Welcome Elsa Jean!
On Wednesday morning I had kind of a funny feeling that today would be the day I go into labor. It just seemed all too familiar to my last labor day with Gretchen. I started the day off having contractions maybe 15 to 20 minutes apart. I was still trying to figure out if they were real contractions or not. The girls and I went to a community gym and played, and I came home and played, and by dinner time around 4:00 p.m., I started timing contractions and they seemed to be about 8 to 10 minutes apart.
At this point I called my mom to have her come over to babysit the older girls, just in case we did go to the hospital. Sure enough by about 9:00 p.m. contractions were maybe 4-5 minutes apart. So Grandma stayed until Brandi could come over. Insert BIG THANK YOU to my girlfriend Brandi for coming over to stay with Charlotte and Gretchen while Grandma, Dad and I went to the hospital to have a new baby.
Kevin and I left for the hospital at 9:30 p.m. I was there and finished with admisstion stuff by 10:30 p.m. At about 10:45 p.m. my nurse checked me too see what was going on. I was 5 cm dialated and got my epidural shortly after that. Of course that was painful, but made the contractions a heck of a lot better, so totally worth it.
By 2:20 a.m. we were still just hanging out in the room trying to get some sleep. Kevin and Grandma took turns sleeping in the two chairs in the room. Lights were out. Eventually Grandma went out to the lobby with a pillow and blanket and got about three hours of sleep out there. It was hard just laying there knowing the other two girls were born at 3 and 4 a.m. and wondering why this was taking sooo much longer!
Finally, at 6:30 a.m. my nurse checked me again and I was only just 6 cm which was a little disappointing as I was hoping I was further along in that department. But as it turned out, I was in for a long morning of back labor which is why the dilation was not going as fast as it probably would have.
The pain was getting pretty bad, and they increased the epidural and also gave me Fentanyl, which helped for a short period of time but sure didn't eliminate the painful back labor/contractions. Finally they checked me again and I was 8 cm. It was about 7:30 a.m. when back labor started getting really bad. I remember crying a lot throughout the morning because things hurt so bad. I really felt for Kevin and Grandma, watching me lay there trying to catch my breath, breath, and sobbing. The 45 minutes leading up to Elsa's birth was horrible. Luckily, all it took was two contractions push Elsa out (about 5 minutes). I was very greatful for that!
Elsa Jean was born on 12/13/12 at 8:21 in the morning, 8 lbs. 5 oz., 20.5 inches long. Very healthy with an APGAR of 9. At the last mintue before Elsa arrived, the doctor was able to help her flip over so she came out the correct way. She has a full head of dark hair and were were excited and surprise to know it was a girl!
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| 4.5 hours old |
More photos on the Flickr site, of course...
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