Welcome Baby Eli

My sister in law, Chelsea inspired me with a recent blog post of hers to retell the story of our son's birth. I knew if I didn't do it soon, my post pregnancy brain (can I still use that excuse?) would soon forget all the wonderful details of April 21st. So, thanks Chels.

Being 5 days overdue was definitely taking its toll on me. I was growing more and more impatient with each day as I kept thinking "it could happen any minute" for the 3 weeks leading up to the day. I blame my doc for telling me I was going to go early because I was 70% effaced and 3 cm. dilated for weeks. With that being said, I was on a mission to meet little Eli as soon as possible and was willing to try ANYTHING to naturally induce labor myself, especially since my mom flew in early to be there because I was certain the time was drawing near! Day after day for an entire week Josh, mom, and I searched for new ways to convince him to make his debut. You name it, walking, pineapple, the other very popular method I will refrain from mentioning on my public blog, spicy foods, castor oil and a few other not so glamorous tactics you can ask me about in private if you're curiosity is killing you.

Well April 21st rolled around and I must have tried 5 of the old wives methods that day. We went for a long walk, visited my OB doctor, and got pedicures. The day lingered on and the Braxton Hicks contractions continued as they had been doing for many days. It wasn't until about 6ish while we were web-camming with my sister and nephew that I felt like these contractions may be a little bit different than the others. We ate dinner and started watching a movie around 8:30 when I finally announced to Josh and mom that I was pretty sure I was starting labor because my contractions were now becoming painful with low back pain and coming every 3-5 minutes. Of course they were very excited because we'd been waiting so long, but none of us had a clue what we were in for with the long night ahead. The movie became less and less interesting to me as I learned that the only way to cope with the contractions was to walk laps in my house or around the backyard with Tyden following me and Josh walking with me carrying a 5 gallon bucket for me to sit on when the contractions came. With time, the walking became more and more difficult and I found that sitting on my couch was much more comfortable, especially with Josh and my mother taking turns cramming a tennis ball into my sacrum with each contraction ( I would totally reccommend this to any woman in labor to relieve the lower back pain.)

The hours flew by with me sitting on the couch and taking one hot bath and sleeping with my head on the soap dish on the wall between contractions. It was heavenly! Finally at 3 AM I decided it was time to go to the hospital. After admission, I decided to take a hot shower since the bath had felt so great and ended up spending an hour in there also sleeping between contractions. The shower felt divine, but it ended up slowing down my contractions quite a bit. They were now coming every 10 minutes and eventually they stopped completely. Josh and I paced the halls with my telemetry machine draped over my shoulder and my many gowns to avoid flashing the staff at the nurses station. The pacing proved ineffective and the nurse finally came in to ask what I'd prefer to do; stay and see what happens once my doctor came into work in a few hours, wait and be induced in the morning , or go home. Let's just say after laboring already for 8 hours I was not about to go home especially because my doctor had scheduled an induction for the very next day because she didn't want me to go longer than a week past my due date. Josh and I decided that we could all use a nap and we'd decide what to do when we woke up.

So nap we did and it was wonderful. I woke up about 2 hours later and it was now 8AM. Spontaneously the contractions picked right back up at every 3-5 minutes and my doctor arrived during her rounds. She checked me and I was now at 5.5 so this made me happy that I had progressed from 4.5 when I'd first arrived in spite of my contractions slowing down and all. Change of shift also brought me a new nurse who apparently is the only nurse on the floor who supports natural childbirth. She wants to return to school to become a midwife so this was very encouraging to me because I'd been warned that Josh and I were going to have to fight to have our birthplan honored. She was amazing and very supportive of everything I wanted to do to cope with the pain of the contractions.

The day progressed with the same pattern of contractions and Josh, my mom, and the tennis ball getting me through each contraction. My doctor came back in about 1 PM and found that I had progressed to 7 with my water still intact. At about 2:45 my nurse checked me and I was an 8 she also told me that if I wanted my doctor to deliver for me and if I was ready they could break my water which would speed up labor and ensure that I get my doctor instead of the doc that was on call that evening. She was scheduled to perform a C-section at 4 though and finished her day at 5 so we were hoping I'd go before then. Once my water was broken, the contractions became much more intense with me keeping Josh and mom on a short leash as I depended on them to coach me through each of them. Finally at 4:45 my nurse convinced me to let her give me a little Pitocin to speed things along since it would be given immediately after delivery to help my uterus contract and prevent hemmorhaging. Knowing that it's standard protocol, I figured "what the heck" not to mention I was ready for the day to end.

Minutes before 5 I told my nurse it was time to start pushing. Knowing how this works from my L & D rotation in nursing school, I told her I would not even start pushing if I was going to be told to stop and wait for the doc. to arrive. Once the pushing started for me, it wasn't going to stop till the baby came out. She was awesome and assured me that if I started pushing and the baby was ready she would deliver him and not make me pause to wait for the doc which is standard procedure in South Texas. So the pushing started and so did the panic. With Josh on one leg, Ashton (my good friend from nursing school, also an L & D nurse) on the other and mom at my side the pushing continued for about 45 minutes. I remember every second of it and the intense pain and terror with each push. I was so determined to end the pain that I pushed longer and more than the counted times with each contraction. I can remember each of them telling me he was almost out and that if I pushed once or twice more he'd be here. Sure enough, baby Eli was born.

When I heard 10 lbs. 1 oz. I felt somewhat justified for crying and panicking during the pushing. When I heard he came out with his hand on his head and elbow sticking out, I felt very justified for wanting to give up. Praise God he is healthy and I didn't experience any complications. I was told later by my nurse friend, Ashton that the charge nurse was about to get on top of me and start compressing him out because they were fearful he was gonna be too big to fit. Thanks mom for my birthing hips. Apparently that's what saved me from C-section.

They say the further you are from the day the more you forget about the experience. I hope so because I haven't forgotten for a second what that pain feels like, but if I could have avoided it and not had Eli I would do the same thing all over again. Since he's been here, sure the adjustment takes some time, but I have such a peace and appreciation for the BEAUTIFUL gift God has given us in our son, Eli LeMelle Saunders.