In case you didn't catch it in the video, Ravenna now has a baby sister. Lorelei was born July 8th at 7:13 AM. She is 8 lbs. 15 oz. and 21 in. long. When asked in the video what Ravenna wants to say to Lorelei, she said "I love you."
We are both doing well despite a very scary situation. At 4:00 AM, I awoke with contractions but went back to sleep after about a half hour. At 5:30 AM I startled awake because my water had broken. Unfortunately it was filled with blood and I started bleeding heavily. We knew the gravity of the situation and immediately called our midwife who told us to rush to the nearest Labor and Delivery. We had been planning a home birth but we knew that this situation was very serious. Our midwife met us in triage where I was being monitored and was a great support and comfort to us. The baby's heart rate was excellent but I was still bleeding heavily and it was decided to do an emergency cesarean section due to suspected placental abruption (where the placenta detaches before the birth).
I was administered spinal anesthesia and the surgery went ahead quite smoothly. The placenta had detached about half way. I had not expected how painful it would be to have the cesarean. When the baby was being pulled out I thought they were breaking my ribs! As soon as the baby was delivered kicking and screaming and was checked out by the pediatrician, Andrew was able to do skin-to-skin and held Lorelei that way until I was able to nurse her in recovery an hour later. It was quite an experience and now we have a long road of recovery for me.
My heart is so full of gratitude that my water broke early enough that we were able to get to the hospital in plenty of time and didn't cause any distress to our baby. It is such a blessing to finally have our rainbow baby here and doing so well.
