It's probably time I announce the arrival of Elliot. He was born October 14 at 7:58 am. He weighed 8lbs even and was 20.75" long. We are so happy to have him in our lives and I am so glad that I am not pregnant anymore!
*disclaimer - there is a lot of reading ahead in this post. I wanted to write out a summary of my feelings leading up to Elliot's birth for my record. Feel free to skip this post*
His pregnancy was nothing short of stressful to me. I started out, like many women do, very sick. I could not keep anything down, I was such a basket case. I spent most of the first 4 months on the couch, while my house went down the drain. I did not clean, I hardly cooked, and it took everything I had to get Clara to the bus every day. Jeff was amazingly helpful and picked up so much of the extra slack.
I had an angel who turned everything around for me. One day, while we were at church, some one very special to us came to our house and cleaned the whole thing for us. The house was at the point where I had no idea where to start, and to this day I think about her and her amazing act of service all the time. I don't think she has any idea how much this meant to me, more than any words could describe. Not only did we come home to a clean house, it gave me the motivation and strength I needed to get it together and push through the remainder of my pregnancy.
After our trip to Florida back in May, I started to feel much better. I was finally feeling somewhat human again. I had started working 3 days a week at work so I could qualify for maternity leave benefits. It's a hard job, that requires a lot of time on your feet, so it was a little rough, but besides being tired it was going well.
In July we discovered the baby was breach at one of my regular appointments. Because I was so early yet, we did not worry about it. Until about mid August, he stayed that way. I remember one weekend being SO incredibly uncomfortable and I am convinced it was because he was turning around. Sure enough, at my next appointment, his head was down. I was so happy about that! Two weeks later I went in for my regular appointment and I remember saying to Carol (one of my amazing midwives) "I am feeling so good, I could stay like this for a while". Little did I know I was about to eat those words. When it came time to listen to babies heart, it was not quite right. His heart kept skipping beats and making funny sounds. Now any mother knows that this is the last thing you want to hear when you go in for an appointment. I remember lying there, listening to babies heart and trying so hard to hold it together. I did not need anyone to tell me something was wrong, I knew it. I was assured by Carol that this happens sometimes and it always sorts itself out. I left my appointment with another appointment for an in depth ultrasound. I got in the truck and was just crying my eyes out. I tried calling Jeff and he was not answering. I tried calling him for about 40 minutes before he finally called me back. I had been driving around downtown to pick him up to come with me to the ultrasound. It was so hard not having anyone to talk to about it. I will never forget that feeling I felt that day, you never want anything to be wrong with your baby. Despite the reassuring words from the perinatologist we saw that day, it was still very stressful to me. It was even more difficult because I had a friend from work who had the same thing with her baby and she had just had an emergency c-section because of her babies heart beat and it was a pretty scary event. I kept hearing everything would be fine, and it took so much out of me to believe those words.
I went for my weekly appointments from that time on. For the first few we heard the irregular heartbeat every time. Eventually, one day I went in and we couldn't hear it. That was a good day.
Shortly after that I remember feeling not well. I did not make it into my last week of work because of how I was feeling. I remember bleeding a little, having lots of back pain and just not feeling quite right. I went in for my appointment one day and we figured I was going to have a baby in the next few days. We were wrong....that afternoon I got really dizzy and had a really bad fever, along with my back pain. After 3 nights of no sleep because of my crazy fever and chills, I went into the hospital. They determined something was not right so they told me I would be spending the night on some antibiotics. That was a horrible night...I was not well. I ended up spending 3 long days in the hospital, but when I left, I felt pretty good.
