Baby Eli!

It's been over a year since I've updated this blog. With a new baby in our family, I figured a new post was in order ;)

Our little Eli was born on Monday, August 15th. But I have to go back some to start this story...

TJ and I wanted to expand our family, but it didn't happen quite as easily as it had with the other two. It took close to a year and finally, with some help from some medication we found out we were preggo! We were so excited! I was thrilled, especially because I was starting to doubt whether or not we'd be able to have more children.

My due date with Eli was August 17th. Out of fear of having another Drew (9 lbs!), the doctor agreed to induce me a week early- the 10th. A week before I was supposed to have Eli, the hospital where I was to deliver called to tell us that the price for delivery had quadrupled. Having no insurance, we had to know exactly all costs and the hospital changed everything! So we had to change our hospital, which in turn changed our induction date-to the 15th, just two days before my actual due date.

The night before I went into the hospital, there was a crazy thunderstorm. It definitely mirrored my feelings, I was nervous. My previous two births were not easy, they were pretty tough!

We showed up at the hospital at 7 am, after calling before 6 to see if there was room for us. After signing a bunch of paper work and answering a bunch of questions, they finally started the pitocin around 8:30 am. The nurse told me that the doctor most likely would be in to break my water during his lunch break. By surprise, he showed up at 8:45, at that point I was dilated to a 3! I knew I was going to get an epidural, and at 10 am I decided I was ready. At 10:30, the epidural was in and I was able to get comfortable and get some rest-at this point I was dilated to a 4. At 11:30, TJ left to go get lunch for him and my mom. The nurse kept increasing my dose of pitocin, but my contractions were getting farther apart. Also, the baby seemed to be in a bit of distress, so she then lowered the pitocin. I figured I wasn't progressing at all because of all of this, but around 12:45, the nurse checked me again and I was almost an 8. They started bringing in all the gear to deliver a baby and the doctor showed up at about 1:20 to see how I was, and I was at a 10. I couldn't believe it happened so fast-thank GOODNESS for epidurals!! After about 10 minutes of pushing Eli was born at 1:40 pm. I was able to relax and sleep during the labor process, and because of that I was more aware of what was happening than with the other two birth experiences. When I saw him for the first time, I couldn't believe it. I was so happy and it was such an emotional moment. I was so happy to finally see and meet him. Right after he was born, they did all the standard newborn stuff. They weighed him, measured his length, etc. and then gave him to TJ. I didn't get to hold my little baby for about 20 minutes!! Whatever happened to mom first! It was worth the wait though, he was beautiful! Later that day, after his bath, they brought him back to me and his hair looked red. All day long, I couldn't stop staring at him. Drew and Cam came to visit with TJ's mom around 2:30. They loved him instantly-but couldn't understand why he didn't want to play with the toys they'd brought him. My brother and mom came up later that night to visit. I was grateful for their love and support. We are so happy to have Eli in our family, he's such a good baby. He's so sweet, he sleeps really well and is absolutely adorable!