Lily Anna Cross

Well it is official, Mae finally brought our little one into the world on Saturday May 19th at 10:09 am. She weighs 7 lbs. 7 0z. and is 20 1/2 inches long. It is a long story how she entered so I will do my best to condense it down for easy reading.

This picture was about 5 minutes after delivery.

On Thursday morning Mae called me at work to let me know that the doctor had reviewed her most recent urine and blood work and felt that they needed to induce her that night as her blood pressure was still elevated and there was still protein in her urine. The inducement was to take place Thursday night May 17th at 8 pm. We both worked the remainder of the day, went home and ate some pizza and then we left for the hospital.

Last day at home before heading to the hospital.

So we arrived at the hospital that evening believing it wouldn't be long until our baby was here. We couldn't have been more wrong. Around 9 p.m. they placed something on her uterus that was suppose to help thin the walls of the uterus to hopefully open up the cervix. It needed to stay on there for a full 12 hours. That was all that happened that night. We both "tried" to get some rest for the next day. The next morning they removed the uterus thinner to find the cervix was still closed. The doctor then ordered that a catheter balloon be inserted into the opening of the cervix to force it open. They then also started her on the Pitocin which started her contractions. Once the balloon fell out she was at 3 to 4 centimeters. This did not happen until around 7:30 p.m Friday night. By this time Mae is very tired and super uncomfortable as she has been poked, prodded, moved, and just man handled a ton.

The contractions were also pretty intense at times so she had also had the epidural put in. We really thought Friday was going to be the day, but the contractions never became steady or intense enough, plus the fact that even by 2 or 3 am she was still only around 5 to 6 cm dialated. Around 7 am the doctor came in and examined her and found that she was now about 8 cm and felt it was about time to increase her Pitocin levels. Another exam around 8 and she was now at 9 cm with just a little lip of the cervix remaining. The nurse now wanted her to start pushing when the contractions came. To speed the story up, the nurse and I were her main coaches as she was pushing for almost the next 2 hours. It was truly amazing to watch as I slowly got to see the babies head start to emerge from the birth canal. Around 10 am the doctor came in and Mae looked at him and cried to him, "Help Me", as she was so exhausted and tired since she had been there since Thursday night and had hardly slept and had not had a bite to eat since then either. He said he was going to help her by attaching a vacuum to our baby's head and pulling her out as Mae pushed. The room went from just the nurse, Mae, and me to about 12 people who where there to help with the procedure. They attached the vacuum and within 2 or 3 minutes they had extracted her with additional help of Mae pushing of course. They had to do an episiotomy (look it up on google if you don't know what it is) as her head was just a bit too big to fit through at the end. They quickly did all the vitals on Lily and everything was perfectly fine. I cut the umbilical cord which was a truly amazing experience. They had to suture her up from the episiotomy and she kind of tore her up a little coming out.

That was pretty much the jist of how it all happened. We are currently still at the hospital until probably tomorrow just so that the hospital staff can monitor mom and our baby.

Lily just out for about 5 minutes.

Happy New Mother

Proud Parents

Grandma Heaton with Lily

Well folks...that is all for now. More pics to follow soon.

Love Anson, Tamara, and Lily.