Thankful for a sweet baby to kiss

Little Lydia - 5 days old

 

Lydia Christine

Introducing our Lydia Christine

 It's amazing to me how quickly and deeply I've loved all of our children, even before I've ever seen them. Then once I finally see them it seems so natural for them to be here, a part of me. Children are wonderful.  Your capacity to love just grows with each one.  They are so precious.

As we held Lydia and were mulling over possible names, I kept having an overwhelming feeling that this little girl was going to see struggles during her life and would need to be strong through them. I had been reading a lot about some of my ancestors and felt strongly that we should name her Lydia.

We named Lydia after one of the bravest, strongest, hardest working and enduring women I know.  She is my ancestor, Lydia Sanborn Leavitt. I am a descendant of her's through by Grandmother Chloe Hatch on my Dad's side.  Lydia Sanborn was born in 1737 and her family played a part in the birth of our country.  Our Lydia's middle name Christine was chosen by Heath. Ever since we found out she was going to be a girl Heath has wanted to name her Christine. He would say, "Its a beautiful name like a crystal."

From the Leavitt family history book,
 "In 1752 Nathaniel Leavitt married Lydia Sanborn, the daughter of Jeremiah Sanborn and Lydia Dearborn Sanborn. He was 25; she was 15. He took his bride to Exeter and established
their home. Over the next 24 years the young family was perfectly positioned to participate in the eventful birth of a new nation. One by one, 12 children came, all born at
Exeter, Rockingham, New Hampshire. Each child came into an atmosphere of high drama, for these were dramatic times.

The year of their firstborn, Joseph, was the year of the noted Fort Duquesne expedition. For
several succeeding years the people were much occupied with the French and Indian wars which demanded a new group of soldiers every season.

 Their daughter, Lydia, was born in the year her father and grandfather marched off with the Crown Point expedition
(Bell, page 233).
Moses was born at the height of a great small pox epidemic that decimated much of the population, but seems to have spared this family.

 Nathaniel Jr. came into the world in the middle of the furor over the infamous Stamp Act,
which continued to burden the people, not being repealed until 1767, the year of Dudley's birth.
The oppression of unwarranted taxation continued, fomenting a spirit of resistance, which
erupted with the Boston Massacre when John was just three months old. Josiah, Jonathan and
Stephen were born during the years leading up to the War for Independence and Hannah and Mary, who were twins, were born in 1776.

Just as Nathaniel and his brothers had marched beside their father, Joseph, in the French and Indian Wars, so now he marched into the Revolutionary War with his two eldest sons, Joseph and Moses (D.A.R. Lineage Books, vol. 161). Jeremiah was just 16 years old. He would have been the eldest son at home and there were dramatic difficulties there. Not only was Lydia preparing to give birth to
Hannah and Mary, but one year old Stephen died that year, 1776. One can only imagine the pain of that occurrence. Through these years they somehow managed to shelter, feed and clothe this large family. The political and military upheaval notwithstanding, the family of Nathaniel and Lydia Leavitt had managed to thrive."

A distant cousin of mine penned this after reading some of Lydia Sandborn Leavitt's journals.

"On the evening of the 19th of April 1776 came a rumor to Exeter, New Hampshire that the British had marched forth from Boston and had opened fire at Concord. The inhabitants of Exeter were put in great commotion. The people thronged the streets discussing the momentous news late into the night hours. Near daybreak the next morning, an express rider appeared in Exeter, summoning any and all volunteers to gather and march immediately. Men gathered quickly and excitedly, and made ready to march. Ammunition was gathered, arms were prepared, and any other groundwork was completed as quickly as possible. Around nine o’clock that morning, a throng of one hundred and eight men, fully armed and equipped, gathered near the town courthouse. Hardly a second was wasted as the men prepared to run to the aid of their countrymen. “Are you ready?” barked the newly-appointed head officer. “Yes! March!” And they were off."

