She's Here

Lillian Elizabeth Woolley made her debut on the 26th of June! We are so pleased that she is now here and are so grateful for the opportunity to have her as a part of our family!

I had an awesome pregnancy with her. And my labor and delivery were absolutely amazing! I guess third times a charm. Not that the other two were bad or anything. I just couldn't have asked for things to go any better than they were with this last one. I actually ended up giving birth to Lillian at home (or should I say, at my parents home, beings how we are living with them for the summer). I seriously can not tell you how great the experience was. And let me just say that I honestly do not feel like I just had a baby a week ago! I can't tell you how amazing I feel. I have been able to walk and move like normal...I even went for a bike ride on Friday with my mom. I feel AMAZING!!

For starters, we had the nice surprise of Rachel showing up to be here for the birth. Every time I would talk to her on the phone I would tell her how much I wished she could be here for me to have the baby. After all, she was there for the last two, and is an excellent labor coach/doula! I just kept hoping the way would be possible, but with four kids, and lots of other responsibilities, it just didn't seem possible. I guess she and my mom got to thinking that it could work out, and Rachel showed up on Thursday, the 24th of June. And you need to know that I had been having tons of contractions throughout the week, but nothing real consistent. And my due date was Friday. So, I guess she came "hoping" that I would go into labor while she was up here because she only had until Sunday for that to happen. Luckily, my body and the baby were ready.

So Friday, Rachel massaged my feet and ankles a ton...which actually hurt quite a bit. But we did notice that it was the key and got my contractions to be consistent. They lasted all day Friday. They were not really painful ones, but enough that we figured the baby would be coming soon. Friday night, the "real" contractions kicked in. They really picked up around midnight. They were still not unbearable, so we all decided to try to get some rest. Around three, it felt like the contractions were going to kill me. Rachel got up to be with me and my mom headed to the Blue Heron Inn to pick up Page (my midwife). Hard contractions lasted a few hours...and let me tell you what, it hurt! I did get to feeling like I couldn't do it any more...and I thought I could just die. I was so grateful to have Rachel and my mom, as well as an awesome midwife there to help me through. And it was awesome that my dad and Eric were able to be there for the last few hours and for the actual delivery!

Just before Seven O'clock, Lillian Elizabeth Woolley graced us with her presence! When she first came out, we were shocked to see that she had a lump about the size of a baseball on the left side of her neck. It kind of looked like a water balloon. Not knowing what it was, we were scared and worried that it might be something life-threatening. Page let us know that she was pretty sure it was not life-threatening, but that we did need to go to Anchorage to have it looked at. (The hospital here in Cordova is very limited). So, we got cleaned up and packed our bags to leave on the earliest flight to Anchorage. Lillian rode on a plane when she was only six hours old!

The doctors examined Lillian and did a CT scan of her lump. They concluded that the lump is a Systic Hygroma or a Benign Tumor of the lymphatic system. Thankfully, it is not connected to her spinal cord or her throat, and it seems that it doesn't go very deep. Eventually the tumor will need to be surgically removed. The doctors up here in Alaska said they would remove the tumor between six months and a year. Although, we have heard that it may be sooner than that. Once we get moved back down to Idaho, we plan to take Lillian to Primary Childrens to get a second opinion about the tumor and having it removed.

We are so very blessed to have Lillian as a part of our family. We feel honored that our Father in Heaven has allowed us the opportunity to be the parents to Lillian as well as Claire and Ericka! We are so BLESSED!!!

I wish I could post pictures of our new arrival, but the connection is way too slow. Rachel is supposed to be posting the ones she took, but I will need to remind her. I think she only has a few and they are right after Lillian was born. We have taken a ton of pictures and I long to share them...as soon as we have a better connection, I will post tons of pictures!!