I figured I should start blogging about my second pregnancy (at week 15, eek!) and realized that I never published Ellison's birth story... So for my reference in the future... Here it is...
So I went to my appointment, where they wanted to do a stress test on Ellison and also an ultrasound to check and make sure everything was okay. I was being monitored when my amazing doctor, Dr. McLendon comes in and says "Well, your blood pressure is high once again and I hear you don't want to be induced? What's that all about?" I told him my concerns and he said "Well, I don't want this to turn into preeclampsia, which I have seen happen many times. I think you should go and be induced today." WHAAAAAT? That's when it hit me that we could be meeting our precious daughter very very soon.. on her grandma's birthday none-the-less! Well, he basically talked me into going to the hospital to be induced since I was already past my due date by 5 days and also had already progressed some. (in between 2-3 cm and 80% effaced) I trust my doctor, so I said I would head there after I grab my hubby and bags at home. I went home then Steve and I headed to the hospital.
When we arrived, a girl was in labor and looked like she was in a ton of pain. The nurses were so chill - which is probably a good thing, but I wanted to be like DANG GET HER A ROOM ALREADY!!! People weren't kidding when they told me this. It's very strange, haha. I checked in and they took me back to a labor and delivery room. I was so excited, yet SO nervous. Oh forgot to mention that the lady checking us in asked if I was only having one baby........... Wow, I know I was big but that's just not nice.
They ended up starting me on my antibiotics and fluids since I was strep B positive (boo!) then started the pitocin around 8pm. At first, I was thinking "Wow, maybe I can do this natural... it's not too bad!" then about 4 hours in, the contractions got more frequent and painful to say the least. I still was feeling like I could do it, but asked to be checked. I figured I had progressed and I would just keep hanging in there. Well, I was the SAME as when I arrived at the hospital.... I told the nurse that I would possibly be asking for the epidural soon, so stay tuned. She left the room and I lasted about 10 minutes and told Steve I wanted the epidural. He asked if I wanted to try and last a little longer. That's when the tears started flowing. My hubs has an alarm that goes off when I start to cry so I just remember him saying "OKAY OKAY WHERE'S THE NURSE BUTTON? HOW DO WE GET IT?" I kept saying no no I want to keep going as I was bawling, haha! He finally pressed the button and we told her I wanted an epidural. After what felt like years, the anesthesiologist came in. I had to sit Indian style on the edge of the bed and lean over with the nurse holding my shoulders. I have scoliosis, so I am assuming that is why he couldn't figure out where the middle of my back was.... which was FREAKING me out to say the least. I was having strong contractions and thinking I was going to get paralyzed. I just kept praying... it was kinda hard to tell him if he was pressing on the middle of my back during all the craziness! Praise the Lord, he found it and it wasn't too bad. Steve watched the ENTIRE thing from his little bed behind us. Not sure how or why he did that.... CRAZY. By then it was about 12:30am. After the epidural, I felt pretty good for a little while. I was still feeling some intense pressure though. Then around 4:30am, they checked me again and I had progressed to 7cm!!! YAY!!! Praise the Lord for that because a lot of the time the epidural can SLOW DOWN labor... mine seemed to speed it up! At that time, my midwife, Vivien, decided to break my water. That was quite strange... she also said I had a HUGE water bag. Sweet Ellison had a nice little cushion for her head. Well, after that nice little cushion was gone... then came the awful pressure. I am pretty sure it was more intense than what I should have been feeling with an epidural. I kept asking the nurse if I should be in this much pain. She finally asked if I wanted to get more drugs. I wasn't sure what that meant since I already had the epidural but I said "YES, Why didn't you offer that hours ago?!" Another anesthesiologist came in to give me the good drugs in my epidural which was fast and painless. He just put it in the epidural line. He was very sweet, asking what I was having and telling me about his little girl and how sweet they are. I was still in pain while he was talking so I am sure I was not as nice as I could have been. ;) He was my best friend after the drugs kicked in though! I couldn't feel A THING!!! My legs felt huge which was really weird but it was amazing. I was so excited to get some sleep finally since I hadn't slept since the night before! Well, just as I was ready to fall asleep I started shaking uncontrollably! Supposedly this can happen from the epidural or from being in transition? Not really sure, but it was AWFUL. I was shaking so bad... Steve tried to cover me with blankets, but I wasn't cold. I obviously did not sleep through all the shaking. I tried to relax but that wasn't really happening. After a couple hours, around 7:30am, I told them I was starting to feel the pressure come back and I didn't think the epidural was working. I kept thinking, OH NO I AM GOING TO HAVE TO PUSH WITHOUT THE DRUGS! So they came in and checked me. She said I was 10cm, but Ellison wasn't far enough down in the birth canal. They wanted me to wait about 30 more minutes to start pushing so I wouldn't be pushing without any progress. 7am is when the midwives changed shifts. Kim Long was now my midwife. My nurse's name was Kelly and she was AWESOME. I told her I needed to push because I felt so much pressure and my epidural didn't seem to be working well. She said we could start and see if we could make some progress while Kim Long was on her way back from a C-section. I started pushing and Kim ended up coming in after a little while. Ellison still wasn't too far down, but she said we could continue trying. This was the HARDEST thing I have ever done in my life. BY FAR. I was NOT expecting to have to push for an hour and 45 minutes, that's for sure. Finally, at 9:51am, our sweet Ellison Grace was born. It was the most incredible feeling. I couldn't help but thank Jesus over and over for this perfect gift of life. It is the most amazing miracle. Pregnancy and birth just brings me to my knees. The whole process is just amazing! I am SO thankful that the Lord has entrusted Ellison to us. What an incredible, humbling job! And when I say humbling, seriously mean it! This little girl has rocked our world! Yes, in the best of ways, but wow! The Lord has continued to humble me in the last 16 weeks. I really thought that having a baby would be so easy for me, since I love kids and nannied for two newborns at the same time. I kept thinking "this will be a breeze!" BAH! Oh boy is it different when you have your own baby all day and all night! My patience has been tested beyond what I thought it could. The Lord has continued to teach me that it's NOT about me in the slightest anymore! (It never was, but now it's for sure not!) I know that The Lord will continue to teach me more about serving, selflessness, continued reliance on him for parenting and strength, along with so much more. I am so excited to jump on the parenting train and trust The Lord for his guidance through it all. Thank you Jesus for our sweet Ellison and any more babies that you choose to entrust to us in years to come!
