapers, rocking the cradle and throwing away soiled diapers for me without a single complaint.

It feels wonderful to have Cecily at home with the family.  We are so blessed and so grateful!