& baby makes 4!

On Thursday April 12, 2012 we awoke knowing that this would be no ordinary day.  My husband and I had dropped off our son at my parents the night before, so the eerie quiet that filled the house was setting the stage for something that will rarely ever happen in our house again (unless no one is home).  I woke up on the couch with our first-child (aka Diesel the 100lb Weimaraner) in my lap.  He was fully aware something was about to change, hence the snuggle fest.

At 40 weeks and 5 days, I was scheduled to be induced.

I was to arrive at the hospital for check in at 7:30 AM.  The hospital had remodeled since I delivered my little man.  This would be the room where I would be getting comfortable until she decided to make her entrance, then we would move to a different room for recovery.  Turns out my doctor had 3 others being induced that day…guess no one was in favor of a Friday the 13th baby 🙂

At 9 AM we started the Pitocin, and waited.  Having been induced with my first child I knew we were in for a few hours of waiting while the contractions got stronger.  We were prepared this time.  We contacted friends and family to see what time everyone thought our daughter would be born, I hunkered down to a crossword puzzle or two, and the husband tried to read Hunger Games to pass the time (but I kept interrupting him to chat).  Shortly after noon, the doctor came in to break my water, hoping to speed things up a bit.  At that point I was formally committed to having the baby and was measuring 3 CM.

While contractions were still tolerable, I knew that my body responded much better after the epidural last time, so I went ahead with it at 3 PM.  At that point I was dilated to 5 CM (halfway there). A sigh of relief. We settled in and turned on the Brewer’s vs. Cubs game and waited (Cubs won).  While the epidural was extremely helpful in getting my body relax, there was a small “window” where the epidural didn’t take.  Meaning while a majority of pain was gone, there was a small spot on my left side where I felt everything.  In that spot, the epidural had taken the edge off, but the pain was quickly growing extremely strong.

At 4:45 PM we still were passing time by texting family with updates and checking out Facebook.  When the nurse (Maureen) came to check on me I shared the growing discomfort on my side. I had already pushed the button to up the meds with no relief.  At that point she checked me and exclaimed, “You’re going to have this baby within an hour.” I was in transitional phase.  She prepped everything to prepare for doctor and baby.  I did one practice push, and was quickly halted, “Okay, no more pushing.  This baby is going to arrive within the next 15 minutes.” The nurse  called my doctor (who is incredibly laid back doctor) and told him he needed to come immediately.  My doctor asked “do I have time to get caught up on some work?” to which she replied, “No, you need to come now, she’ll be done in 1-2 contractions.”  Doctor arrived just in time to gown up and get his gloves on.  I patiently breathed through 3 contractions while the doctor prepped.  1 push- head was out, 2nd push- shoulders were out.  At 5:07 PM we welcomed EllaMae Sandra to the world.

I was very excited to have a friend capture the precious moments immediately after she was born, as both my husband and I were busy and caught up in the moment with the birth of our new daughter (I’ll share those soon).  Being that I wasn’t sick this time, I was able to enjoy skin-to-skin time with our little girl.  She was eager to look around and check things out.  Within 5 minutes she had found her fist, and managed to put her thumb in her mouth.  The nurse came in and was shocked…”Get that thumb out, let’s get a boob in her mouth!” And she hasn’t stopped eating since! After a little snack on her part, there was a nursing shift change (good-bye Maureen; Hello Emily) and both were fabulous to work with!  EllaMae was officially weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz (just 7 oz. heavier than her brother) and 19.5 inches long (1 inch shorter than brother).  I will say her feet and fingers are SO long!  Literally her foot is slightly shorter than her entire calf, and just longer than my middle finger.

As you can see, she is very fond of her daddy.  I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Around 7 PM my little man arrived with my parents.  While he had been prepped and excited, saying “mommy,” “baby” the entire drive to the hospital, the sight on mommy in the bed and our photographer set him into a panic mode.  He was very scared and left the hospital room with my mom.  Thankfully I had a gift and our photographer had a few suckers to coax him in and comfortable enough to sit next to mom for a while.

It wasn’t until his big cousin, Dakota- a familiar friend, came shortly after he arrived that he really became more relaxed and interested in the baby and mom.

Everyone gathered around as EllaMae got her first bath.  She was NOT happy, until she settled into the warm water and heat lamp. (She gets pissed when she’s cold!) And yes she really was this red.  According to my neice Dakota, she was so red “because she must have been in there too long.”

It wasn’t long after bath time that we transitioned to the other room.  The family went ahead as our Nurse (Emily- who was so amazingly sweet) got me prepped for the move.  She wheeled me down the hall in the wheelchair as my husband drove the cart with all our stuff.  When little man saw me in the wheelchair, he was so upset that he threw himself on the floor with a complete meltdown (when he saw the wheelchair in our last room, he thought he was going to ride with mom).  Without skipping a beat, Nurse Emily told him it was his turn for a ride.  She helped him onto my lap and away we went down the hall for a ride.It was just what my little man needed, and when he returned to the room, everyone cheered and we was back on top of his game ready to take on the big brother role.  We nestled into the double bed where big brother held EllaMae.  He must learn a lot from those girls at daycare because he immediately looked at her and started shushing her like mom!

Around 9 PM the extended family left and it was just our time to cozy up to our little one.  After a few hours of shady internet connection, I finally emailed the news and pictures.  Facebook would have to wait until tomorrow.

At 11 PM EllaMae went to the Nursery for the night and dad and I settled in for some much needed sleep.  Brent kept commenting how tired he was, and that he didn’t do anything all day- but that wasn’t exactly true.  He waited on me hand and foot, he was so supportive and comforting throughout the entire process.  The rush of emotions to meet our little daughter was enough to send us into a deep slumber.  And luckily, EllaMae held up her end of the bargain.  She came in to eat every 3 hours to eat, plus a little snuggle time! Welcome to the world Little Miss Mae, have a good night and dream big!