*The last time I posted was Jace's birth story so I'm a little behind but I don't want to forget this important event so here it goes. *
Eliza’s Birth Story
As my due date got closer I was most anxious about the
unknown. I knew how labor started
with Jace and how it progressed but I had heard it can be so different with
each child. Jace came three days
early so I wanted to make sure I was more prepared this time than I was with
him. I spent a day with my mom
making freezer meals (over twenty!) so I wouldn’t have to worry about cooking
after the baby got here. Mom also
helped me clean the whole house. I
got the nursery ready, clothes washed and put away and hospital bags all
packed. All my projects and to-do
lists were completed several days before her due date, leaving me with several
days to just enjoy my sweet Jace before life changed.
Eliza’s due date was Tuesday, November 5th. Sunday night I started having
contractions which woke me up every 10-15 minutes throughout the night. I was excited as I woke up Monday
morning thinking this could be the day, however the contractions slowed way
down and became very inconsistent throughout the day. Even an hour long walk around the neighborhood didn’t pick
things up. I wasn’t surprised since this is exactly how things happened with
Jace. Of course they picked right
up again Monday night. Throughout
the night they were averaging 8-10 minutes. Since Tuesday was my due date
I had my 40 week appointment. My
appointment was at 1:30pm so I had plenty of time beforehand to do some more
straightening and make sure all our hospital bags were packed. Lane loaded them into the car just
incase things picked up, then we dropped Jace off at the neighbors and went to
our appointment. I was glad to
have an appointment so that I could find out if I was progressing at all
through these contractions. So far
they had been pretty intense but very manageable. When the doctor checked me I was at a 5cm and we were told
that we could head over to the hospital anytime and that we would definitely be
having a birthday party in a few hours! That was great to hear! Since I was
only at a 5 I didn’t want to rush over to the hospital so we stopped and got a
smoothie (the only thing I had been able to eat all day) and then headed home
to make some cookies for the nurses.
I called my mom and told her we would be going to the hospital soon and
she came to pick up Jace.
When we
got to the hospital, around 3:30pm, I got checked in and then they wanted to
put me on the monitor for awhile.
I wasn’t too happy about being stuck on the bed but after about an hour
they let me get up and sit on the birth ball. My doctor, Dr. Kasteler, came in
around 6:00pm and checked me. I
was a little frustrated to hear I was only at a 7 since it felt like I had been
there for so long (I was only at the hospital for about 2 hours before Jace was
born). After he checked me I
decided to walk around the halls for awhile, hoping to get things moving a
little faster. By this time I was
starting to feel extremely tired.
I hadn’t slept well for the last two days and hadn’t felt up to eating
anything other than a smoothie in the last 24 hours. I was starting to think how nice it would be to sleep
through the contractions and to be woken up just in time to push, as I know
some are able to do with an epidural.
Lane walked the halls with me and during every contraction I wrapped my
arms around his neck and he held me.
He was so supportive through the whole things, even the doctor and the
nurses commented on how wonderful and involved he was.
After walking the hall for quite some time and sitting on the ball for awhile more, I started feeling like I was going to pop with every contraction. My water hadn’t broken yet and I had previously told my doctor I didn’t want him to break it unless necessary. However, by this time I was just wanting anything that could speed things up since I didn’t feel like I would have much energy left for pushing. I asked the doctor if there was anything we could do to get things moving faster and he said he could break my water but it would make things really intense a lot faster. I decided that was fine since another two hours of slow progression would leave me with even less energy for pushing. At 7:25pm he broke my water and shortly after that things started getting very intense. I couldn’t find any comfortable positions was starting to feel a little out of control. I think at this point I started thinking two kids would be enough for me (good thing we forget). I started feeling the need to push so Dr. Kasteler checked me again and said I was almost fully dilated. I was most nervous for the pushing because with Jace it had taken nearly two hours since his hand was up by his head. A little after 8:00 I started pushing and a half an hour later, at 8:32pm, Lane helped the doctor deliver our sweet little Eliza Nicole Ellis. They placed her on my chest and I was able to feed and cuddle her for an hour before they took her to be weighed and measured.
After walking the hall for quite some time and sitting on the ball for awhile more, I started feeling like I was going to pop with every contraction. My water hadn’t broken yet and I had previously told my doctor I didn’t want him to break it unless necessary. However, by this time I was just wanting anything that could speed things up since I didn’t feel like I would have much energy left for pushing. I asked the doctor if there was anything we could do to get things moving faster and he said he could break my water but it would make things really intense a lot faster. I decided that was fine since another two hours of slow progression would leave me with even less energy for pushing. At 7:25pm he broke my water and shortly after that things started getting very intense. I couldn’t find any comfortable positions was starting to feel a little out of control. I think at this point I started thinking two kids would be enough for me (good thing we forget). I started feeling the need to push so Dr. Kasteler checked me again and said I was almost fully dilated. I was most nervous for the pushing because with Jace it had taken nearly two hours since his hand was up by his head. A little after 8:00 I started pushing and a half an hour later, at 8:32pm, Lane helped the doctor deliver our sweet little Eliza Nicole Ellis. They placed her on my chest and I was able to feed and cuddle her for an hour before they took her to be weighed and measured.
We are
so grateful to have such a sweet angel join our family.
She has been such a calm and happy baby, giving us tons of smiles from the day she was born.
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The next day my mom brought Jace
over to meet his new sister. He
loves his little Liza and is always trying to give her hugs and kisses.
About a week after she was born we went and got some pictures taken. Here are a few:
I’m so blessed to have two beautiful,
healthy children.
