Eliana's Birth Story

Next to the day I married my husband, January 25th was the best day of my life. Here's the story of the final days leading up to Eliana's birth and the birth itself. This is really long and I don't necessarily expect anyone to read it start to finish. This story is more for my own documentation purposes. :) Enjoy!

My due date, January 20th, came and went without a baby. There was something about hitting the date you've been looking forward to for 9.5 months and seeing it pass by without a baby. While it was incredibly frustrating, I tried to remain optimistic that she'd be here soon.

 

The following day I went in to see my OB. By this point I had been seeing him weekly and while I was hoping I wouldn't make it to my 40 week 1 day appointment, I found myself in the waiting room. We had decided that today he'd strip my membranes, a procedure I was a little nervous for, but assumed it would be similar to my normal cervical checks. I was wrong. Very wrong. Upon doing the normal check and finding out I was still 3 cm and completely thinned out, he decided go forth with the sweep. It was hands down the most painful thing I've ever felt in my life. Granted, I've never broken a bone, but I have had a root canal and all four wisdom teeth pulled at once. Fortunately, I was on an overwhelming amount of pain meds during those procedures. I wasn't so lucky this time. While I won't go into the gory details, it was awful. It turns out my cervix was posterior at the time, as opposed to anterior, which is what caused the pain. It was then that I decided I'd for sure be getting an epidural. Prior to this point I planned on going with the flow and if I needed it, great. If not, then even better. After that sweep, my mind was made up! There wasn't a chance on earth I'd be able to have a med-free labor and that was okay with me. I was thrilled once the sweep was over, which was followed by worry when he said we'd do the same thing on Thursday if I hadn't gone into labor yet.
I left the office praying that the next time I'd see Dr. Reuss would be in the hospital.

 

Then came Thursday and no baby. Fantastic.
 

I went to the appointment, terrified. We decided to start with the typical cervix check. I was now between 3-4 centimeters, lower, softer, and still completely thinned out. Dr. Reuss was sure that stripping my membranes once again would for sure put me into labor. Mid sweep he literally said, "Oh yeah, this is definitely going to put you into labor." We decided that if I hadn't had the baby by Sunday, I would need to go in to the hospital for a NST on baby. If I still hadn't gone into labor by Monday he wanted me back in the office and we'd make a plan for induction later that day. Needless to say, I went home and walked my heart out. I really didn't want to be induced. That night I started having contractions, but they were only 15 seconds or so long and not incredibly consistent. I started timing them and fell asleep still timing them a couple hours later.

 

Around 4am that same night I awoke to super intense and painful contractions. After a few minutes, it was clear they weren't going away so I started timing them again. They were about 40 seconds long and 4-8 minutes apart. They were painful enough for me to be in such an obvious discomfort that JP woke up. He was so sweet the entire time - reminding me how to breath, making me laugh, and trying to ease the pain. We laid in bed for over an hour. The contractions weren't letting up. However, I was frustrated because it was now 5 in the morning and I didn't want to call my long-term sub and principal if it was false labor. JP convinced me that even if this were false labor, I was in far too much pain to go into work. I called my sub and let my principal know I wouldn't be coming in. Whether I was in labor that day or not, we were expecting me to go into labor over the weekend or worst case scenario, Dr. Reuss would be inducing me on Monday. Meaning, Friday would have been my last day either way.

 

Over the next few hours the contractions would worsen and then lighten up. Such mind games! They went from 40 seconds in length every 4-8 minutes to 40 seconds every 3-6 minutes. I called Dr. Reuss and he said that if it continued over the next 30 minutes to head into the hospital. We finished the last minute touches on packing the bags (read: JP packed his bag). We got things ready for the dogs and tidied up the house. We went walking yet again around 8am in the attempt to speed the contractions up. Sure enough, they began coming every 2-4 minutes, but they were only 30 seconds long. We came back and while they remained 2-4 minutes apart, they slowed down to 20-30 seconds in length. I was sure it was false labor. Once again, I was super upset and we decided to wait it out. We went walking. Again. Shortly after the contractions started getting worse. They were still only 30 seconds or so in length, but I literally felt like someone was pulling my uterus out of my stomach. They started wrapping around to my back. We decided it was time to head to the hospital. While they weren't long enough (Dr. Reuss said they should be a minute in length, 3-5 minutes apart, for 1-2 hours), I knew it had to be labor. It was now 10am and I had been having contractions since 4 am, for a total of 6 hours. So, off we went, bags in tow!

