*baby, baby*

Welcome Elijah!
March 26
7 lbs 15 ounces
4:00 pm

Being inducted is weird. It's like making an appointment to have your baby. You drop your kids off with the sitter, say goodbye, and off you go to the hospital. You and your husband talk about things in perfect civility and then you walk in the hospital-- kind of trying to wince as you ask the way to the maternity ward so that you don't appear to be a fraud. They let you in and lead you to your room- and then a nurse comes in and interviews you. "What are your hopes for how this will go?" I guess it's kind of the same thing that someone might feel as they get old and go in to the funeral home and arrange their funeral or buy a headstone. Anyway, for me, it felt funny. I prefer the traditional method.

I was already dilated to 3 cm and effaced, so they decided to break my water and see if that would get things moving. About all it did was make my contractions speed up (I was already having regular contractions and probably would have gone into labor on my own that night) but there was still no pain. So we waited around for about 3 hours and then started me on Pitocin. I had Eli 2 hours later. Of course, soon after Jared went down to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich I began to feel like I needed to push. The nurses and doc had to page him- but he made it back in time. That was all the good part.

I guess after the birth I was bleeding more than normal, so they started shooting me up with something that helps my uterus shrink back faster and help slow the bleeding. Whatever that stuff is, it's brutal. I felt like I was in labor again. On top of that, for some reason I was extremely nauseous. So the 5 hours after Eli came are not my favorite memory. I don't even think I was coherent enough to hold him and enjoy him at all during that time. It was depressing. I wanted to feel good. After I had Sam I ate an entire pizza all by myself-- and that was a good memory. Unfortunately, no repeats here.

But overall, everything went pretty smoothly- I definitely felt the Lord's hand strengthen me during those miserable hours.

Usually after a day in the hospital I am ready to go home, but this time I really needed the 2 days. On the second day I just enjoyed Eli and rested. The kids came and met us that night. My parents and Aaron, my little bro, also drove into town. It was so nice to see everyone.





AND the hospital that we birthed at makes a steak and lobster dinner for the parents on the last night. The food was phenomenal! That's worth going there every time in my opinion.


So I guess that's my birthing story. And here's my placenta.

Bon Apetit!

(more current pics to come...)