Eli's birth story

A few weeks before Christmas, I went to my OB and she told me that she wouldn't be surprised if I had the baby before Christmas. Which put me in a panic. I gift-wrapped, I sewed, I cooked, I cleaned, I packed the hospital bag, and then we waited. Christmas came and went. (Thankfully.) My due date came and went. I saw my doctor (who had been away over the holidays) again on January 6, the day after my due date. She said she was "shocked" to see me still pregnant. Apparently all of her patients that she thought would give birth while she was gone were still pregnant. She had sent two over to the hospital the day I saw her, and had scheduled one already to head over the following day. She was in a scheduling mood.

I was attempting a VBAC, but because I'd had a c-section before she didn't feel comfortable inducing me with drugs. We decided that if I didn't go into labor on my own before Thursday, January 8, I would head over to the hospital, she would break my water, and we'd see how it went from there.

I called my mom and she came over that day. She is the best! Nothing happened Tuesday night or Wednesday, so Mom and I did some grocery shopping and went through a normal daily routine.

Wednesday night I started contracting a bit more regularly (I'd been having contractions off and on for a few weeks but nothing consistent). The contractions started to get stronger and  more regular as the night and morning went on. We (Dan and I) got up at 5:45 and got ready. (Thursday was the coldest it's been in a long time. It was 12 degrees when we left for the hospital.) We got to the hospital and they put us in a room around 7:15. (Charmed was on the TV in the waiting room. What a terrible show.) That's when things started picking up. My contractions were about 10 minutes apart at this point and I was dilated between 5-6.

My doctor came over at 8 and broke my water. Things got way more intense from there and I asked for the anesthesiologist. She came around 9 to give me the epidural. I have a ticklish back and she kept telling me to take a chill pill. I couldn't help but spaz out every time she touched my back. The epidural worked in all but one area where the pain was still really intense. Dan held my hand through every contraction and reminded me to breathe. He was very sweet. I don't think I've said the word "crap" so much in my entire life. It hurt really bad. They had me change from lying on one side to the other and eventually I couldn't feel it anymore.

By 10, the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated and ready to push. We were all pretty surprised it had gone so fast. She called the doctor and prepped the room. My doc was there by 10:30 and I started pushing. Dan got a little queasy for a few minutes but recovered quickly and our baby was born at 10:50. He must have been plugging up a bunch of the water because apparently after he came out, a huge gush of water splashed all over the doctor and all over the floor. TMI, I know, but I want to remember this stuff.

They placed the baby on my chest right away and I got to hold him for about an hour. I cried, of course. He was beautiful and had so much dark hair! Eventually they took him away to weigh him and we were all surprised that he was so big - 9 pounds, 4 ounces. Because he was so big, they were initially worried about his blood sugar levels, so the nurse cut off more of his umbilical cord and got him down to 9 lbs, 3 oz, so that we wouldn't have to do heel pricks on him every few hours for the two days in the hospital.

 All cleaned up.

 It took until about 4pm before I could feel my legs. Dan went home to get Mom and the kids after dinner. They loved meeting their brother, but quickly became distracted by other things in the room, such as the couch that turned into a bed for Dan to sleep on, the buttons on my bed, and running around.

 The first of many awkward pictures to come of our three kids!

 My awesome mom.

We were all pretty exhausted by this point and the severe hospital lighting doesn't help matters, but here's our family of five.

That night the baby just screamed and cried. It was a long night. We have been out of the newborn stage for a while, so we have forgotten how tiring it all can be.

Friday my mom and Afton came back for a visit during the day. (We still didn't have a name at this point.)

 I just couldn't believe how much dark hair he had and how chubby he was.

 See what I mean?

Mom and kids came back for another visit Friday night. By that point we had decided on his name: Eli Urban Durst. Eli just because we like it and think it's a nice manly name. Urban after my Grandpa Cheney, who was a really amazing man. We shared the news with our visitors and I think my mom cried.

Saturday we sat around a lot and waited to be discharged. Dan went home for a bit in the morning to go for a run and have breakfast. I did some laps around the maternity ward. Finally we got the go-ahead and we headed back home.

We've seen this face a lot the past few days.

 Excited about their brother.

We are so grateful that Eli has joined our family. For the most part, he's been really good, but there have been some rocky days in there, too. I'll write more about that later, but just wanted to get down his birth story before more of the details slip my mind. We love our little Eli so much and are so glad he's here!