Welcome, Elisabeth Catherine!

Yay! She is finally here. I can hardly believe my daughter has finally arrived after many months (and let's be real here-years) of dreaming, planning, hoping and nesting. She arrived at 1:25 a.m. on Wednesday November 18th. After my appointment on Tuesday morning I was feeling slightly discouraged. Kaleen swept my membranes and basically said, we need to wait and see what happens. She says that sometimes this procedure can naturally get things going but for some (including her) you can do this several times with no evail. So naturally I thought I would be one of those persons that would go into week 42 with no baby because of how badly I wanted her to come! After my appointment I kissed Jonathan goodbye and he went off to work. I went to the mall and walked around trying to distract myself. I allowed myself to look only for clothes for little Ellie. My goal was to find her a Christmas dress since we won't be out and about too much once she got here because of germs. Anyway, I found a precious red velvet dress with patent leather shoes for her first visit (and pictures) to see Santa. I also found some adorable Thanksgiving duds (being optimistic). Meanwhile, I was not feeling much except more back pain. I blamed it on my shoes... By the time I got home I was ready to put my feet up! But, all of a sudden I got a burst of energy and decided to scrub all three bathrooms, clean the office, do some laundry and cook some lunch! By about 2:00 I started to feel some mild, irregular contractions. I tried to lay down but was woken up by the crampiness. The contractions continued very sporadically it seemed so I kept telling myself that they would go away and that this was NOT the real thing. I decided to start paying attention to how fast they were coming around 5:45p.m. By 7:00 I had noted 5 contractions. Jonathan came home from work and we went about the evening as usual. We had a nice salad with shrimp and edemmame for dinner. I still would not allow myself to get excited. I did not think if I was in labor that I would be so comfortable and able to go about as if nothing was happening. Jonathan downloaded a contraction tracker on his iphone and we started timing them. We were instructed not to call the midwife until the contractions were 5 minutes apart lasting 1 minute each for 1 hour. I thought we were in for a long night or either the contractions would stop. They did not! Jonathan drew me a bath after I bounced on the ball for a while as I watched "So you think you can dance"! I called my mom, dad and sisters just to give them the heads up in case things did continue to progress throughout the evening. I got into a wonderful bath at about 10:00 and that seemed to slow down the contractions for about 15 or 20 minutes. I was reading "New Moon". Jonathan came in to check on me at about 10:30 and I decided I was uncomfortable enough to get out of the tub because the contractions started picking up. At this point I was thinking that it was because of my position (still in denial!). It really hit me when I came downstairs and had about three contractions right in a row. I got dressed in some comfy clothes and started packing any last minute things for the birth center. The contractions were on average less than 5 minutes apart but not lasting more than about 30-45 seconds. By 11:15 they were constant and strong! I walked around, bounced on the ball, did some squats and tried to relax. I was trying all the breathing techniques I learned in Hypnobirthing class. The breathing REALLY helped but nothing else did. I tried to lay down and list to my meditation music and Jonathan tried to rub my back and arm. Neither of those things was helping at all! At this point, Jonathan called Heart to Heart Birth center and got Kaleen on the phone. She said to try and relax, take a bath or hot shower because it could be a long night. (Scary thought for me at this point.) Meanwhile, the contractions kept coming more quickly and were getting even stronger. Then about 12:00 I told Jonathan to call her back because they were not subsiding and now I was feeling nauseous and shaky (signs I knew things were progressing). She said to come on in. We got there at 12:25 a.m. In the car the contractions were coming at about every 2 minutes! They examined me which was hard because they wanted me to lay down! I was already 5 cm when I got there. YES! Baby's heart rate was good and all looked well. With each contractions I kept hearing Kaleens voice say, "good noises, let your body work that baby down, slow down your breathing, you're doing it, slow down your breathing, this is completely normal..." All of these things helped me to stay calm and help my body do what it needed to do. After my exam, I felt very nauseous and threw up my entire dinner-yuck! I felt so bad for Jonathan that he had to see all this but he was soo calm and I felt him by my side the entire time. He mostly stayed quiet which was what I needed him to do for me but ever time I opened my eyes and looked up he was there. It made me feel very safe. I went to the bathroom where they were running me a bath in the jacuzzi tub. I felt a pop and then the contractions got even MORE intense. (My water broke.) I was not sure how long I could handle this kind of pain and did not know how much longer it would be. I crouched down and the midwife checked me. I'm not sure what was said but I know they led me back to the room because there was no time for the tub. WHAT?! They told me to start pushing. After I heard that I though to myself "Wow, that means we're almost there, I can do this!" I pushed about 4 times and heard, "reach down and feel your baby" It was her head! Oh my goodness. Jonathan and I looked at each other and started crying. He kept saying "I can see her, she's almost here". There was so much joy and excitement in his voice that I was not scared. The next push she came out and they put her on my stomach. Both of us were bawling! It was sooo beautiful. I kissed her and stared at her and just was so overwhelmed with joy. They left her on my chest for a while and I delivered the placenta ( I barely felt it). Elisabeth was here and let us know with some very loud cries. The most beautiful sound I ever heard by the way! She breast fed right away and was just perfect. The rest of the morning is kind of a blur. I never felt tired and just wanted to hold and look at our baby. Mom came and eventually dad. Jonathan called his parents. Everyone was so surprised because she came so fast. We barely had time to tell people we were in labor! They discharged us at 8:30 in the morning with specific post pardum instructions. My mom came home with us and helped to get us settled. Elisabeth slept for quite a while and Jonathan and I actually got to take a couple hour nap. I lightly slept because I was so excited! Later that day Jonathan's parents, his grandmother and great Aunt Irene came to see us. They were so excited for us. Jonathan and his mom were very emotional. There was such love to be felt! We later took Ellie to the pediatrician and get her checked out. She was still perfect. She weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz and was 19 1/2 inches. We came home and were on our own. Jonathan has been so amazing taking care of the both of us. Elisabeth loves her daddy so much already. I am so glad he is so hands on. We did not sleep much the first night because Ellie is on a backwards schedule. She sleeping a lot in the daytime. The next day Anna, Lee and Gabe came from Tampa to see their new niece. She was so good. She slept the whole time and let everyone hold her and fall in love with her. Right now it is 6:19 a.m. and I have not slept more that about an hour at a time. I know it will catch up with me but right now I feel energized! Ellie is sleeping in the swing right next to me peacefully. We both have an appointment with Heart to Heart today and also we are going to see the lactation consultant. This is a service offered with our pediatricians office. I am so happy because I am getting really sore as of today. Hopefully Pat will have some good advice for me :)

I could go on and on but I will close for now. I think Ellie made a stinky ;) I love being a mother...