"The mothers and wives and sisters of the volunteers had busied themselves in fitting the men out for the march, and bade them adieu with tearful eyes, but with no word of discouragement. As the men marched by, Lydia Sanborn Leavitt stood in the doorway of a cabin at the end of town. Her eyes were brimming with tears and her hand remained upright in an attentive and respectful salute. Her heart was as heavy as an immovable stone. Her husband, Nathaniel, and her two sons Joseph and Moses walked amongst the volunteers, eventually turning to walk backwards and wave to Lydia until she was no longer visible. Lydia sighed, clutching one-year-old Stephen in her arms and trying to block out both her emotional and physical pain. In addition to caring for Stephen, Lydia was expecting twins, and the stress on her body, added with the trauma of watching her husband and sons march off toward an unknown fate, was almost too much to bear. Although perhaps feeling abandoned, Lydia was far from alone. 16 year old Jeremiah, humbled by his father’s charge to watch over mother Lydia, stayed close at hand. "

"The younger Leavitt children, including 12 year old Nathaniel, 9 year old Dudley, and 7 year old John stood close to their mother, trying to act beyond their years, but fighting a losing battle against tears. Inside the home, 4 year old Josiah and 3 year old Jonathan sobbed as they clutched tightly the skirt of their 19 year old sister, Lydia. In addition to her father and brothers, the younger Lydia dealt the additional emotional stress of watching her husband-to-be, Samuel Shannon, follow Nathaniel, Joseph, and Moses into the oncoming hardships. Lydia had always known the day would come when the men would be called to arms, going so far as deciding to postpone her marriage with Samuel, but the day actually arriving proved much more difficult than she or her mother could have ever imagined."

"Samuel, along with all other able-bodied men of the town, had previously signed and agreed to a declaration known as the Exeter Association Test earlier that same year. The document, which was all but required for men over age 21, read: “We the subscribers do hereby solemnly engage and promise that we will, to the utmost of our power, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, with arms oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and armies against the United American Colonies.” Now that the time to prove their convictions was at hand, devotees to the declaration did not falter in their dedication in risking their “lives and fortunes” against the “hostile proceedings of the British.” Such was life in the American Colonies near the end of the 18th century. "

"Wives, sisters, and daughters watched as their husbands, brothers, and sons marched away to oppose an enemy who they had once served and revered. Among those who walked away were the father and sons Leavitt, as well as Samuel Shannon. Difficulties continued for Lydia Sanborn Leavitt, but with glimmers of hope. Not long after her husband’s departure, her little son, Stephen, died. This dark spot in her life was later somewhat brightened by the birth of her twins, Hannah and Mary. Even more miraculously, the family managed to carry on strong without the strength and leadership of their father and oldest brothers. 3 years passed before Lydia and her children saw the men in their family again. However, Nathaniel, Joseph, and Moses returned home to Exeter, safe and sound. Samuel Shannon also returned, and he and the younger Lydia were married soon afterward."

I hope that one day our Lydia can look to her namesake and gain strength from all that Lydia Leavitt endured and how she kept her family strong through such difficult times. 

She is Here!

 
  As February finished out we were all preparing for the new baby's arrival.  I was  packing up things that we wouldn't be needing before we move.  I also had a goal to freeze at least one meal a week for the 8 weeks leading up to delivery time and was able to meet it! (which was and still is awesome!) And I taught Heath how to load and start the bread machine. That has been life changing. He starts a batch after breakfast every day, so we now have fresh yummy bread each day and I don't even have to think about it. I just have to make sure he has plenty of wheat ground into flour for the week and he's good to go. Best of all he LOVES to do it, so if we eat most of it for lunch or dinner he asks if he can please start another loaf. 

Hannah has been taking good care of her babies. Practicing.

A couple weeks before my due date I woke up in the morning and my hands and face had swollen up like crazy. I couldn't close my hands they were so swollen. I called my OB and he asked me to come in.  Thankfully Matt had a half day at work and was able to come switch me out and stay with the kids.  I was leaking protein into my urine so they took some blood samples to test.  My blood pressure was normal (105/65) but with the protein leakage and swelling the were worried about preeclampsia. While I was waiting to hear back about the blood my Dr came to explain that depending on what my blood levels look like we may be having a baby that day.  If they are unfavorable they would induce or possibly c section me right then. That was a bit unsettling. After about an hour they came back and said that nothing in my blood says we have to have a baby today. (I felt much better after that news)  I was able to go home (which was so great because Rebecca and her family had come up to visit us!) but was told to take it as easy as I could.   They continued to check my protein levels and blood levels at each appointment each week and Matt monitored my blood pressure here at home pretty closely. (which never went up at all) After another week they decided that if the baby didn't make it on her own by March 3rd, they would be inducing me.  So she got to come a week early.

