Ellie's Birth Story

A few days old.  10PM.  Not tired AT ALL.

Thursday morning I woke up having contractions that were about 12 minutes apart-  And then they stopped.  Totally.  Rob came home around 1 to watch Drew while I went to my regularly scheduled doctors appointment.

I told the nurse practitioner about the contractions that morning, and after she did an exam she told me she thought I would go into labor in the next 24 hours.  I.  Was.  Thrilled.  I called my parents on the way home and they decided to go ahead and drive up that afternoon so they would be here in case I went into labor in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, I went home feeling nothing.   No contractions whatsoever.  She had said 24 hours, right?  Around 3:30 I noticed some sporadic contractions.  By 4:30 they were about 12 minutes apart again.  Anxious to not repeat the morning, Rob, Drew, Sophie and I packed up and went on a walk.  BOOM.  Contractions went from 12 minutes apart to 6 minutes apart instantly and HURT.  Not sure what happened to 11, 10, 9, 8, or 7 minutes.  Those warnings would have been useful. 

About 5:30 I called the doctor and told her what was going on.  She suggested that if I wanted an epidural I should start to head to the hospital. We called my parents, who had just gotten into Austin, but were stuck in rush hour traffic.  Vicki was driving from Westlake, also stuck in traffic.  Austin (Rob's brother) was coming from ACC and was actually the closest.  We were just waiting for someone to get her to keep Drew.  Meanwhile the contractions were coming faster and hurt more.  I think I looked at Rob at that point and said "we've missed the epidural."

Austin and my parents arrived at almost the same time, so after a hurried hello to them and goodbye to Drew, we ran out the door.  Rob jokes he was happy he didn't have to deliver a baby on the flyover to Mopac.  I am too.

We got to the hospital about 6:00.  Since I hadn't been seen by a doctor, they put me in a triage room to assess whether I was really in labor.  It felt like it took 3 hours for someone to come in and check, but I bet it was closer to 15 minutes.  I knew we were in trouble when she said "you didn't want an epidural, did you?"  When I responded I did, she said "we will see."  It was never mentioned again.

They went to move me to a labor and delivery room.  I told them I could walk, but once they saw what a slow process that was going to be they threw me in a wheelchair and ran me down into an open room.  A nurse was in there waiting for me, already wearing the hairnet they put on to be sterile when the baby was born.  She was having me answer questions at the speed of light (I was screaming answers at her between contractions) while another nurse started an IV, set up the baby portion of the room, and set up the sterile table. 

The nurse then let me know that the doctor who was on call that evening from my practice was in doing a c-section, and they weren't sure she would get here in time.  They were frantically looking for the "hospital doctor," which I think is just a jack-of-all-trades with an MD, since someone had to deliver this baby.  He came in and we were introduced, but he was quickly replaced by the bewildered on-call doctor.  She was shocked when she walked out of surgery and they told her the lady in room 10 was ready to push.  There wasn't a lady in room 10 when she went into surgery.

Dr. Colins came in, introduced herself, and sat on the end of my bed.  That was when I realized this was going to be 100x different than having Drew, and not just because of the lack of the epidural.  There were about 14 people buzzing around my room when Drew was born doing all sorts of things.  There were bright lights and they were ripping the bed apart before I delivered.  There was a doctor and two nurses (and Rob) in the room right now.  No one seemed rushed.  There were no bright lights and my bed stayed in tact.  I have NO IDEA why it was so different.  Maybe there just weren't 14 spare people around the hospital right then?  Maybe they were trying to keep the screaming banshee as calm as possible?  Maybe that is how Dr. Colins prefers to deliver?

Regardless, I told them I wanted to push.  After the first contraction they told me that I really needed to funnel the energy that was coming out of my mouth as a blood curdling scream into the push.  Ok. Done.  On the second push they broke my water (which made the contraction feel a lot better- why didn't we do that sooner?).  On the third push, she was out.  The quick pushing was a gift from God- I really don't know how I could have done that for much longer. 

She cried some, but Ellie came out completely alert (maybe she was wondering who this hollering woman was?).  They weighed her and wrapped her up, but no one was in any rush.  Rob held her and showed her to me for quite awhile (I was completely shaking,  which they say is normal and due the rush of hormones.  But I wasn't sure I could keep a grip on her). 

All in all, we walked into the hospital at 6:30 and she was born at 7:51.  By 10:00 I was in the postpartum wing.

friend, though. :)

So now she is here and is perfect and lovely.  I have a lot of posts to write, but seeing as this one took 3 days to compose between dealing with children, it may take some time!