Last baby bump picture - 40 weeks 5 days!

 

By 11:00 am I was checked in and most definitely in labor. I was 5cm, completely thinned out, and my water bag was bulging out. Yuck. The contractions once again picked up in length and were 2-3 minutes apart. I tried to continue laboring without the meds for as long as I could. Dr. Reuss recommended getting the epidural sooner rather than later because he'd be coming in to break my water shortly. I ended up getting the epidural around noon. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. In fact, I felt the numbing shot more than the epidural itself. JP was of course by my side and biggest supporter during this time. Not too long after, I was in heaven. My legs felt warm. They would tell me when I was having contractions. Ahh, it was seriously wonderful. Shortly after I began feeling a bit sick from the meds, so I had to switch back and forth between laying on my sides which helped. So, we all sat and waited for Dr. Reuss. By this point my mom, stepdad, and father-in-law were all in the laboring room with us.

 

Dr. Reuss was there by 1:00 to break my water. He said I was still dilated to 5cm, meaning there hadn't been progress since I checked in. He explained that he expected me to dilate about a centimeter per hour from here on out until I was ready to push. Fantastic. Then he pulled out what I swear looked like chopsticks. This was the tool he'd be using to break my water? I was nervous. Again though, the drugs. They were a godsend. I didn't feel a thing. Dr. Reuss said he'd be back later and to simply relax.

 

Over the next hour the contractions worsened. While I wasn't in any pain, I could now feel them. There was a light pressure, so I knew when I was having them. At the time, I thought they were simply picking up in intensity. Wrong. My epidural was wearing off. By 2:30 I felt SO much pressure down south that I was sure it was time to push out a baby. I told the nurse and I don't think she was as confident as I. She decided to check me anyway - I was 8cm. I went from 5cm to 8 in a little over an hour. She was shocked and decided to call Dr. Reuss and tell him to head back to the hospital. Thirty minutes passed and this time, I knew it was time to push. It was 3:00 and Dr. Reuss wasn't back yet, thank you Friday afternoon traffic on the 101. She checked me and sure enough, I was 10cm and my bean was on her way.

 

I started panicking. I really wanted Dr. Reuss there. I have been seeing him for 9 years and there wasn't any other person I wanted to deliver my baby. They had their OB on call outside the door just in case. My nurse, Merilyn, was absolutely wonderful. She had me begin pushing. By this point, I could completely feel the contractions and knew when to push. She helped me through many sets of pushes for the next 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in between contractions both her an JP continued to look out the window in search of Dr. Reuss. He was there by 3:15 and I now had him, Merilyn, and JP all by my side through each set of contraction pushes. My blood pressure started to drop and I was having a hard time breathing through contractions, which caused Ellie's heart rate to drop a bit. As a result, they put me on oxygen and gave me blood pressure medicine. They were now less than a minute apart and painful. SO painful. Not to mention, pushing was exhausting. After 30 minutes of intense pushing, around 3:45, Dr. Reuss explained that he recommended doing an episiotomy. This was something I felt strongly against, which was in my birth plan and he knew how I felt about them. If I was going to tear, I wanted to do so naturally. He said that if I wanted to continue pushing through each contraction, I may possibly have a baby within the next hour. However, with such intense contractions and pushing, this may eventually cause distress on the baby and/or me, which could eventually lead in a C-section, something I felt even stronger about. I did not want a C-section. He said the baby was right there and ready to come out, I just wasn't tearing on my own. He was willing to do whatever I wanted to, but wanted me to know he was ready to do the episiotomy if I desired. I decided to push for a little while longer, but by 3:55 I knew I couldn't make it much longer. I was literally feeling everything and in so much pain. I decided the episiotomy was the best way to go. He did a little snip and I tore the rest of the way and out came Eliana almost immediately. Those last few pushes were SO painful, I was screaming. Apparently everyone in the waiting room heard me. As painful as it was though, it was totally worth it.

