Ellie : Birth Story

On the night of Thursday, June 6th, I started feeling like garbage.  I was 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant, and thought (unbelieving) that maybe what I was feeling was the beginning of labor.  I laid in bed and read, and when my husband got up at 4:30 that morning to head to work at 6, I told him to stay close by the phone because "this might be it".  I'm not going to lie, Clay just laughed.  At my 38, 39 and 40 week appointments with my doctor, I had been told there had been no progression towards labor, and an induction date had been set for June 10th.  In the meantime, I had tried every "trick" to induce labor - physical activity, castor oil, bouncing on exercise balls, spicy food - you name it, I tried it.  It didn't work.  Every day I grew more and more frustrated, and Clay and I started to believe this baby was not coming.

Here I am... June 2nd.  The night before my due date.  

Clay left for work, and I laid there.  About 11:30 in the morning on Friday the 7th, I had finally moved to the couch in an attempt to get comfortable.  I fell asleep for an hour before my dad called telling me "today would be a great day to have a baby."  Yeah dad... I know.  Haha.  I started having contractions - real contractions where I was doubling over in pain - and at about 4:00 in the afternoon I started timing them.  They were about 20 minutes apart.  I called Clayton and told him what was happening - he said "hopefully you can hold on until 6 when I get off!"  Clay still didn't believe this baby was coming.  At the beginning of the day, I would have agreed with him.  But now, I wasn't so sure.  I decided to distract myself by cleaning the house and making banana bread and no-bake-cookies.  Clay came home at six, and my contractions were now about ten minutes apart.  Clay's little brother Collin was graduating high school this night, and because I hadn't had the baby, we decided to stay home.  We watched Collin walk on the Weber State University website (technology is cool) at 8:30, and as soon as he received his diploma I called my mom in tears, needing some reassurance and a pep talk.  Contractions were 4-5 minutes apart, and they were horrible.  I didn't want to go to labor and delivery because I was scared of being sent home (I had been there twice this pregnancy and they were not pleasant experiences).  My mom told me to "get your ass to the hospital" because "you don't want to have your baby in the car."  Haha Thanks mom.  Off to the hospital we went.  They checked us in, and a nurse came in and I was given the good news that they were going to keep me and we were going to meet our daughter soon.  We couldn't believe it.  Clay and John (my bro-in-law), gave me a beautiful blessing.  We were good to go.

The last pic taken of Clay and I before Ellie was born.  

I was given an epidural around 11:00 pm.  It was probably the weirdest thing I have ever experienced - thinking about that little tube sliding up my back still gives me the hee-bee-gee-bees.  I was finally able to relax for the first time in 24 hours.  My whole fam-damly drove to the hospital to hang out in the lobby and wait for the baby.  It was a big ol' party.  About 3 am, my doctor was called to come and break my water.  I felt bad because it was now Saturday, June 8th.  This was the day my doctor told me we could not have the baby - his daughter was getting married later that morning.  Oops.  My doctor arrived, but the labor and delivery floor was short staffed, and he was immediately pulled away from me to deliver a set of twins and another baby that were coming NOW.  About 4:30 am, my doctor finally broke my water.  About 5:30 am, I started to push.  Clay, my mom, and my poor nurse (who had been called in on her day off and looked as though she had been hit by a truck), were in the room with me.  The nurse and my mom held my legs back and Clay held my hand, and I pushed and pushed, but nothing was happening.  After about an hour of pushing I heard "Holy cow, look at that dark hair! Clay, come look at her dark hair!"  Clay, who had been told to stay "up north" since he was getting a little queasy, went and looked and told me "Kort, she's got a head full of dark hair!"  This whole pregnancy, I wondered if Ellie would be born with hair or not.  This was the motivation I needed to keep pushing.  I was so ready to see my baby girl.  My doctor came in to check on things, and we discovered the baby was facing the wrong way (for the life of me, I can't remember what this is called...posterior? anterior?).  He was able to flip her the right way.  The doc told us that the baby's head was hitting my pubic bone and she was having a hard time coming through the birth canal.  He told me that if I wanted, we could try to use forceps to aid the baby in coming out, but that Ellie might be born with a cone head and some bruising.  Ellie's heart rate was doing fine, so I decided I'd keep pushing and we would play it by ear.  Around this time, my contraction monitor stopped picking up my contractions, so I was having to listen to my body to tell me when to push.  I pushed for another hour, with no signs of progression.    I was exhausted.  I had been up for 37 hours, and labor is hard work, haha.  I decided the forceps were worth a try (after a pep talk from the nurse, who told me my doctor was the only doctor she would trust with forceps).  Dr. Larsen came in with the forceps, and 2 pushes later I heard "whoa, that's a big girl!"  I then heard our baby girl cry for the first time.  