 We had to be at the hospital at 12am the morning of the 3rd.  Thankfully I have some wonderful friends who offered to watch our kids during the day so I could take a nap before going in that night.  We dropped our kids off at the Metcalf's house at bedtime then came home to try to fall asleep. (I never really can sleep before being induced. Too much to think about...)  We left the house around 11:15pm to head to the hospital. We got all settled into the delivery room. They said I was already contracting regularly, but I didn't feel any of them. I was dilated to a 1. (part of me thinks they said I was at a 1 just to give me some hope that things were moving along) They started me on Pitocin around 1am. Matt slept away on his little bed, and I tried to relax and fall asleep.  The nurse came in about every half hour to turn up my dosage on the pit so I didn't really ever sleep. 

 By about 5am I was at the full dosage of pitocin and still not feeling anything. The nurse had asked me probably 20 times if I was ready for my epidural yet, but I wasn't in any pain so I didn't see any reason to get that going and be numb and unable to move. My monitor showed that I was having some really good consistent contractions and I was at a 3, so at 6:30am Dr Jostes came in and broke my water.  That got things moving and by 7:30 I was finally feeling the contractions.  At 7am they had a shift change and I loved my second nurse! She was so proactive and so kind. At 9:30am I was at a 5 and 100% effaced. I got the epidural at 9:30am.  At 10am I was at a 7. Dr Jostes told me to sit at the end of the bed with my feet up and lean forward and I'd have a baby within half an hour.  I did, then started to feel a lot of pressure.  At 10:20ish we got ready.  I pushed once and her head came out. She had the cord wrapped around her neck so he told me to stop pushing while he flipped if off her neck.  Then I pushed again and her shoulders came through. I felt and heard a pop but no one said much of it so we just kept going. Then he had me put my hands down and lift her under her armpits the rest of the way out and up onto my chest. I've never had a Dr do that before and it was pretty neat. I kind of got to be the one to deliver her. : ) They declared her born at 10:26am.

 She was so quiet and sweet right from the start. She had tons of butter covering her little body. The most of any of our kids. 

We held her and marveled at the sweet little girl that was ours for a couple hours.

I ate some breakfast. (I was starving!) She ate some breakfast. (Both of our girls have been chap eaters right from the start.)

Then the nurse brought in the scale and eye ointment and vitamin k shot.

She got weighed and all of her other fun stuff with us.

After they did her little foot prints the nurse stamped a foot print onto Matt's forearm.  The kids loved that when he went to pick them up. He told them their new sister had a message for them.

      8lbs 8.7oz         20.5in long           14in head

The first day and night in the hospital she did great. Only woke up to eat about every 2-3 hours through the night. We both got a good amount of sleep. The second day though she became super sad and fussy.  She only was content if I was holding her.  That night was rough. I would get her happy and asleep and lay her down to send to the nursery so I could sleep.  Each time about 15 minutes later they would bring her back crying through the halls.  (I could always hear her before she made it to our room and knew it was my baby)  They would say something like, weve been trying everything to get her to calm down, rocking, bouncing, changing, swaddling, but she just wont calm down.  Each time as soon as they would put her into my hands she would immediately calm down, be quiet and fall asleep.

My nurse was so kind and supportive that night. She had 2kids and little twins so I think she knew what I needed.  She helped me make a little nest of pillows on my bed so I could sleep sitting up holding the baby. She also came in every so often and would bring me snacks and water. She never really talked through the night so we could try to sleep. She was great. 

 The next day as we were getting ready to be discharged, the pediatrician came in and said that she thought the baby's clavicle was broken and wanted to have it xrayed. Things started to really make sense when she said that. I remembered the pop sound and feeling during delivery and the baby was so sad unless I was holding her (which I usually sit still when holding babies, whereas the nurses were bouncing her all around trying to calm her.... poor little girl)

  They took her to the nursery and did a mini xray which showed that her right clavicle was split right in the middle.  They taught us how to keep it pinned down so it didn't cause her pain and suggested she sleep on a pillow until it heals up a bit and isn't so sore to sleep on a hard surface.  They also told us to give her tylanol for about a week. In case you're wondering an 8 pound baby's dose is 1ml every 4 hours. So tiny. (She was 8# when we left the hospital)

 I love how sweet little boys become when they are around a new baby. Heath wanted to hold her the whole time he was at the Hospital and asked Matt several times the next day if he could go back and hold her some more.

 Houston wanted to hold her for about 3 minutes then said, K I'm done. : )

He kept telling me how tiny and cute she was.

 All Hannah could do was laugh and squeal in joy! It was pretty cute.

 Grandma came up to stay the week with us since it was her spring break! She is fabulous and it was helpful to have her with us! We may have cried when she left.  

After the xray delay we made it home Saturday afternoon around 4pm.


Our little angel with a broken wing.