She's Finally Here!

Our little girl is here! Eliana Joy =) It was a relief to FINALLY get to meet her!

Eliana was born May 21st Wednesday at 1:24 am...yes AM, I was SO SO SO sleepy and tired. It's kinda funny how sleepy one can be, falling asleep, and laboring with strong contractions. But in the in between, you could so fall asleep.

We had been up since 6am Tuesday...Well, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. I should probably start from the beginning...

Our first baby, Wade, was a midwife assisted, birth center labor and birth. It was a difficult one due to a little complication at the moment he was supposed to enter this world. I ended up crowning and pushing for 3 hrs. When we thought he'd be here in 10 hrs, it turned out to be 13, but he arrived, and I have never been so tired in my life!

Our second baby was also midwife assisted and at a birth center, though a different one due to us moving further from the 1st and insurance. It was an wonderful experience. I labored and birth in the water. Such a gentle way of having a baby, without using any medication to dull pain. The water is amazing.

And now our third little one...

She was running late like Ben our second, who was 11 days late. I wasn't worried since I had gone through that once already and knew the baby would come soon. But on day 9 past due we were scheduled to have a non stress heart monitor test done on Eliana to make sure things were okay in there. She did not pass her test. We were then sent to an ultrasound early the next day.

Tuesday we were up at  6am. We left the boys with friends from church and headed to our appointment. Everything look great except she did not do the practice breathing motion that is one of the things they look for in that ultrasound. The ultrasound tech tried for about 45 min to get her to "wake up" but she would not cooperate.

We went home, and about noon I got a call from our midwives. They wanted to see us later that afternoon.

Again we left the boys with our friends and headed up to the midwives. They hooked me back up to the heart monitor and she was still not improving her score. One of the midwives came in and talked with us for a while, explaining what everything meant. Though it wasn't that we couldn't continue waiting a few more days for her to arrive, they felt strongly we should go to the hospital, and have her come today.

Our midwife prayed with us. We were both very emotional and there were many tears. We were very sad to not be able to have our baby girl at the birth center. We were a little afraid of the unknown and this new game plan. I was somewhat nervous about the whole prospect of getting induced and knowing I would want to do it unmedicated, and hearing how intense it could be.


Our second baby was also midwife assisted and at a birth center, though a different one due to us moving further from the 1st and insurance. It was an wonderful experience. I labored and birth in the water. Such a gentle way of having a baby, without using any medication to dull pain. The water is amazing.

And now our third little one...

She was running late like Ben our second, who was 11 days late. I wasn't worried since I had gone through that once already and knew the baby would come soon. But on day 9 past due we were scheduled to have a nonstress heart monitor test done on Eliana to make sure things were okay in there. She did not pass her test. We were then sent to an ultrasound early the next day.

Tuesday we were up at  6am. We left the boys with friends from church and headed to our appointment. Everything look great except she did not do the practice breathing motion that is one of the things they look for in that ultrasound. The ultrasound tech tried for about 45 min to get her to "wake up" but she would not cooperate.

We went home, and about noon I got a call from our midwives. They wanted to see us later that afternoon.

Again we left the boys with our friends and headed up to the midwives. They hooked me back up to the heart monitor and she was still not improving her score. One of the midwives came in and talked with us for a while, explaining what everything meant. Though it wasn't that we couldn't continue waiting a few more days for her to arrive, they felt strongly we should go to the hospital, and have her come today.

Our midwife prayed with us. There were many tears. We were very sad to not be able to have our baby girl at the birth center. We were a little afraid of the unknown and this new game plan. I was somewhat nervous about the whole prospect of getting induced and knowing I would want to do it unmedicated, and hearing how intense it could be. Once we were done crying, we got ourselves together and headed to Morton Plant Hospital.

I can't remember the exact time we arrived. Somewhere between 4 and 5 pm. Strange walking in like nothing, knowing you will walk out with your baby.

At the hospital they ran their own heart monitor test. She was still sleepy in there. The midwife there then rubbed her head a little. That made her jump! And suddenly her heart started doing what they had been looking for all along. The midwife there still wanted to go ahead and induce labor. Our nurse was so kind and let us know we shouldn't feel pressured and we could do what we wanted. We decided to go ahead and induce. I was SO ready to be done being pregnant, plus with her seeming a little iffy, we just felt it was the best choice. The nurses and staff really tried to give us the closest experience to what we had originally wanted.

The thing I missed the most, like REALLY REALLY missed, was laboring and birthing in the tub. The water has such a way of helping one relax between contractions. I'll never forget my labor with Ben, how I fell asleep, leaning on Isaac in the tub, between a contraction. It was just 2 minutes, but it felt like 10 when another contraction woke me up. I labored in the tub with Wade but had to have him out of the water. The warm water is a huge help!

Well, I was hooked up to the IV and pitocin and after two or three hrs it started taking effect. They went really slow with it, which I'm very glad they did. The actual labor part was very similar to Ben's. The contractions were not very painful, just very deep and strong. I could feel them working. I think that process is kind of cool being able to feel and mentally see your cervix stretching with each contraction. But I was sososososo tired! I'd been up at 6am that morning and hadn't gotten to nap. Now it was midnight and I wanted to fall asleep so badly!

Finally, the pushing part came. My favorite, NOT! It's the shortest but the most intense and with Pitocin it was almost more than I wanted to take, especially since I had done this two other time pretty recently, I was just done with hurting. But when I asked the nurse for an epidural (yes I did...), she said to me, Are you sure? You are done.

At that moment the midwife came into the room saying, Okay, let's have this baby! I guess it was only ten minutes of pushing ( it felt more to me O.o ). It's such a great moment when you feel your baby is finally free and they place her on you. I thought she was beautiful and I was thrilled that yes, in fact, this baby is a girl! =)

Eliana was born at 1:24 am Wednesday. She weighed 8 lbs and 5.9 oz and was 21 inches long. I thought she'd be about the boys size since I had such a small belly, the smallest I had had yet, but she surprised us!

Around 5 am we were moved to our room. We were so very tired, but very happy Eliana was here. We were discharged Thursday before noon. It was so good to be back with the boys.

Eliana is now 11 days old =) Days go by so quickly! She loves to be held, hates her bed, and loves clean diapers, and of course loves to nurse. She is improving her latch. I never really had any struggle with the boys. A little bit with Wade, but Eliana so far has been the one to hurt me most. But she is getting better. It's still a little painful right when she latches. But we are getting better. :)

We are in love with our little girl very much! Our boys are getting adjusted. It's been a little rough for them getting moved around and then a new one in our family. Our truck has three car seats in the back. All seats are taken! Our little house is very full, and we are very blessed ^.^

First smile on camera =) 

I love this one ♥

Wade loves his "hister" :) (I haven't taken any with Ben yet since he is still not sure of her and can be a little rough. He's slowly warming up. )

Ehhe her bow is falling ^.^ ♥

Love our Eliana Joy! 

There will be many more pictures and posts to come of our growing family =) God has blessed Isaac and me so much!  We are grateful our third child is here and well. I feel my little family is just perfect! Wade, Ben, Eliana are each so unique. And Isaac is just wonderful!!! He's been cooking cleaning and helping Wade and Ben adjust. I love having him home (especially since he's such a good cook and a great house keeper XD ). No but I just love having HIM here. 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