Remembering Eli's Birth Day

Eli within a few minutes of being born


Mama and baby


Daddy and baby


Nana Connie and Eli


Grandma Annice and Eli

I don't have a posting of Eli's birth day so I thought I would put together our story, as well as I can remember.

My due date was October 8th. I was working at an OB/GYN during my pregnancy and seeing them for my care. I had an appointment on Monday the 6th and my doctor told me I was 1 cm dilated. I can't remember the other numbers, but Eli was pretty low already. I remember the doctor telling me that I wouldn't want my water to break at this point because I wasn't very dilated and if it did, they would have to induce me.

My last day of work was October 8th. I figured if I didn't have Eli by then, I could use the rest of my days to rest and get things ready.

On Tuesday, October 7th, JR and I were getting ready to go to bed. It was 9:00pm. I laid in bed for a few minutes when I realized i needed to go to the bathroom. So I got up and went, but when I stopped, it didn't stop. I suddenly realized that my water had broke!! I prepared myself for more and then went to tell JR what had happened. I woke him up and told him "I think my water broke but I'm fine right now so we won't hurry off to the hospital just yet". He asked me if I was sure and then went back to sleep. I don't know how he fell asleep but he did.

I went out into the living room and had a light snack. I knew once I got there I wouldn't have been able to eat so I didn't want to be starving. I watched TV, cleaned up a bit, and then around 1am, I headed back to the bathroom. I started to notice a little blood and that's when I figured we better get going. At this point, I still wasn't having any contractions. I knew from my experience working in OB/GYN that once your water breaks, they won't let you go longer than 24 hours without delivery. So we were having the baby TODAY!

I woke JR up and told him it was time to go. I was trying to tell him it was for real but he didn't quite believe me. I think it's because I was so calm, not in any pain, and I jumped in the shower before we walked out the door. I told him to pack like we were going to stay at the hospital.

The hospital was only five minutes away so we made it in no time. I told the lady at the front desk I was sure I was in labor and they told us to take a seat. A few minutes later the nurse came out and brought me back for intake. She hooked me up to a heart rate machine to measure contractions and heart rate. She asked me a million questions. At this point I was starting to feel contractions. They got me to a bed in the triage station so the nurse could check me and see if I indeed, had broken my water. Yes. My doctor came in and told me the plan. Since I was only 1 cm, they were going to give me two hours to dilate and if I didn't, then they were going to give me pitocin. So basically the exact scenario she told me I didn't want....was happening! JR left to go get his bag (I told him to bring it :) He brought back some breakfast for himself. I didn't mind cause I didn't want us both to be grumpy. I wasn't even hungry though, just excited.

A few hours passed and not much happened. The contractions were getting a little stronger. They asked me to rate my pain. I said it was a 7 out of 10. Hmm. Once they came in and gave me the pitocin, I said I had no idea what I was talking about the pain being at a 7 before. Compared to when the pitocin kicked in, holy sh**, that was a 9 or 10!

I didn't want any medicine beside the epidural. I have heard that any other medicine they give you, like Demerol, makes you feel loopy and doesn't really do much for the pain. I decided to grin and bear it until the good stuff came. The rule is, they like you to be at least 4 cm to get an epidural. I was only 2 when they started the pitocin and they said they would check me every hour. When they checked me again I was ready to get the epidural! Woo hoo! At this point I had called my mom and mother in law to tell them I was in labor. I had to pause a few times when talking to my mom from the pain.

When JR got back, his mom arrived soon after. The anesthesiologist came in shortly after to give me the epidural. It was really hard to keep still when those contractions came through. I wasn't scared of the needle at all, I couldn't wait for the pain to be over. My contractions were coming every minute. So by the time one was over, the next one would be right there waiting and I could not relax. I didn't cry or scream the entire labor. But don't be fooled, the pain was unbearable!!

After the epidural, it felt better right away. I still could feel some pain on the right side, but after twenty minutes it was gone. Mr. Eli however did not like the epidural. We basically spent the next two hours rotating me from one side to the other to get his heart rate to calm down. I had to wear an oxygen mask the rest of the labor and delivery. The nurse came to check me after two hours of getting the epidural. I also had a student nurse, so she was the one that helped me a lot and checked me. The teaching nurse asked her to check and she was really unsure because she couldn't believe that I was actually already dilated to 10 cm! The other nurse confirmed and she said to JR "It's time to have this baby". His jaw dropped!

We all couldn't believe how fast it had gone. I was giddy. This was around 10:00am. They had me do a couple of test pushes and it appeared I had it down. His head was already right there so they actually told me I couldn't push anymore until the doctor got there. She was next door delivering another baby. The pressure was pretty intense to not push through, but the doctor came within a few minutes. The nurse was really urging her to get there soon!!!

Once the doctor came, I pushed through three more contractions and Eli was born at 10:24am!! Only 20 minutes of pushing! I got really lucky because Eli was so low before I even went into labor so I didn't have to work so hard. Eli peed and pooped when he came out, ahah. And the first thing I remember was seeing his beautiful red hair. That, and laughing. I was so freaking happy I just couldn't stop laughing. It was awesome. 7lbs, 8oz and 20.5 inches of beautiful baby.

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby!! It was worth everything and more to have you here with us!!