Life's a Project: Elijah's "Labor Day" Story

Friday (9/3) started the beginning of what I think was "early labor" for me. Friday I had been having contractions more constantly...but not regular enough to time. They were also stronger then they had been, but still nothing to write home about! So we went about our Friday...had a few students and my sister/brother-in-law over for a bonfire. We ate way too much and laughed hard! The boys wanted to try and scare my water into breaking...didn't work! So Friday came and went.

Saturday I was still about the same with contractions. We went to Anderson's for dinner and Bert and I went for a walk (2nd or 3rd walk of the day)...trying to induce labor. Nothing.

Sunday came and by this point the contractions were definitely different and stronger, at points kind of taking my breath away. I told Josh to go to church, but that I was staying home. I had called my mom to tell her what was up. Kelsey and I convinced her to come down because I felt it would be happening in the next day or two and she had those days off, so might as well sit around with us waiting for it to happen. By early Sunday evening Josh, my mom, Kelsey, Mark and I were all sitting around...waiting! Well actually the boys went and got a video camera for us and a new TV for Mark while us girls watched "Letters to God." (GREAT MOVIE!) Finally we were all tired and ready for bed so Kelsey, Mark and my mom headed to The Baker's for the night and Josh and I headed to bed to watch a little Seinfeld.

Well I started having a few harder contractions. Josh was being supportive and rubbing my lower back with a tennis ball. Then he rolled over and went to bed. Literally seconds later (Josh already dead asleep) a really bad contraction hit me...and it hit my back hard! As I was in pain and in the fetal position, wondering why Josh wasn't being supportive (he is still sleeping), I felt my water break. [I should reference that I prayed God would allow my water to break so I would know when it was real] I thought I calmly got up and said "ahh my water just broke." This small sentence made Josh jump out of bed, grab his phone and start dialing. I asked him who he was calling and he said he didn't know and hung up. He said he was trying to call the hospital, but it looked like he had called Mark instead and hung up on him. Mark called back and asked what was going on so Josh told him my water broke. I then told Josh I would call the hospital. As I was getting ready to leave for the hospital Josh was throwing in a load of laundry, starting the dishwasher and cleaning up the living room. Finally we headed to the hospital!

We arrive, park in the ER parking since it was almost midnight and head in. They send you to one room to get checked and then on to your delivery room. I was having major back labor and ended up sick to my stomach as soon as we got there. Well the nurse took her sweet time coming to check me and I had not dilated anymore than I had a 1 1/2 weeks earlier! Yuck...stuck at 2cm. Well they sent us on to our next room. There I labored away with back labor and kept asking when I could get my epidural. The nurse must have been sick of me asking because she went to see if I could get it early and thankfully they said yes...so at 3 cms I got the drugs! Thank you God!! I believe this was around 2:30am.

The laboring continued until 8:40am when I said "I need to push." I thought the nurse was in there but Josh said she had just left and that they had just checked me and I wasn't quite there yet. Well I told him I needed to push now and to get the nurse. He told me to calm down...so what did I do?? I looked at him and then pushed my nurse button! The nurse came back, I told her I needed to push and she checked me at 8:45am (even though I don't think she believed me either). Well I knew what was up and yes I was finally ready! 8:50am began the pushing process. They had me push without the doctor present at first...a little nerve racking! Also the nurse had to step out of the room for a minute, just leaving me and Josh alone and she told me I could keep pushing...is she crazy!?

When the doctor did arrive he was not alone. There were 2 doctors, 1 resident and 4 nurses in the room!

The delivery process is not something anyone can describe to you. It's just mind blowing! Josh was very supportive, counting backwards the whole time! All I knew was that I did NOT want to be in pushing mode for hours so I was getting this baby out and fast...and that's what I did! At 9:33am Elijah Patrick entered our world!

Elijah was whisked away to the corner with the nurses (I believe 3 nurses were taking care of him) and I just had to watch from a distance. His umbilical cord had been around his neck so they had to get that cut off and get him breathing right way. There were some complications during the labor...I had spiked a fever, had high blood pressure and a high heart rate. This caused Elijah to have a high heart rate as well. Since I had all that going on they thought I might have an infection which could also get passed on to Elijah so they had to treat him as though he had an infection. He was placed in the Special Care Nursery for 36 hours. We were only allowed to see him in the Nursery. Josh was able to go to the Nursery with him right away but I had to be able to walk before I could go. I didn't get to see him until 2:30pm! He was perfect! Both Elijah and myself were cleared of the infection! Elijah did have to have treatment for it until they got his blood work back 48 hours later.