And Introducing Tyler Lucille: the most amazing woman in the world

If there is one thing the birth of Scout Lucille taught me, it’s that’s I married a mighty, incredible woman. She is strong in EVERY way.

Let me back up. She wrote in her birth plan that she wanted to be as natural as possible for the delivery of our baby. She also said she wanted me to be the one to tell her the gender of the baby when the little one came out.

As our date approached, we prepared as best we could to make sure everything went according to plan. I was hoping not to have to induce (both my daughters were induced and then unplanned c-sections), and… (albeit selfishly) I really wanted that exciting water-break moment.

On Thursday, Jan 9th around 1pm, I DID have that water-break moment. And let me just say: it’s all it’s cracked up to be! I felt all of a sudden like I was floating, and was genuinely overcome with excitement. We took our time getting ready, loaded the car, and off we went!

The waiting…

The next few hours were less euphoric. Arriving to the hospital, a bit of nerves set in (though I tried to exude confidence in case Tyler needed any assurances). Also, when we weren’t progressing as we hoped, the doctor put Tyler on Pitocin to help speed along the contractions (we only had a 24 hour window to deliver after water break due to possible infection). Seeing Tyler labor on Pitocin was HARD for me. I don’t like to see her in pain, and she was in a lot of it.

I was doing my best to stay calm and supportive. And stay alert and attentive. That required me to do some of my own stretching and breathing.

I look back (a month later) and remember it all filled with so much love.

And when Ellie arrived on Friday morning, she amplified all the love, as she is so great at doing.

These two are the most emotional images of me. I don’t really like to look at myself crying, haha, but I’m happy to have these. The picture on the left is something that Ty and me do when we want to remember and refocus on each other. We’ve done it a few times in our relationship to say to the other that this is what it’s all about: you and me… block out the world and what the world tries to tell you what is good or important. We were in that moment, overcome with emotion, and took a second to remind each other of our love and life together.

• 

• 

So as the hours ticked on, we grew closer and closer to our 24 hour deadline, but God was good to us. His timing was perfect. 23 hours after her water broke, Tyler got to start pushing.

The other, unexpected thing that happened.

And now let me just say one thing about this moment you’re about to see. You know at the end of the Grinch when his heart grew three sizes and broke that heart-measure thing? Well, I already had a big heart for this woman but it damn near exploded out of my chest when she started pushing. No complaining, no discouragement… just straight up confidence and determination came from her mouth, her mind, her heart, and her body. I was blown away by what I was witnessing.

And then Dilly came! I got to tell Tyler it was a girl. I don’t remember being this smiley, so I’m SO thankful that our friend Anna was there to photograph this moment.

All her hard work paid off, and this girl looked incredible throughout the entire process (how is that even possible?).

Dilly! Dilly didn’t make a lot of sounds for the first minute or so and I knew Tyler was getting anxious. I was trying to listen to the nurses give the apgar score and I didn’t hear one. As soon as I started to panic a little inside, Dilly let out a lovely cry that put the entire room at ease.

It’s a girl! Such a sweet baby from moment one.

And Ellie thought so too! I love this look on her face when she held her little sis for the first time.

A baby can do a beautiful thing, without even trying. It can create or complete a family. We of course already were a family, but the addition of Scout Lucille Benfield made us all a little more whole.