First visitors - Grandma Jeanne, Papa Doug and big brother, Ben!!
The next morning Ben greeted Eli with bed-head and all!
We got a visit from Uncle Aaron and Aunt Rhonda
The details of the birth story...
I awoke at 2AM on Tuesday early AM with some contractions. I started timing them - they varied anywhere from 10 minutes apart down to 6 minutes apart. I didn't get much sleep (obviously...), even though the contractions weren't super strong. In the morning, we called in the stand-by baby sitters, Grandma Jeanne and Papa Doug to watch Ben. They headed our way, but my contractions weren't really progressing, so we all hung out at our house until about 1 in the afternoon when I called my OB's office to report what had been happening. They suggested that we come in and get my cervix checked for progress in their office and then head to the birthing center to get admitted if things looked promising. At about 2PM, I was at 3 cm, but the baby was still fairly high, and after some discussion we decided to just get admitted rather than drive back home... Good thing, because my contractions intensified fairly quickly after that, and we checked in to the birthing center and ordered an epidural fairly quickly. I got it at 4:20, and got some rest. I started feeling some pressure and they checked me around 7PM - I was at 7cm, and pretty much getting close to having the baby. At 8PM, my doctor arrived, broke my water and then the nurses and doctor all left the room for about 15 minutes. When they returned, I was ready to push. The doctor was a bit concerned because the baby's head, which should be face down, was actually sideways in the birth canal. I pushed a few times and the doctor tried turning the head, but he kept slipping back to the sideways position. I guess that the baby's heart rate was dropping pretty low at this point (60 to 90 beats per minute), and I pushed a few more times and then the doctor asked if I was OK with a forceps delivery. Whatever was best for the baby - of course... So after a total of maybe 15 minutes of pushing, and a heck of an assist from the forceps, little Elijah was brought into this world! Turned out that the umbilical cord was around his neck (which is fairly common), which was probably causing his heart rate to drop so low. He was "floppy" at first (meaning not very active), but as soon as they got him to the warmer, he let out a big cry, and started flailing. His oxygen levels were low, so they gave him some 'blow by' oxygen and he perked right up. He did swallow some amniotic fluid (which had some meconium in it), so they suctioned some fluids from his stomach and mouth right away. They worked on him for quite a while before I got to hold him which was so hard. I couldn't take my eyes off of him once they handed him to me. His little head was just perfectly round (no cone head for this guy!), as was the rest of him. Quite a different delivery than Ben's where I pushed for 3 hours...
This little guy is nursing like a champ and is a pretty happy little guy so far. My parents arrived yesterday about 4PM from Minnesota.
A few more of precious Eli... He looks a lot like Ben in this one and not much like him at all in the next one...
2 comments:
He is absolutely beautiful! And what a gorgeously perfect head! Congratulations Jen, Andy, and Ben from the FroderFive.
He is a doll. Can't wait to see if he looks more like a Clodfelter than a Stokesbary. Hope you are hanging in there! Talk to you soon.
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