The Whole Story

Well, Eliana is here and is the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Her ability to get cuter with every passing minute is incredible. That being said, here are her stats and her birth story.

Name: Eliana Raye
Born: 6:48 p.m.
Weight: 7 lbs 8 oz.
Length: 19 inches (they said it would be 18 the next day)
Random: Born with a full head of dark, wavy hair, a strong set of lungs, and quite the conehead.

At about 5:40 a.m. on Monday the 4th (right after I finished posting the 39 week update) I started having contractions. Up until then my Braxton-Hicks contractions had been painless, but this was something different. The intensity surprised me. After 30 minutes or so I did my best to time when they happened, but it was fairly useless because they hurt so badly. At around 6:40 I had Eric start timing the contractions. They were a very consistent 3 minutes apart. I tried to pack the hospital bag, but that was pretty useless when I had contractions that lasted for 90 seconds and only another 90 seconds before the next one came. I finally gave up and we went to the hospital at around 7:45.

Because contractions were so close I had one right outside the entrance to the building. A nice man in a white shirt saw us from his window and came out. I was leaned up against a pillar and had an arm around Eric for support while I tried to breathe through it. He had security get me a wheelchair. They got me up to L&D very quickly. I had another contraction kick in as they were admitting me (thank heaven for being pre-registered).

They put me in a labor and delivery room and my nurse, Chelsie, started going through all the questions before checking me. It was amazing how many times she had to tell me to breathe through the contractions before we got through them and she checked me. I was at 3 cm and 90% effaced. Then she told me she would check me in an hour to make sure I was in labor. That didn't go over too well with me, as I was pretty sure this was labor and I wanted the epidural. An hour later Chelsie came back and I was at 4 cm, so she told me I could stay. I think they would have had to drag me out of the hospital screaming if they'd decided it wasn't the real thing. They called in the anesthesiologist (the suspender guy) and he and his partner for the day got me started.

The epidural must have slowed down the contractions because they looked less intense and less frequent on the monitor after it became effective. I was fine waiting a little longer. They called Dr. Carn and he said that if I wasn't progressing enough in the next hour or so that he would come break my water. An hour later I was not dilated any further, but I had effaced more. They put some Pitocin in my IV and Dr. Carn broke my water. There was a lot of it. He commented on how much there was and then it just kept on coming and coming. I also had to start wearing an oxygen mask somewhere around this time because Eliana didn't respond well to the contractions.

I don't recall when this part happened, but that was probably because I was out of consciousness. I started to get sick to my stomach and asked for a barf bag. I stripped off the oxygen mask and waited. The next thing I knew I was puking into the bag, but I wasn't holding it. I was aware that I had not been awake to initiate the throwing up, but that I came to halfway through it. Apparently I had been leaning over holding the bag one moment, then I dropped it. Eric said my head and my eyes turned to left and stayed locked there in a kind of lifeless gaze. He called my name and I didn't respond. The nurse called my name and I didn't respond. She was turning to get help when I started to puke and come around. Eric had to grab the bag and hold it while I finished. I was fine after that, but it scared the crap out of my husband. He looked really shaken. Obviously, I'm okay now.

Breaking the water and the Pitocin really got things moving because I went from 4cm to fully dilated in an hour and a half. Chelsie said she would call the doctor and she had me rest and descend for about an hour and a half before pushing. During the rest and descend I needed a redose of epidural because the pain and pressure from my tailbone and the cursed urinary catheter were more than I was able to cope with. The redose meade me feel better. I knew that with an epidural you can't feel how to push as much as without one, so I pushed with everything in me to make sure I was doing enough. I must have done a good enough job because it wasn't way long before she and Eric could see Eliana's head full of hair.

Shift change came and Chelsie asked if it was okay for Holly to be my new nurse. Chelsie's other patient was a friend from college that really wanted her to be the delivery nurse. Holly was changing and would be in my room in 10 minutes. I told Chelsie that was fine and she told me not to push until Holly got there and that Holly would call Dr. Carn. By this time my mom had called and we thought it would be okay to have her in the delivery room with us. I waited patiently for Holly for 10 minutes. After 15 minutes I decided to do some soft pushing so as not to waste the time and because my body was telling me to. After 30 minutes of "wait for Holly" my patience was completely gone and we called down to the nurse station to see what was up. Chelsie came back into the room and apologized profusely. I don't recall if she told us why Holly never came because, frankly, I didn't care. I was the one trying to push out a baby while some other mystery woman I'd heard about was slowly dilating from cm to cm. I was about redy to spit nails. Chelsie then told me that Chelsee would be my nurse, that she was changing, and that she would be there in 10 minutes. And not to push. Chelsee came in 15 minutes (not 10) later and said she'd called Dr. Carn, who asked why I hadn't been pushing.

By now there was no question of pushing or not pushing. Chelsee tried to talk me through everything, which didn't help because I'd heard it all a long time before I ever even got pregnant. Granted, I wasn't in the best of moods. She irritated me thoroughly and I wanted to request a new nurse, but I was afraid if I did they would send me one "in 10 minutes." So I tuned her out, instead. I was laboring and, therefore, allowed to be a grouch. The epidural must have worn off while I waited because my body certainly knew precisely what to do. I had a hard time dealing with everything I was feeling. I have never dealt well with heat and stuffiness, and that was all I could feel. I ripped the oxygen mask off again because it was too hot. At one point I said that I didn't think I could do it anymore. Chelsee didn't quite hear me and asked what I'd said. I wouldn't repeat it because I didn't want to talk to her. My mom remembered she had a fan in her purse and started fanning me. That was the solution. Once my body was cooled down I was able to regain control of myself and breathe through everything. I was much more like myself than the demonic creature I had become.

Dr. Carn arrived shortly after that and set up as quickly as possible. That was necessary because Eliana was crowning when he got there and I was not about to stop pushing when I felt the urge. I was too mad. I had already torn before the doctor got there, but it was going a very bad direction and I needed an episiotomy to get Eliana out quickly. I probably pushed two or three times after that and she was out. I watched in the mirror as she delivered. Dr. Carn placed her on my belly and, surprisingly, I didn't cry. I always thought I would because it doesn't take much to make me weep. It was heaven on earth to finally hold my baby. I never planned what I would first say to her, but if I had it probably wouldn't have been, "Yeah, that was hard for me, too." She was screaming well and letting her opinion be known.

Delivering the placenta and being stitched up told me the epidural had, in fact, worn off earlier. I got to feel every needle prick as he stitched up the tear that went up and the episiotomy that went down. Fun times.

Now for the part you;ve all been waiting for: PICTURES! Because I'm too tired and lazy to retrieve more of the shots we have, I'll just post the ones from the say she was born. I'll post the others later.

Me and my swollen self, pre-Eliana

Eliana's first picture, taken with Dr. Carn

Mom and baby together at last

Eliana getting the amniotic fluid she'd swallowed sucked out. She filled a tube and a half. The proud (and handsome) new daddy. Eliana in the nursery.
Looking at Daddy.
A complete family in the recovery room.