Welcome, Elizabeth Paige!

As most of you now know, we are super excited to announce that our beautiful daughter, Elizabeth Paige, arrived on December 27th, at 7:15 p.m. She has been such a blessing to us and we feel so lucky to have her in our lives.

We were very fortunate in that my family (Mom, Dad, Mary, Aunt Holly, Madi, McKenzie, Grandma and Grandpa) were all in town visiting for Christmas when Libby was born. I had been super uncomfortable for days prior and was so ready for this baby to come! I had heard that taking castor oil could help get labor moving along, especially if you were already on your way to active labor, so I tried it in desperation, not really thinking it would actually work. Mary mixed up a not-so-delicious mix of orange juice, baking soda and castor oil for me and I drank it around 7:30 on the 26th. We went to bed as usual, but I had trouble sleeping, trying to decide if the pains I was feeling were the same cramps I had been feeling for days or something different. Around 11:30 p.m., when I realized that the pains were coming in regular intervals of about 5 minutes, I called the doctor, who told me that I could go to the hospital or I could wait it out to see if it got worse. I waited until about 1:15 a.m., when I woke Tom and I told him I thought we needed to make the drive to downtown Charlotte. When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors and told me that I was, in fact, having regular contractions, but that they weren't really productive and I was still only 1 cm dilated. The nurse told me that I could stay and walk the halls to see if that helped move things along or I could just go home and try to get some sleep. The nurse didn't make it sound like she thought I would be having a baby any time soon, so I elected to go home and sleep. They gave me some Ambien before I left and I waited for it to kick in once we got home.

We arrived back at the house around 4:00 a.m. and I tried to sleep, but was awakened by pain that was growing more intense--so much so that the sleeping meds were pretty useless to me. I was pretty confident that this was the real deal but I knew Tom was exhausted so I decided to wait it out on my own for as long as I could. I got up and took a shower and waited until about 8:00 a.m., when I called my doctor and asked if I could come in that morning. They told me to come in at 9:00, so I woke Tom and asked him to go for a walk with me in the meantime. When we got to the doctor's office, they informed me that I was 4 cm dilated and needed to head to the hospital because I was having a baby! I asked the doctor when he thought the baby would arrive, thinking he might give the standard, "Oh, I can't say for sure, but probably in the next day or so," but he matter-of-factly responded, "I'd say you'll have a baby by this afternoon. Dinnertime at the latest." Tom and I were both kind of in shock, even though we knew this day was coming for months. We stopped at the house to get our suitcases and called our families to let them know the news before heading to the hospital for the second time in less than 12 hours.

We arrived at Carolina Medical Center around 11 a.m. and were set up in a delivery room. They let me walk the halls as long as possible, which helped with pain management. In the afternoon, I was given an epidural and around 1:00 p.m., my midwife came in to break my water. I remember at that point thinking, "This is really happening!". I think I had been convinced up until that point that there was still a chance they could tell me, "Nevermind, you're just not progressing, so go ahead and go home and come back when you're in true labor." I even asked my midwife if I should bother getting the epidural in case I ended up not going into active labor. She looked a little confused and then responded, "Oh, honey, you're in active labor. If you want an epidural, you need to get it now." I hadn't been feeling unbearable pain (it was certainly uncomfortable, but not as awful as I had expected), so I guess that contributed to my thinking that this might not be the real thing.


After the epidural, my contractions slowed, so they administered pitocin to kick the contractions back up. After that, it was just a waiting game. My mom and cousins came to visit for a little bit, and Tom and I hung out watching TV until I really started feeling uncomfortable again. I told the nurse that I was feeling a lot of pressure and that I thought I might be able to push soon, so she checked me and informed us that she would go get the midwife so that I could start pushing. That was another "this-is-really-happening" moment for me. I knew there was no going back then! We called me family to let them know they should come to the hospital because we were going to have a baby soon! After about 45 minutes, Elizabeth Paige officially came into the world and I can safely say it was the most amazing moment of Tom's and my lives. I couldn't believe that I was finally meeting the little person we had been planning for and talking about and talking to for all these months. I remember thinking she was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. Tom cut the cord and went with the nurse to see Libby be weighed and measured. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long.


They said she looked great, but they were concerned about the way she was breathing, so they called the pediatrician up to look at her. After evaluating her, they decided she was in fact having trouble breathing, and the best thing for her would be for her to go to the NICU. At this point, my family came into the room and they all got to hold her before the nurses whisked her off. Seeing my family's excitement over her was such a great moment. I had no doubt the medical team in the NICU would take great care of her, although I was sad for myself and my family that we wouldn't get to spend those first precious hours with her. Tom's parents arrived shortly after Libby was sent to the NICU, but we were all able to visit her only a few short hours later.

I was lucky to have a pretty easy recovery, with no complications and only minor pain/discomfort. Tom and I made the most of the fact that the NICU team was taking great care of Libby by getting a good night's sleep that first night. Around 6 a.m. I decided I couldn't wait any longer to see her, so Tom took me down to see her. So many parents of NICU babies talk about how vulnerable and little their babies look when they first see them, but oddly enough, I didn't feel that way. I remember thinking she looked beautiful and strong and healthy, even though she was hooked up to tubes and wires and monitors. I had never had any doubt in my mind that she would be fine, and that thought was unwavering, even when seeing her in the NICU for the first time. We spent the 28th shuffling family and friends back and forth from the NICU and resting when we could. That afternoon, they took Libby's IV out and monitored her carefully after each feeding to see how she responded. Around 5:30 p.m., they moved her up to the newborn nursery and she was sleeping soundly in my hospital room with us by 6:15. We elected to keep her with us overnight (I had had enough time away from her!) and the first night went really well.


On the 29th, after getting the okay from both my doctor and Libby's doctor, we packed up and headed home. Tom's parents were waiting for us and had cleaned the house, which made for a great homecoming! The dogs were super curious about Libby and wanted so badly to lick her and sniff her. Scarlet even curled up in Libby's bouncy seat at one point (fortunately, Libby wasn't in it at the time!). Tom's mom made dinner for us and we rested as much as possible before spending our first night as a family of three. It was a rough night, because I had thought Libby was getting enough to eat from nursing alone, but apparently she hadn't because she cried all night until I finally gave her a bottle in desperation.


The past couple days have been a whirlwind of pediatrician appointments (she did great), naps, and adjusting to new feeding and sleeping schedules. Fortunately, the nights have gotten better, and I usually have to wake her for feedings. I can't believe she is already 4 days old. I told Tom that I already feel like she's growing up too fast, and I have actually found myself missing being pregnant at times. Not because I enjoyed being pregnant, don't get me wrong, but because I know I can never get back that precious time with her. We are so incredibly lucky to have our beautiful daughter, and we are so looking forward to all that is to come.