Vivian Ruth!

At 4:29 pm on 5/3/18 we got to meet our Vivian Ruth.  She weighed in at 6 lb 4 oz and was 19 inches long. What an incredible and redemptive birth story.  

We had a repeat c-section planned for May 7th but I woke up just after midnight on May 3rd and knew it would be the day we’d meet our girl.  I didn’t wake Scott up until around 4 because I didn’t want to keep him up all night.  We headed in around 5 am and I was super bummed to be only 2 cm after 5 hours of painful contractions.  But the contractions were close enough that they kept us there.  I was 4 cm at the next check (and ready for my epidural!).  I’d been worried about trying to have a VBAC but since things were progressing well we decided to not continue with the c-section but to try to labor instead.

I had the dream team of labor support.  I feel so grateful!  I had Scott and my mom with me all day.  I had a nurse who really advocated for me and a midwife who was so present and kind along with a midwife student.  I couldn’t have asked for better people around me.  I had a lot of fears about labor (since we’d spent both of my pregnancies trying everything we could to AVOID going into labor it was hard to relax into the process) so to have such encouraging support was a gift.

By 3 pm I was fully dilated and by 4:29 we were holding our girl.  The midwife asked me how I would feel about my mom catching the baby and the only thing I could say was, "YES!"  What an incredible thing to have your mama catch your daughter.  I love that we will tell Vivi that story for all of her life.

There were so many little things about the twins birth that I has wished had gone differently.  In the big picture, of course, they are healthy and thriving and I am so grateful.  But little things like getting to hold and see Vivi after her birth (instead of having to wait hours to see them while they were in NICU) were just so healing.

As Amelia said when she was seeing all the birth photos, "Mama, those are happy tears, huh?"  Yes they are, sweet girl.  Very happy tears.

Welcome, Vivi Ru!  We’ve been waiting for you, my love.