We have ourselves a baby! We are beyond thrilled that Ellie decided to show up, and I was completely ecstatic that she came a couple days early. She's adorable and oh so sweet. We love her to pieces. Here's the story of how our lovey came into our lives:
Ellie was due on October 19th. On October 16th I had a doctor's appointment to check to see how things were going. When I got there the doctor told me I was showing some signs of Preeclampsia. He also told me that if I were a little further along he would take me straight to the hospital and deliver my baby right then and there, but since I was only dilated to a one I would most likely be in labor for 30 hours and end up having a c-section anyway. He wanted me to go to the hospital the following day so they could monitor me for stress and give me blood pressure tests.
The next day, I headed to the hospital to be monitored. After my first blood pressure test the nurse told me that I would be having my baby that night. She asked me if I wanted to try to deliver Ellie, or if I wanted to have a c-section. I opted for the c-section since I figured I would end up having one anyway. The nurse then asked me how soon my husband could be there (it was around 5:30 at the time). I called Jeremy to see where he was, and told him to grab our bags and to meet me at the hospital.
Jeremy made it to the hospital by 6:00, they handed him his operation room garb, and rushed me to get my epidural. My first epidural didn't take, and the anesthesiologist didn't want to believe me when I told him that I could still feel everything. The doctor kept pinching my stomach with tweezers, which felt delightful. I pleaded with them to understand that my stomach wasn't numb, and to please, please not cut into it. Finally, they decided to give me another epidural. This time it took, and I was numb within minutes. The anesthesiologist was worried that the numbness would go up too far. He told me to make sure to let him know if my fingers went numb (too bad they were already numb since I had carpal tunnel from being pregnant).
The curtain went up and the next thing I knew I heard Ellie crying. The nurses swept Jeremy away. He came running back exclaiming, "She has so much hair!" Ellie had a pretty wet cry when she came out. I later found out it was because she had 8 tablespoons of fluid in her lungs that they had to pump out, and they had to pump out an additional 3 tablespoons in the nursery. On their way to the nursery, Jeremy brought Ellie over to me so I could see her. She was so beautiful. The moment didn't last nearly long enough. She was whisked away to the nursery to be weighed and such. The doctor sewed me up quite quickly, took the curtain down, and congratulated me while still wearing my blood on his gloves.
They moved me over to a bed and wheeled me to the room where they monitored my blood pressure. Within about ten minutes Jeremy showed up, and Ellie came not far after. We didn't have a name for Ellie at the time. We had a list of names, but we had a hard time deciding on the right one. Together we decided on Ellie Anne before they even had a chance to bring her in. As soon as they brought her in the nurse wanted me to feed her. I was so nervous. I had heard that nursing is hard, and I didn't know what I was doing. Luckily, Ellie ate like a champ. While I was feeding her they wheeled me to my room that I would stay in for the next 2.5 days. Ellie was born at 6:59 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 inches long.