 

She was born at 3:59 on Friday, January 25th, 2013.
Exactly 24 hours after having my membranes stripped.
After 12 hours of labor; 6 of which were spent laboring at home.
Less than 3 hours after my water broke.
Fast, fast labor.
They warned me that for all future pregnancies, I'd need to make sure my OB and the hospital staff knew that I delivered quickly and to not labor at home for so long next time.
 

She was a little fussy and they immediately put her on my chest. She stopped crying and just stared wide-eyed at me with her big blue eyes. I immediately began balling my eyes out crying. JP cut the cord and he began crying. It was such a happy moment, one that I'll never forget for the rest of my life. Even thinking about it now, I start to tear up again. It was truly the most magical, indescribable, and incredible emotion I've ever felt. Truly the best moment of my life.

 

They kept her on my chest and began cleaning her up while JP and I both stared in amazement. After 20 minutes or so they took her to the side to finish cleaning her up. A minute or two later she was in JP's arms. The look on his face from the moment Ellie came into this world was pure bliss. He was SO happy and I loved seeing him fall even more in love with her than he had over the past 9.5 months. Pure love. Totally cliché, but I'll be completely honest: I fell in love with him all over again in that moment. He was a daddy. The love of my life was the father of my child. It doesn't get much better than this.

 

We took turns holding our sweet girl while Dr. Reuss finished stitching me up. I did in fact tear once he got the ball rolling, enough for a 2nd degree. Again, totally worth it.

 

We spent the next few hours visiting with family and friends. My mother-in-law, brother and his girlfriend, sister-in-law and her boyfriend, best friend, and JP's cousin all came to visit us that night. They all adored our sweet girl and took turns falling in love with her.

 

They moved us to a post-partum room where we remained until checkout Sunday morning. Ellie stayed with us throughout each day and night. She woke up frequently, mostly with dirty diapers. This girl does NOT like dirty diapers - even now, it's the first thing we check when she gets fussy. JP and I took turns staying up with her throughout the night. We got quite the rotation down, which of course didn't involve much sleep, but we were okay with that.

 

In between our many visitors, we adored every.little.second with our sweet girl. She passed all of her newborn tests. She has great hearing and no signs of jaundice. We thought she had a slight yellow tint, but the nurses insisted she was fine, and all of her jaundice tests came back perfect. She did lose almost 10% of her weight while still in the hospital (all babies lose weight right away, considered normal if it's 10% or under). She went from 7 pounds 8 ounces to 6 pounds 15 ounces. We were a little nervous, but the nurses assured us it was okay. At her first pediatrician appointment 48 hours later, she was back up to 7 pounds. At her 10 day appointment she was back up to 7 pounds 9 ounces. That a girl! :)

 

We did receive some WONDERFUL news while in the hospital. They decided to do an ultrasound on Ellie's kidneys. I hated for her to leave me, but JP stayed by her side for the 20 minutes or so it took for them to do the ultrasound. We had to wait the next day for the results. More mind games. We found out the next morning that her right kidney was 4.7mm and her left kidney was 5.4mm. Babies are typically born with kidneys that are 4-5mm in size. That's the average. Our little bean is barely above average and no where near the 6.9 the left one once was. Thank you, Lord! You answered our prayers. (Side note: Eliana does mean God has answered, which was the final deciding factor when we chose to name her Eliana. Meant to be. :) So, so blessed. Ellie hasn't had a single problem with either kidney and she's as healthy as can be.

 

Since the mostwonderfulspecialandmemorabledayofourlife, we've loved being home. We've loved having visitors and are so thankful for all the wonderful people in our life that make an effort to enjoy and love on our girl. We've gotten dinners, gifts, flowers, and more. We're so, so blessed. We love you all, thank you!!

 For now, here are some pictures from the hospital stay. Hundreds have been taken since, including her newborn pictures. I'll be sure to update more later.

Happy Birthday!

 waiting patiently for Ellie's arrival

 oh, hello double chin awkward photo position!

meeting Daddy for the first time

 

 7 pounds 8 ounces

 Ellie with Dr. Reuss

she has my monkey toes!

 the bean loves her baths

 ready to go home!

 

good job, Daddy!