She Made a Grand Entrance...

It's hard to believe that four weeks ago, I was in labor, and in just a few hours, it will be four weeks since Elyse was born. It seems like a lifetime ago. I can't imagine life without her anymore, though I can imagine what it might be like to sleep through the night again! :)

I've had several requests for a birth story, so here are the facts...

I started with false labor on Dec. 9. Contractions were sometimes frequent, sometimes few and far between. They were never very painful, but strong enough that I couldn't ignore them. I was definitely paying close attention, but trying to remind myself that I likely still had a few weeks to go. On Dec. 15, I woke up at night to mild, but very frequent contractions for over an hour. They were coming about two minutes apart, so although they weren't strong, the doctor wanted to see me. We headed into the hospital in the middle of the night, but contractions soon eased up and disappeared, so they let me go back home. The next few days had almost no contractions at all. I began wondering if this baby would ever make up its mind on when to appear. Turns out, she had her own little plan.

On Dec. 20, I started feeling regular contractions again, beginning at 4pm. They came every 10 minutes, were relatively strong but not overwhelming, and continued in a regular pattern. I taught piano lessons that afternoon and had friends over in the evening. The girls that were over knew I was having contractions, but none of us really thought the time was near. After all, I had been having so many false signs that I didn't believe this was the real thing! At about 10:30 pm, contractions were still regular, now about 7-8 minutes apart. I decided to go to bed, assuming I would "sleep them off", thinking that they were still false. I woke up at midnight and realized they were still happening, a little stronger and a little more frequently. I tried to ignore them for awhile, but by 1:00am, they were too strong for me to just lay in bed comfortably. I got up and used some of the comfort techniques we learned in childbirth classes. I walked, bounced on an exercise ball, took a shower, and kept thinking these would quit at any moment. I was timing them, and they were five minutes apart, so I knew I was supposed to call the doctor and alert him, but I didn't feel like taking another unnecessary trip to the hospital, so I kept waiting for "just one more" contraction, to make sure they wouldn't stop. Finally, at 2:30am, I woke Andy and told him I couldn't get the contractions to stop, so I was calling the doctor. While talking with the doctor, I had a contraction that required me to stop talking and just breathe. That cued the doctor that I had stayed home long enough - and he asked us to head to the hospital. We took our time, because we assumed that we still had many hours of labor ahead of us. We puttered around the house, getting last minute things together, and left for the hospital at 3:00am. We arrived at the hospital at 3:20, and as we were walking from the parking garage to the ER, my contractions intensified and I could no longer walk through one. (In case you're wondering - it was my choice to walk from the parking garage. I could have been dropped off at the door if I wanted!) We made our way through the ER and up to the Labor floor. They admitted me and told me I was 5 cm dilated. Contractions were coming every minute or two, and they were pretty intense. As they went through the normal admitting procedures, they had some trouble locating the baby's heartbeat. It turned out the baby was in distress with a dropping heartrate, so they had to take some extra precautions. I was put on a fluids IV, and also given oxygen. I had to lay on my right side because that was the only position that seemed to stabilize the baby. We tried to "settle in" for the long haul, but ten minutes later, they told me I had progressed to 7 cm, and they would be calling the doctor to come in, because it didn't look like I would take as long as they thought. By 4:30, I desperately wanted to push, but the nurse kept telling me to wait because the doctor hadn't arrived yet. She did a great job of coaching me through breathing so that I could avoid pushing! At 4:40, the doctor arrived. I was 10 cm and pretty much ready to push. The next few minutes passed in a blur, and at 5:00am, Elyse Nicole flew (literally!) into this world.

Despite the earlier concern when she was in distress, she arrived healthy and with a strong set of lungs! What a miracle, just to have her in our arms!