Pages

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Ellie Marie: Birth Story

I went in for a check up on September 17th (a Wednesday) and had my fingers crossed that I was progressing. I wanted so badly for my doctor to tell me things were looking good and that Ellie would be making he debut any day. Luckily, I was dilated to a 3 and things were looking good. Dr. Meredith scheduled me to come in the following Tuesday to be induced. I was induced with Sam for medical reasons and actually loved the experience. So when I was told that was an option this time around as well, I jumped at the chance. 
Monday rolled around and I spent the day finishing up a few last minute errands and spent the day with my family (both my parents were here as well as my sisters). We ate at Five Guys for dinner (naturally) and then Ben and I stayed up late talking because obviously I wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. Actually, the last two months of my pregnancy I was going on about 2 hours of sleep each night. I had the worst insomnia. It was a mixture of being uncomfortable (Ellie was SO low) and soon as I would get in bed my mind would just race. I felt like I had totally gotten into the toddler groove and that I had forgotten everything about caring for a newborn! So I would stay up every night and read about all things baby. I was crazy. Little did I know, that it would all come back so naturally once she was in my arms. 
Anyways, we were told to call the hospital Tuesday morning at 5am to make sure that they had enough room for me. It never even crossed my mind that they may be full. I called at 5am on the dot and one of the nurses told me to come on in and that they had a room waiting for me. Ben and I got up and started to get ready. About 20 minutes later my phone rang and when I saw that it was the hospital calling, my heart sank. I answered and, sure enough, they had several women who needed emergency c-sections come in. What are the chances? That was the ultimate let down. The nurse who I talked to was so sweet and so apologetic. My doctor even called me a couple hours later and said he would do everything he could to get me in later in the day because he knew my family was in town. I told Ben that he should go to work today and that I would hang with Sammy and our family to try to pass the time quickly. They ended up not having room for us that day and told us to try again tomorrow. 
That night Ben's mom called us and said it wasn't looking good for the next morning either (she works as a nurse at the hospital) and that they had a lot of women in labor that night. What?! I tried not to be, but I was really bummed. I was so ready to have this baby! I really was physically done. I was sleep deprived, and so uncomfortable. There was nothing left in the house that I could scrub. We were all ready! That night we tried everything! Ben and I went on a long walk around the neighborhood at about 10:30pm. We got home and I had him googling all sorts of labor-inducing techniques. He tried giving me a pressure point massage but eventually we just gave in. We would have our baby girl when she was ready. 
The next morning, just to be sure, we called the hospital again at 5am. We were told that they were still currently full, but to call back at 10am. I got back in bed and started to read. At 7am, my mother in law called me and said that the hospital had been trying to get a hold of me and that we had the green light to head to the hospital! Ben and I hopped out of bed and I showered and got ready while he there a few last minute things into our bags. When we were all ready to go, I snuck into Sam's room to say goodbye. He was asleep and I didn't want to wake him so I gave him a kiss on the cheek and we told him we loved him. I was all sorts of emotional. My one on one time with my boy was coming to an end. It was such a  hard concept for me to process but I knew that giving Sam a sister would be the best gift we could give him. That boy was meant to be an oldest sibling. My parents stayed home with Sam. My mom was going to come meet us at the hospital once we got all checked in. 
We got to the hospital and checked in fairly quickly.  They then took us back to our room in labor and delivery. Of course, the one thing I had forgotten was the order form that my doctor had given me to bring to the hospital so the nurses would know what to start me on. So once we got settled in our room, we had to wait for about an hour to get a hold of my doctor (who was in a surgery) before they could start me. Ben and I just relaxed in our room and talked with my amazing nurses. Seriously, I totally lucked out with nurses during our entire stay. Tara and Kendra were my nurses while I was in L&D and they were nothing short of angels! I could go on and on. I loved them. Once they got instructions from my doctor, we got the ball rolling. Everyone had told me to expect things to go a lot quicker with my second baby. With Sam, from the time they started me to time he was born was about 12 hours. I didn't want to get my hopes up for a certain time frame but I was hoping that everyone was right and that it would go slightly quicker this go around. Tara came in to put my IV in and it was just as bad as I remembered! I am not exaggerating when I say that I would rather go through 10 epidurals then get that IV put in. With Sam, they had to try several times because my veins kept rolling and the same thing happened this time. It was so painful. I tried not to look while she was trying to get the IV put in. Once she was done, I looked down and my hand was covered in blood. I knew it wasn't the nurses fault because  the same thing happened with Sam. Apparently, I just have crazy veins. But it was so painful. Once that was over, the waiting game began. My doctor came in to check me and I was still at about a 3/4. 
