Lizah Beth Waibel

January 11, 2019

Lizah Beth Waibel

Our precious little miracle is here! Lizah Beth Waibel made her grand entrance on October 11 at 6:10 a.m.

Wednesday morning, October 10, I knew that things were somewhat happening but there was no knowing how quickly it would progress. It could still be days until I actually went into labor so I went about my plans for the day which included a visit to my grandma and mom in Roanoke. On the way home I was feeling pressure and discomfort but nothing significant like contractions. When I got home I decided to go for a run because I knew exercise could help induce labor. I had been texting Mom and Maria earlier in the day with questions about what I was feeling/noticing and so they were both eagerly awaiting news of me going into labor. That helped me get even more excited to start the whole process, a shift in mindset from my previous blog post.

Wednesday evening we went to church and there were a few times during the service that I was uncomfortable but I couldn’t say for sure that I was having contractions. That night when we were sitting in bed doing our nightly devotions I started cramping and felt like something was definitely happening but I still couldn’t tell if it was contractions or just aches. I was expecting the contractions to begin up higher in the abdomen than what I was experiencing. My memory is already blurry but I think this was the beginning of back labor. I had gotten out of bed to walk around and at one point I was leaning over the bed when I felt a pop. Pretty soon my suspicions were confirmed and I started losing fluid. At first I didn’t know for sure if it was my water breaking because it kept coming in trickles but after a phone call to my mom and the hospital and a few more minutes it became clear that we should head in. It was about 11:00 p.m.

On the drive I was trying to time some of the contractions but they were uneven and I decided to just breathe through them. Mom was on her way over and we were both trying to get a hold of Maria who was going to come from Michigan. We went to the ER entrance and were escorted to the birthing floor. I was dilated to a 3/4. They got me all hooked up to a monitor in the birthing room and pretty soon we started practicing the techniques we had just learned weeks before in the same building. At first the contractions weren’t terrible but I felt terribly achy in my lower back and wasn’t sure which position was best to relieve it. Mom got to the hospital around 1 and told me I was having back labor which was not exactly encouraging, but having my mom in the room was comforting.

From the birthing classes we had taken I had understood that I’d be allowed to move around the room but since they wanted to keep me on the monitor most of the time I ended up staying in the same corner for most of it. At some points I felt like time was really flying, but around 3 a.m. I was looking at the clock too frequently and feeling discouraged again. I forget when the nurse came in to check my dilation, but I had progressed to a 7 plus within a few hours. While I was glad things were progressing well and wanted this baby to come out, I also wanted Maria to arrive in time. She showed up around 4 o’clock and joined the cheerleading squad. I’ll pause here to say that I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through without their support, especially Seth’s. He was right there with me, holding me up as I swayed through contractions and affirming me.

Again, I don’t remember the time, but I’m guessing around 5:30 I started having a hard time breathing through contractions without pushing. It was worse if I was standing instead of lying in bed, and I spent time doing both because standing helped push the baby down but sometimes lying down was more comfortable on my back. At one point I felt very strongly that I should start pushing soon but I was not completely to a ten and the nurse said I could regress if I pushed too soon. That was hard to take, but when you’re in labor there’s no other option but to keep going. Finally the contractions were getting so intense that I asked them to get the nurse again and sure enough, I was dilated to a 10. I’ll spare you all the specific details, but basically it took two series of pushes and our little girl arrived.

Honestly, it was a strange feeling to hold her on my chest. She was crying and I was getting stitched up so I couldn’t do much to console her. With her dark curly hair I was almost wondering, “whose child is this?” I loved her and knew she was my daughter, but the reality of it all was definitely too big for me to wrap my head around. For the first hours, and even days, and even sometimes still, I stared at her and had to remind myself that this was the life I carried around for 9 months. Wow, what a miracle.

She is undoubtedly loved and such a sweet baby who cried about as much in her first hour of life as she has cried since. We’re both new at this so there are some things to figure out, but overall I am extremely spoiled by how easy going she is. One of the biggest challenges has been getting her to wake up enough to eat, and even this has improved over the past few days. Grammy Lehman is here til Wednesday being a lifesaver while I adjust to what it’s like to have half my time spent feeding, changing, or cuddling. And her dad is pretty stellar at his new role.