The Story of Eli

(Just a fore warning: This is a birth story - it may get gross so feel free to skip this post if those kind of details are not for you.)

My tiny Eli.

You forget just how small a newborn baby is until you're holding them in your arms. All those months spent preparing, all the pain and pushing that will seemingly never end and then there he is lying on your chest - time just stops.

So here are the official facts.

name: Eli Everett Alery
born: September 22, 2012 - 3:00am
size: 7lbs 11oz - 20.5 inches long

Tyler said as soon as he made his official entrance and the doctor laid him on the table, he rolled onto his side and started screaming like a bobcat.  At this point the details are a little hazy for me but this description of a little warrior sounds about right for a son of my husband.

So here's how we got to that point.

Friday night I was lying in bed watching episodes of 90210 on Netflix (teen drama shows are my guilty pleasure, don't judge) when suddenly there was a big sploosh of fluid and I realized my water just broke. Doesn't that only happen in the movies?! That was 10:45pm.

Of course this was the only night the hubby had went out in the past 2 weeks so I had to call him away from the truck pulls wondering if I would be driving myself to the hospital. Turns out I didn't. No contractions had started yet so I began packing up the car in a frenzy, running back in the bathroom as amniotic fluid is dripping all over everything and panicking because surely I will forgot something important.

We made it to the hospital at midnight. I had several contractions on the 30 minute drive there that got up to only a few minutes apart but we were chatting and laughing the whole way up. This is going to be so quick and easy, I kept thinking.

Hubby dropped me off at ER entrance and I started making my way to the maternity wing. Somehow I got lost, stopped to breathe through a contraction in the hallway and a nurse leaving from her shift found me and pushed me in a wheelchair the rest of the way there.

Next was the tiny check-in room. It was disappointing to find out I was only dilated to 3.5 (it was at 3 just two days earlier.) The nurse also thought there was meconium in the amniotic fluid so she had to hook my belly up to a stress monitor to keep an eye on the baby. Turns out there was none and it was just darkened blood from something else.

At this point my contractions are getting more intense and they moved me to the last room left in the maternity ward. We finish up the paperwork and check in process just in time for the real pain to begin. My baby is facing up and the contractions are all in my back now. It hurts worse than anything I could have imagined. I keep switching positions, sitting on the ball and nothing is helping. He keeps turning around too so I feel the contractions move from the front and just as I get comfortable they are all in the back again. Tyler is pushing with all his strength onto my lower back and while it brings some relief, its not enough.

I really wanted to have this child natural, with no epidural or pain medication (I did with my daughter and even said "I could do that again" immediately after her birth) but this is just too much. I tell my husband I can't do it - the back labor is too intense. His tries to convince me through 3 more contractions when I break down and ask the nurse what the options are without the epidural. IV meds that will progressively become less effective with each dose and will have to stop before delivery becomes imminent as to not affect the baby. I consider what to do through 2 more contractions and that's when I feel the urge to push.

They lay me down on the bed to check dilation and see I am at 8 or 9. Too late for any pain meds. My baby has turned back face down, the back pains decrease and I push through the contractions. I pushed and pushed and his little head would just not pop through. Tyler didn't think it was possible. I was screaming, panting and bearing down with every ounce of strength in my body when finally his little head popped out. Then the shoulders. Then his body; the placenta. Sweet relief. It took a lot of pep-talk telling myself just keep pushing, it's almost over, he's almost here.

And then he was here. Time stopped, my heart swelled and all the bustle of nurses in the room and the doctor stitching me back together just faded into the background.

Although this time I said I am definelty not doing that again.

Welcome to the world little one. <3