About a week and a half later it was time. I started contractions around 11pm, got out of bed around midnight and just walked around my house. They were very irregular, but quite painful. Jeff stayed home to get Clara and Donovan to school, but then I told him to go to work because I had so many false labor scares already. I called my sister in law (who is another angel I know) to ask her to take Donovan for me and get Clara from the bus. I needed to know that my kids were taken care of, and I was in no state to do that at this point. Around 7 that night I called Carol to tell her. I was still not regular, but they sure were painful. I remember having this stop and go with Clara for about a week before she was born and I did not want this again. Carol told me to call her later that night to let her know if they were worse or better. It didn't take long after that. Around 8pm they came full force. No breaks between contractions and I was struggling. We went to the hospital and Carol and Mary (another amazing midwife) were there for me. Once we got settled in, they slowed down to every 2 minutes or so. I was 5-6 cm. We got to the hospital around 9pm and after a couple of hours we decided to break my water. Shortly after that my back pain got REALLY intense. I remember thinking, take the back pain away, I will handle any contraction you can throw at me. Unfortunately, the back pain did not go away and upon examining me it was determined that baby was still very posterior and he was turned the wrong way. I remember feeling my back and being told that bump in my spine was the babies head. I tried to stay calm, but I really suck at being calm. I got an epidural and was able to relax. Jeff slept for a good 4 hours. I was checked again about 10 hours after being admitted to the hospital, I had not changed at all. I was not progressing and babies heart rate kept getting higher and higher. An OB came and and I was told I would be put on pitocin and if that didn't help after 2 hours, I would need a c-section. I could not believe after such a long time of laboring that I would end up with a c-section. So on to the pitocin. About 10 minutes after getting that, I felt a lot of pressure. After being checked, I was 10 cm and ready to go! I remember hearing cheers in the hallway from the hospital staff when they found out. It was time to start pushing.
With Clara I pushed 3 times. With Donovan I barely pushed at all, he came out so fast. Elliot was a little more work. After pushing a couple of times, I remember asking if he was even coming. I was not used to pushing so much and so hard. It took about 30 minutes of pushing (keep in mind, this is my 3rd child). As his head popped out, he started turning. So imagine this, his head is half out and he decides at this point he is going to turn himself around. Go figure. Both my other babies were similar, face up, very posterior, but they both turned before making their appearance. Not this guy. He sure is something else.
With all this said and done, I could not be happier. I would LOVE another baby, but I just don't have another pregnancy in me. I can handle the newborn, lack of sleep, crying etc, but I can't handle 9 months of what feels like torture to me.
I remember at the end of my pregnancy thinking that this baby was going to be a basketcase because I had been one throughout my pregnancy. I wish I could say I was wrong, but I am not that far off. He has definitely been my most challenging baby. The first couple of weeks he would just cry and cry and cry. There was no way you could put him down, unless you wanted to subject yourself to a newborn babies scream. Even once you got him to sleep, you could not put him down or he would wake up instantly. It's easy to tell that he has stomach issues. He curls his knees up and just cries. I wish I could do something to help him out. I have tried cutting certain foods from my diet. I have tried swaddling him and using a sling, they don't work. Thankfully he does like the swing most of the time. He has been getting better, he has about 3 or 4 bad days a week, but the other days are pure heaven, when I can just enjoy my baby and play with my children and even get some laundry done. He does sleep VERY well most nights. To be guaranteed 5 hours between feedings, he needs to be elevated and kept very warm. So he spends almost every night right beside me. I don't often sleep in my bed, mostly on the couch. It's worth it though to get some sleep, as he drains a lot of energy from me during the day.
I do love this little guy and I am so very happy he is in our lives. Our whole family is so in love with him. Donovan is so proud of his little brother and has taken on the role of big brother very well. He is always trying to make him happy, always squishing his cheeks, giving him his soother, talking to him and rubbing his feet. I can't wait to watch these two as they interact with each other and play together.
It's been a long time since we have been here. As you can see, Donovan is quite small in this photo. We will be there with my parents again as well. We have been to Disneyworld 3 times since this trip, I can't wait to see Disneyland again.
This is new to us. In all our trips to California and Florida, we have never taken the time for Universal Studios, so this is exciting.
Granted, this photo is Seaworld in Orlando, and we won't be going there, but we will be visiting Seaworld in San Diego. Mostly because Donovan just LOVES Seaworld, he talks about it often and tells us how he loves the dolphins and whales, so I can't wait to take him here again.
That's right! We are doing a 7 day Mexican Riviera Disney Cruise!! I can't wait! This is honestly a dream come true for me. I can't wait for it and I am really excited for the kids as there is SO much for them to see and do on this boat.
Including a sweet kids pool area, kids clubs, parties, fireworks and lots of chances to meet characters!! This means shorter line ups to meet them which makes Jeff happy too!!
Seems like a good first stop since this is where we spent our honeymoon. Afterall, it is our 10 year anniversary trip.
and Mazatlan
Not sure if we will do much in these ports with the kids, but I do hope that we get the chance to visit with some of these.
This is a dream of Jeff's, but it is always too expensive for us to do. We will see if we take the plunge this time, if not we will just hang out on the beaches and enjoy ourselves.
