Welcome to the World Ellie B!

On August 5 at 7:47pm, Ellie Bron was welcomed to the world.  She is so cute and sweet, and thus far, hasn't morphed into Joel 3.0 (although I'm sure that will happen over the next few months given exhibits A and B...her older sisters).  She has his chin and his ears, but I don't see the trademark Joel eyebrows and deep set eyes....yet.

Here's the story of getting her here, mainly so I don't forget.  Again for days ahead of her birthday, I agonized if we were doing the right thing or not.  I scheduled a last minute appointment at the doctor on Friday to talk and make sure this was the right move and we weren't doing this too early or I wasn't setting myself up for an unnecessary  C-section.  Again, he confirmed that he thought this was the right move and there was very little chance that I would end up with a C-section since I had two previous deliveries without complication.  I was scheduled to have her with a Doctor I had never met and didn't know my history and that made me a little nervous also.  I think the worst part was knowing I was leaving my girls, even though they were in incredible hands and having so much fun with Grandma. One last shot of the four of us the day before Ellie arrived.

Come Monday morning, I called the hospital at 5am and they told me there was a room for us and to come in by 7:30.  Here is the last picture pregnant, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally uncomfortable and really nervous.

Joel and I went to Chick-fil-a, now a tradition prior to having a baby, got breakfast and went to the hospital.  We got checked in and met our nurse, Fifi, who we absolutely loved.  I wish I had gotten a picture with her.  Her husband was an engineer, she had 2 grown children, they grow lots of fruits and veggies and have chickens.  She was right up our alley.  Most importantly to me, she took me seriously and listened to what I was telling her.  The nurses make all the difference. I met with the doctor and she told me Ellie was still a little high and if she broke my water now, there was more of a risk of the cord coming out first which would be an emergency C-section.  I didn't want that, so we started Pitocin to get her to drop.   This was about 9am.  By about 10:30, Fifi told me she thought she had dropped enough that the doc could break my water, but the doc wanted to see more change.  In my opinion, the doc didn't think if she broke my water anything would happen, this is where I should've spoken up more. 

She left me on Pitocin until 6:30pm, without coming back to our room at all.  I've read lots of awful things about Pitocin and really didn't have that experience. The contractions were regular and hurt, but nothing crazy and not unbearable. I don't like the fact that I was on something artificial for so long and really it didn't do anything for me other than get her to drop (which was totally worth it, I just wish it had only been for a few hours).   So, on Pitocin from 9am-6:30pm, I went from 3cm to 4cm.  Ridiculous.  Fifi told me the doc was going to come and break my water and she wanted me to get an epidural first (since I wanted one) because she knew things would move after that happened. The doctor finally came just after 6:30 and broke my water.  The shift changed at 7pm, thankfully. I was sad for Fifi to leave (but not the doctor because I was so frustrated with her), but Jodie was my next nurse and she was awesome. She had 3 kids too, the first two came like lightning and the third was a little slower.  She completely understood my frustration, which was at an all time high because I really knew once she broke my water, things would move very fast.

About 45 minutes after breaking my water, things got serious fast and I went from 4cm to 10cm (I really wish the doc would've listened to me).  The new doctor came in, who I loved, as I started pushing.  Ellie was born after pushing about 5 minutes (I can't imagine doing that for hours, that is exhausting!).  I had requested to wait to clamp and cut the cord until it stopped pulsing, which took about 2 minutes I think. 

I think I have this exact picture of Joel after each of our girls are born.  It must be instinct to put his hand on his hip after our babies are born.

This whole time she screamed and screamed and was pink as could be.  Everyone was really impressed and how pink she was and how good her lungs sounded.  Our hospital changed the policy and no longer weighs baby's as soon as their born. They wait for an hour after they're born, I'm not sure why.  After an hour she was weighed and came in at a whopping 7 pounds 6 ounces.  Our biggest baby! She also takes the award for the biggest Grandbaby yet also!

 Joel didn't get to hold her for the first hour she was alive, because I was hogging her.  He was pretty happy when it was his turn.

 He really hasn't put her down since.  He's a total baby hog.

 We got moved up to our post partum room and were pretty well left alone which was nice.   I honestly can't believe it is already over and we're home!  I was really frustrated with how everything went the first 3/4 of the labor/delivery but Joel has reminded me that she's here, healthy and perfect and really it doesn't matter.  I just know now to speak up more!  Next up, meeting their baby sister!