Eli's Birth Story Part 2

Time for part 2 of the birth story.

So when I last left off Luke and I were in the car on the way to the hospital. Like I said it was a loooong drive and I was in a loooooot of pain.

When we got to the hospital we went straight up to the maternity ward and turned the corner and saw the exact same nurse I had the night before and I suddenly wanted to turn around and leave. I loved her, but was also hoping that she wasn't there that night. Basically because I'm prideful and didn't want to be turned away twice by the same person.

Which looking back its absolutely comical to me that I thought I was going to be turned away. My contractions were coming about every 3 minutes at this point. I was clearly about to birth this baby whether I was in my bathroom at home or in the hospital; he was coming.

When I saw the nurse I said "it's me again and I'm 99% sure I'm going to be staying here this time" she laughed and said OK then let's check you out!

We went back to the room she checked me over and said oh yeah you aren't going anywhere tonight, you've got a reservation here at the hospital.

At that moment I realized the next time I would walk on pavement outside of that hospital I would be holding a baby. MY BABY.

That thought was crazy to me.

I theb snapped back to reality from that thought and looked at the nurse and said "I'm not a person who is opposed to drugs and I would like some ASAP please". I was having consistent contractions and I was hooked up to that little machine that monitored them. Every so often Luke would look at the monitor and say "whoa that was a big one look how far up that line went". I didn't need to look at how far up the line went..I FELT IT. I needed drugs stat.

She assured me I would be getting them soon. And quietly in my mind I thought...I've been going through this for over 24 hours now. Soon is NOT soon enough.

At that time we got on our phones, and called our families and let them know that they needed to hit the road and texted some friends to notify them that Eli was on his way!

My nurse got me all ready and we walked back to the labor and delivery room. I got all nestled up in bed and reminded my nurse that I needed DRUGS. She said the epidural man was on his way.

So he came, and I asked him if he was giving me pitocin. The nurse said that I didn't need it as I was progressing on my own. I really had no idea what pitocin was, I 've just heard it on teen mom and wanted to sound like I was in the know. Which clearly backfired on me since I didn't even need it.

The epidural man gave me my shot or whatever the heck it is. I've heard that this is painful but for me it was like sweet victory. It was relief from pain that I had been feeling for far too long.

Luke watched it go in my back and said it look horrible. No complaints here.

Shortly after I got my epidural things took a scary turn. It all happened very quickly but Eli's heart rate dropped extremely low and they couldn't get it to come back up. The nurse had to call for backup and this swat team of nurses came running into the room, put oxygen on me, stuck a monitor in me to monitor his heartbeat more closely, and started doing things to try and get it back up. It was all very frantic and lasted for about 10 minutes.

It was the scariest 10 minutes ever. They had me facing the opposite direction of Luke so I couldn't see him and all I wanted to do was see his face to know that everything was ok. I couldn't see anybody's face, which I now realize was probably for the best because there wasn't a face in that room that could have comforted me. Eli's heart rate was dangerously low and everybody in the room was working hard to get it back up.

They were in the middle of calling a dr to come get Eli out when his heart rate went back up to normal level. Praise the Lord.

I asked for an explanation of what happened and basically my body just progressed really really fast. I dilated very quickly and at this pint was already at a 10. Sometimes when your body progresses very quickly it sends the back into sort of a "shock" and their heart rate drops. Thankfully they got it up and everything was just fine in the end. But it was completely scary at the time.

Eli has a teeny tiny little scar on his head where they put the monitor on him and every time I feel it I tear up thinking about how scary that moment was and how thankful I am that everything ended up ok.

After all the drama I was completely dilated so now we just waited for the dr to come so I could start pushing. I dilated so fast that I was afraid that our families weren't going to make it in time. We figured I would be in labor all night but that as not the case, apparently I have fast deliveries!

Around midnight the dr arrived and I started pushing. I pushed for 30 minutes and at 12:31am Eli Smith Tree arrived. A lot of people have asked about his middle name, we really didn't decide what to do until the last minute and eventually decided to go with my maiden name Smith.

He came out screaming and it was music to my ears. They put him on me and my first thought was WHERE IS HIS HAIR?!?!? Then I fell in love.

We had some time alone in the room just me, Luke and Eli, (and all the medical staff) and then our families came in and met him.

I had planned to text everybody once he arrived, but I decided to wait until the morning. I spent the night taking in my sweet baby boy and time with our families.

It was such a special night. Time flew and before we knew it it was around 5:30 in the morning. Our families left and we were moved to our room where we would stay for the next couple of days (and where I would grow an unhealthy obsession/love with my hospital and the staff)

At this point I had slept about 4 hours in the past 48 hours so I tried to go to sleep. But all I wanted to do was stare at my baby. He was (and is) perfect to us in every way.

I am so glad that I did all the "hard work" of labor from home and at work. I was able to take my mind off of it and not focus solely on the pain, and also I was able to get some last minute stuff done before he came. Plus I didn't have to sit around and wait to deliver, it was all very fast.

I loved my hospital stay and loved all of our visitors and just the fun times that were spent in that room. Luke thinks I'm a bit cray for how much I loved my hospital stay. But he was also the one who had to sleep on the chair that they call a fold out bed next to me.

I can't believe its all over. It makes me very emotional to think about how my pregnancy is over and all of that, but that is a whole other post for another day. I'm not sure my hormones could handle me talking about it right now.

Some pics from the hospital:

Sweet baby boy:

Momma and baby:

Daddy and baby:

Going home as a family of 3!