Elise Arrives!

I enjoy reading other people's birth stories and want to have a written record of how our little girl arrived. If you'd rather skip the details, and just see pics, you can scroll to the bottom of this post.

So here goes:

On April 13th, the day my induction was scheduled, my mom came over at 6 a.m. to watch Colton, and Casey and I headed to the hospital.

At 7 a.m., we met our nurse, Brenda, who'd recently helped one of my friends have a successful V-BAC (natural birth after having a c-section). Not all doctors will let their patients try for a V-BAC, but luckily Dr. Farrow does.

Around 8:30 a.m., Brenda checked me - I was at just 1 cm - and started me on pitocin. The next couple hours went pretty smoothly. We moved around a few times to help Elise get in the right position for birth. The rocking chair was my favorite as it was the most comfortable.

At that point, I wasn't experiencing much pain - less than I'd felt with the contractions over the weekend. Then around 10:30 a.m., Brenda said she'd be getting me my epidural soon. I honestly didn't feel like I needed it at that point but didn't object because I figure she knew more about the process than me. And let me just say, she was right on! A couple minutes later, I got up to go to the restroom.

In just that amount of time, my contractions became excruciating! I was in a lot of pain and couldn't wait to get that epidural. Thankfully, the anesthesiology nurse was arriving just then. They tried to get me in position to administer the epidural, but I was hurting so much that I suddenly needed to vomit. They got me some medicine to help with the nausea and had me lay down on my side with a little tub by my head in case I got sick.

Once the nausea subsided, they were able to get the epidural in. Within 10 minutes, the contractions were MUCH better. But the pain further down wasn't improved. I later found out there was a kink in the epidural that made it less effective.

Around noon, my water broke, and I was dilated to a 5 or 6. Everything seemed to go really fast after this point. About an hour later, I was an 8 and then around 2 p.m. I was a 10 and ready to push.

I pushed for about 45 minutes. It was such a different experience than having a scheduled c-section, like I did with Colton (who was breech). Since the epidural didn't really numb down low, it was pretty painful, but I think the lack of numbness helped me be able to push since I could really feel the pressure.

Then at 2:38 p.m. Elise Noelle Short arrived weighing 7 lbs 9.5 oz and measuring 19 3/4 inches. Unlike with my c-section, I was able to hold her immediately, and she never left the room I was in.

I'm so thankful that I was able to have a V-BAC and experience a more natural birth. Although, there was more pain up front, I was able to leave the hospital after only one night and have felt much stronger than I did after my c-section.

I'm still getting back to my old self, but many aspects have been easier than they were the first time around. Elise loves to be held, but still lets us sleep every now and then. :)

This morning at her two week appointment, she weighed 8 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. Her weight was in the 50th percentile and her length in the 75th percentile.