Here is the story of Ella's birth from my memory. It might be too much info to share, but I wanted to record what I remembered before I forget.
Monday morning, the day after Easter, I had a doctor's appointment. Because I had been flirting with Preeclamsia, and since I'd already been in the hospital with kidney stones a couple of weeks earlier, my doctor had told me to prepare to go to the hospital. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I think in my heart I knew the baby was coming. At the appointment, my blood pressure was through the roof and I was spilling protein. Other bloodwork was borderline and the results of some tests were not in yet. When my doctor told me she was sending me to the hospital, I broke down in tears. I was afraid for the baby, (I wasn't due for a couple of weeks), for how I would tolerate induction (knowing I'd have to be on meds like I was for Caleb)...all my fears came to the surface. After a reassuring pep talk from the doctor and the sweet nurse, I took a deep breath and called Brad to tell him to get ready for the hospital. He had stayed home from work, knowing there was a chance we were going in. Natalie rushed to the scene to take Andrew and a family picture :) Brad gave me a priesthood blessing which brought us both great comfort.
Had to include this picture--I was so swollen and miserable!
High and low -lights of my labor and delivery:
• Contractions started on their own--probably from the excitement and stress. Doctor let me try to labor in the shower, but I still had to be hooked up to an IV for fluids and magnesium sulfate (because of preeclamsia)
• Tried the birthing ball, pacing a little, relaxation...not much was happening.
• They couldn't break the water, since the baby was still high, so they hooked me up to pitocin
• Tried pitocin for a few hours, gradually increasing it to speed labor.
• Brad and I channel-surfed on the hospital TV since I was tied to the bed. We also surfed the web on his phone trying to find cool people/events from history on April 25-26. We also discussed baby names for the 100th time.
• Getting later and later into the night (10pm-ish), still baby was high, but the doctor finally broke my water with a contraction and it was like a tidal wave--so much fluid! (No wonder baby wasn't coming down!)
• Contractions were stronger--although still manageable, but I was getting more and more tired and also a bit discouraged.
• It was almost midnight and I was only 6cm dilated.
• I asked for an epidural so I could get some rest.
• Anesthesiologist inserted the catheter in my back and I got an intense cramping pain through my back and down my side.
• After trying to adjust my position and the catheter (and breaking down in tears) the epidural was removed.
• Before trying for a second time, they had to do more bloodwork (ugh!) because my platelets were low.
• In the meantime, I got up to use the bathroom, came back to the bed to get ready for the second try at the epidural but all of a sudden I knew it was time for the baby to come!
• No epidural for me I guess.
• I told Brad..."I need help now!"
• I had gone from a 6-10 in less than an hour.
• I remember one of the nurses asked, "are you delivering with a doctor or midwife?" I said, "It doesn't matter!"
• Baby Ella was born with one big push and a couple of coughs (hehe).
Tuesday, April 26th
12:39am
6 lb 5 oz
19 1/2 in
Here she is just seconds after she was born. I love how she is holding my chin with her tiny hand.
After all the drama, that hour after her birth was such a calm relief. They let us hold her and check her out for a long time. We kept saying "she's so small!" Compared to our previous two 8-pounders, she was just a peanut! But it was nice how everyone just left us alone because she was so pink and happy. She just looked around, nursed, and snuggled skin to skin for at least an hour and we basked in the peace of the moment. I remember feeling so grateful that she had made it, that she was healthy and beautiful. Being our fourth, and also having experienced a rough few last months of pregnancy, I realized that I can't take anything for granted. I had never felt so overwhelmed with gratitude as I did with Ella.
Finally, they gave her a sponge bath and burrito-wrapped her up.
We decided to name her Ella May. We had been trying to come up with a long, beautiful name that we could shorten to Ella or Elly since we really loved those names but weren't sure they were substantial enough on their own. When she was born, it seemed fitting to give our tiny little sweetie a sweet little name. May is Grandma Zina's and Great-Great-Grandma Amelia's middle name. We also found out that we have two other great-grandma Ella's in our extended family.
The next morning, she got a warm fuzzy hat to keep her temperature up.
Love those first glimpses of her big eyes--with long lashes already!
We welcomed our first visitors the next day. Caleb gently cradled Ella, Lauren was perma-grin, and Andrew wasn't that interested in holding her just yet. I love how it looks like she's smiling at Natalie.
The next few days in the hospital were a blur: still on the Magnesium (yuck), trying to get my blood pressure to go down, trying to get Ella to wake up and eat, and trying to sleep with constant interruptions to monitor me and baby. I left in a bleary-eyed stupor on Thursday. I don't think I'd slept more than an hour or two stretch at a time.
Getting ready to leave the hospital (yay!)--that carseat totally swallowed Ella even with the double head supporters
How sweet to come home to our driveway decorated with chalk--"Welcome Home Mom!"-- it just brought tears to my eyes.
Ahhh. Feels good to be home, huh Ella? Best night's sleep for me in a week. :)
For the first couple of weeks, I didn't do much but recover, sleep, and feed the baby. The big event was giving Ella her first bath at home. It's more about the bonding than the cleansing at this point--and these two jumped at the chance to help. Look how small Ella looks!