About an hour later, my mom and Ben's mom arrived. It was so nice to have my mom with us. I was planning on having them both in the room for the delivery. And it was great to have Ben's mom with us throughout this whole process. She is a nurse at the hospital and knows everyone. She made sure we were completely taken care of. 
By 11am, my contractions were starting to pick up and I was really starting to feel it. By noon, my nurses came in and said I could either get my epidural right then or I would have to wait an hour and a half. Of course, I opted to do it then rather than waiting. When they came in to tell me this, Ben and his mom had just left to go get some food at the cafeteria (by the way, this hospital had the best food!). Once I had agreed to the epidural, the nurses told me that the anesthesiologist would be right in and that he had a student with him who would be performing the epidural. Even though I had an epidural with Sam, I was still so nervous about getting it this time around. Once I heard that a student would be sticking a needle in my back, I freaked! I told my mom to run and get Dallen so that she could do whatever she needed to to make sure this wasn't going to happen. She came right up with Ben and the nurses and they assured me that the lady who would be perming my epidural was amazing. Sure enough, she came in and was fantastic. Her name was Verity. When the nurse described her as a student, immediately my mind pictured some college kid coming in to give me an epidural. But Verity was on her last year of residency and was amazing. My epidural with Ellie so much better than the one I had with Sam. It worked immediately was the perfect combination of taking the pain away while still being able to feel pressure and what not. 
Things went QUICK after this. About an hour later, I felt a ton of pressure. My nurse had just checked me a few minutes prior and said I would probably be ready to push in a couple hours. I had her come back in and let her know what I was feeling a lot of pressure. She checked me again and, sure enough, I was ready to go. Honestly, everything after this happened so quickly. My doctor must have been close by because we didn't have to wait at all. Everything was ready to go and the Dr. Lovell was in the room within 5 minutes. I waiting through a few contractions and then started pushing with each contraction. This part was so different than my experience with Sam. I felt a lot more pain with him so maybe I just wasn't as coherent when I was pushing with Sam. But with Ellie, I really enjoyed the pushing. It was so relaxed and laid back (that feels weird to even say, but it was). I would push through one contraction, and then lay back and we would all chat for a bit. My nurses were amazing and so fun to talk to. At one point my doctor was making jokes (something about us not having a name picked out and suggesting we name her after some weird town in Idaho; it was weird but I remember laughing). I pushed through 4 contractions and she was out with a full head of dark beautiful hair. The nurses laid her on my chest for a bit. I was such a bawl baby this time around so this part is kind of fuzzy. But I do remember her grabbing onto my hospital gown and not letting go. She was so perfect. I snuggled her for a few minutes then her nurse took her to get cleaned up and weighed. As I was watching her with the nurses, I remember feeling so incredibly blessed. I had an amazing husband who had been by my side the entire day and we now had TWO beautiful and healthy babies. There were no complications and I remember thinking that if I could, I would relive this day and the day Sam was born over and over again if I could. 
Once they had Ellie cleaned and checked, they brought her back over to me. They had her all wrapped up and she just looked like the cutest little butterball. She had the cutest cheeks I had ever laid eyes on. My dad and sisters, who had been waiting in the hall, came in and everyone got a chance to hold her. While everyone was holding Ellie, my nurse (who knew I had been starving all day) brought me in a turkey sandwich with french fried and a milk shake. It tasted amazing! After things settled down a bit, everyone left to give Ben and I some alone time with our precious baby girl. I nursed her and she did great. I wanted so badly to see Sam and to have him come meet his new baby sister, but our hospital didn't allow kids in once flu season started. We had just missed the cut off. I understood the reasoning, but I was so disappointed. My dad had Sam down in the cafeteria so Ben went down to see him and it killed me not to be able to go too! I knew that he was in good hands with my parents though. 
Once I showered, they moved us into a recovery room. That night, Steve and Audrey (Ben's brother and his wife) came to visit us. It was so nice to see them. Ben's other brother Rob happened to be out doing ward visits with our Bishop (he serves in the bishopric) so they both stopped in as well. I loved watching Ellie get passed around and admired by everyone who loves her most. My mom left at about 9 and the rest of the night Ben and I spent alone with our baby girl cuddling her and trying to decide on a name (she didn't have a name at this point). The name we had talked most about we didn't end up using. She just didn't seem to fit that name. We decided on Ellie about 20 minutes before leaving the hospital the next day. We hadn't even talked about that name at all but it just seemed right. Marie is my middle name and my mom's middle name. I hadn't plane don using that name either, but it also just seemed like the right choice. 

Ellie has been the perfect addition to our family and brings so much joy into our lives. We love her more than anything and love watching how much Sam loves her. It truly is nothing short of magical to watching Sam and Ellie interact. I cannot wait to watch them grow together. They already have the sweetest bond.