Weston and Lily

When Weston first saw Lily at two days old, he actually broke into tears! Our good friends were watching him that day and he hadn't had a nap, so he was kind of having a rough time. He warmed up to her when we got home though, and all he wanted to do was give Lily kisses over and over. He keeps saying "baby" and "cute" (a new word for him).

Weston and Lily

When we put Weston to bed on Saturday night when we first came home, I went to check on him in his crib and suddenly realized my baby is a little boy now. I really got choked up about it. He seems so grown up now in comparison to Lily.

Weston not only kisses Lily all the time, but he loves to point out her eyes, ears, nose and even the purple bow they gave her in the hospital ("bow" is another new word for him).

Lily loves her big brother, too! The first time I saw her smile was at two days old and she smiles pretty frequently now.

An Unexpected Delivery!

Lilyan June Dever was born on Thursday, October 1, at 2:04 am. She arrived a little unexpectedly and was exactly four weeks early. Lily weighed 5lbs. 3.5 oz and was about 17 inches long. She is perfectly healthy and is doing well! Labor Day

It all began around 5:00 on Wednesday morning. Not only did I wake up with a cold, but with contractions. Gordon was leaving for work and I told him I was feeling some mild contractions that were pretty close together, but thought maybe it was just because I was really fatigued and they would eventually go away. After about half an hour, I called my doctor and the doctor on call told me to take a hot shower and they would probably stop. I was also told to wait to go to the hospital until the contractions were so intense that I couldn't talk through them and until they were at least 5 minutes apart. I was basically in labor all day, but wasn't quite sure what was going on because I never experienced a whole lot of contractions with Weston. With him my water just suddenly broke, and the contractions came after that--I never experienced any painful contractions beforehand.
I had a lot planned for that day--I was dropping Weston off at a friend's house, was going to observe someone in my ward who teaches preschool (since I'm opening one in January), and was planning to eat lunch with the teachers at my old school, but I cancelled everything. Instead I started doing laundry and getting ready for Lily. I even took a long nap while Weston slept to get my energy up. Later that afternoon I called my doctor because the contractions hadn't let up yet. She told me to wait to come in until my Monday appointment and said the cramping could just be what I would experience for the rest of the pregnancy. After reading my What to Expect When You're Expecting book, I found that my symptoms matched all the signs of the first stage of labor (back pain, cramping, sporadic contractions, etc.) but I still wasn't quite sure if I actually was!

Our Rush to the Hospital

Later that night around 9:00, the contractions settled into a pattern of about 10 minutes apart, but I still thought and hoped that they would go away. About 12:10 in the morning, I felt a huge kick from the baby and then my water broke.
I really wanted to be able to get ready before going to the hospital, and thought I had time, especially since Weston came 12 hours after my water broke. However, the contractions suddenly got very intense and we don't live as close to the hospital now, so I decided it would be best to leave as soon as possible. Gordon's sister Denyce, who now lives right down the street from us, came over to watch Weston.

This is me when we arrived at the hospital, trying to smile inbetween some intense contractions.

When we got to the hospital, the lady checking us in was taking her sweet time! When we finally got into the triage room, I couldn't even get on the table because the contractions were just about one minute apart and way intense. They found out I was already dilated to a six and I kept asking for an epidural, but they said I had to wait until they got me hooked up to an IV. The lady putting in my IV had to stick it in me three times because the tape kept sliding off since I was sweating so much. At that point I couldn't have cared less, I was in so much pain. I just wanted them to hook me up to whatever it was they needed to so I could get my epidural. I was already dilated to a 9 when they found out the baby was breech and then I saw everyone start panicking. They called my doctor and told me I would have to have a C-section. At this point I was thinking whatever you have to do, just give me the epidural! I had to hold perfectly still through a huge contraction while the anesthesiologist gave me the epidural, and finally after two more huge contractions I had some relief! Just moments after they were wheeling me in to do the C-section.

Lily was definitely a breech baby! They couldn't get her to put her legs down!

Lily had a big, strong cry when she first came out. She looked so much different than I had expected. She seemed like a little stranger to me--I remember thinking, "Is that my little girl?" Here I was expecting her to maybe look like Weston, but she is her own little person. I cried when I first saw her--life doesn't get better than this.

Our New Addition to the Family!
Coming Home

I was in the hospital for two days and two nights because of the C-section. I actually had much less pain this time than I did with Weston. I broke my tailbone with him and was really sick afterward, so this has been cake in comparison! We left the hospital late Saturday afternoon,October 3. I was so excited to see my other baby, Weston! I missed him so much.

Gordon and Lily on check-out day. She looks just like dad!

Mom and Lily.