An Open Letter to Ellie

Hey Ellie Belle!

It's me, your mama.  I'm the one that has been hosting you in my stomach for the better part of 10 months.  I thought we should have a quick chat.

The doctors say you are set and can come out any day that you wish.  Your current home is getting a bit snug, and I'm having some issues even just looking at my belly these days- it looks like it should hurt.  And I'm gonna be honest, mama is starting to really want some red wine and is starting to think about getting into the white jeans she bought last summer.

So I thought I would alleviate some of the concerns that might be keeping you in.

1. It's April 3rd.  You made it to April.  So your birthstone will now be the diamond, which has to be one of the best options out there.  I'm pretty sure you don't have a calendar in there, so I thought I would let you know the date.
2. Your brother has had an ear infection the last several days which has made him crankier than normal.  He is generally a very sweet, loving and fun boy.  I know your hearing has gotten a lot better in recent weeks, so don't let his crying scare you.
3. Your dad is really anxious to meet you.  I've never seen a grown man ooh and ahh over baby girl clothes like he is doing.  He'd like to meet you, please.
4. Speaking of clothes, you have a closet full of adorable stuff and a super cute bedroom made with love by your grandmother (who still will not pick a grandmother name).  You are set, baby girl!
5. The birthing process really isn't that bad.  I promise, I've never meet a single person who can remember their own birth.  It will be a little rougher on me (and I'll remember), but I'm willing to put that aside. 

So, Miss E, how about it?  Exit today?

With Love,
Mama

Welcome, 3rd Trimester

Just like I did with Drew, I am self-proclaiming myself to be in the third trimester.  I think it happened on Saturday.

Until Saturday, I could eat with reckless abandon.  At one memorable meal, I finished an entire 1/2 of a hamburger before Rob finished chewing his second bite.  Now after about 5 bites I feel like my stomach is up in my throat.  Just can't do it.

By the end of the day, my back HURTS.  I'm sure this is enhanced by carrying a certain 23.5 pound 14 month old, but it is not easy.

Also, last night I got to wake up not once, not twice, but THREE times to use the bathroom.

And the acid reflux.... I probably should ask my doctor to confirm the number of Tums I can eat per day....

Drew came at 37 weeks-- so if I use that math, I will be meeting this little girl in about 11.5 weeks-- YIKES!

Ellie

(Note: Drew woke up at 5:15 screaming.  I got him back down about 5:30, but was planning to get up at 6 to get some things done, and never fell back asleep.  Thus, I have been up since 5:15.  It is now 7:40 and everyone else in this house (including the dog) is still in bed asleep.  Figures.)

(Note 2: I think I promised a post about her name and how we came to it.  I think I also promised a post about Halloween, Christmas, and about 15 other things in between.  I might get to those.  And no, blogging more frequently is NOT one of my new year's resolutions.)

Maybe it's just us, but picking out a girl's name proved to be much harder than a boy's.  Girls seem to have more "genres" than boys- the older names (Olivia), the new names (Kynleigh), the names that used to be last names (Ryder), the names that used to be boys names (Taylor), the names that were previously nicknames but are now just stand alone first names (Maddie).  Not to  mention that there are like 30 spellings for all of these.  Not easy.

We narrowed it down to three- all of which I both liked and had some reservations with.  One of which was "Annalise."  I really liked it because it wasn't a new, made-up name, but also was NOT common.  The drawback was Rob wanted call her Ellie.  And I said no.  Because do you see Ellie in "Annalise?"  Me neither. 

But some research said that the traditional German spelling of the now-Americanized "Annalise" was Anneliese.  Anneliese.  And that Ellie WAS a nickname for Anneliese.  So I got on board with the Ellie nickname and he got on board with the traditional spelling, and we continued throwing that name around.  Every so often one of us would throw another name into the ring and it was always met with "I don't like that as much as Anneliese."  So on December 23rd, we shook on it.  Anneliese.  Ellie.

Corrinne was much easier for us.  Drew's middle name is Edward, a family name of just about everyone on Rob's side of the family (including Rob).  We really wanted to use a family middle name for her as well.  But it had to be unique to hold up against Anneliese.  Corrinne is my grandmother's middle name, and my great grandmother's first name.  It seemed like a natural fit of unique name and family heritage.

So my girl will have a German first name, French middle name, and Italian last name.  And a distinctly American nickname.  I think I'll make her study abroad. :)