Holding Ellie for the first time.  She was screaming her head off, and when they laid her on my chest she looked up at me with those big, blue eyes and stopped.  

When the nurses took Ellie from my chest to weigh/test her,  I looked over and saw Clay talking to his baby girl.  This made my heart explode into a million little pieces.     

Welcome to the world Ellie Grace!  No bruises from the forceps, yay!

Clay holding Ellie for the first time.  :)  After I delivered, I was shaking like crazy thanks to blood loss, vomiting and adrenaline.  I had to wear oxygen for awhile and wasn't able to hold Ellie. 

Finally getting to hold Ellie.  :) 

All bundled up.

Because I was "so small", EVERYONE (my doctor included), believed this baby was going to be tiny.  Welp...  She wasn't.  She was 9 pounds and 2 ounces.  When I heard how big my baby was, I almost passed out.  How in the world did I give birth to a 9 pounder?  Definitely a Weathersby baby, haha.  After I had Ellie, I was placed on oxygen for awhile and wasn't able to hold her.  I sat with my oxygen mask, and watched as my husband held our daughter for the first time - one of the sweetest, most unforgettable moments of my life.

Ellie was taken away to the nursery to be evaluated.  Soon, the pediatrician on call entered the room and told us that because of the fever I had during delivery (did I mention I had a fever?  Well... I did), Ellie would be given an IV and antibiotics, and that several tests would be run to be sure she wasn't sick too.  We would have to remain in the hospital with Ellie on an IV for 48 hours to wait and see if all her blood work came back okay.  If it didn't, she would have to stay in the hospital for an additional 7-10 days.  My heart dropped into my stomach, but then I remembered the Priesthood blessing my husband and brother in law gave me shortly after I was admitted.  I was told everything would be okay, and I suddenly felt at peace.

Ellie was eventually brought back into our room, and I was finally able to hold my baby girl.  The IV in her hand (which was eventually moved to her foot) made me so sad.  You could tell how badly it bothered her.  It definitely made getting her comfortable to nurse extremely difficult. I would have given anything in the world to get that stupid thing out of her body.

We had a ton of visitors in the hospital.  Ellie is so loved by her family and friends - sharing her with them has been so much fun.  If I posted pictures of them all, this would be the world's longest blog post.  So I will save them for Ellie's scrapbook.  :)  

Monday morning, we met with the pediatrician, who told us Ellie's blood work had come back and we were going to be able to take her home.  I'd never been happier.  

All dressed in her "going home" outfit.  We've had a small obsession with elephants....because of the name "Ellie"...  So her going home outfit had to have an elephant on it.  :)

First time in the car seat.  Ellie LOVES the car.  

Meeting Sisi for the first time at Grandma Kari's house. 

FINALLY at home in her room!!!

Being home is THE BEST.  I feel great, but because Ellie got stuck on my pubic bone, that bone was/is still bruised like you wouldn't believe and really is the only pain I have.  Getting out of bed after the epidural had worn off in the hospital was extremely difficult.  Thank goodness I had my husband.  He changed every diaper in the hospital.  He waited on me hand and foot, and oogled over our baby girl.  He was amazing at home and was such a big help.  (We were pretty lucky - he got 20 days off with us.  We miss him now that he has gone back to work.)  I didn't think falling more in love with that man was possible, but every day I watch him with our daughter I go to bed loving him more than I did when I woke up that morning.

I am feeling extremely blessed to have this perfect angel in our home.  I never thought I could love and care for someone so much.  Second to marrying her daddy, Ellie is the best thing I have ever done, and I know without a doubt that this little girl is supposed to be here in our family and couldn't have picked a better time to join it.  I can't imagine our life without her.

These two are my whole world.  

Our family of three.    :)