Elizabeth Loretta made her grand entrance on June 8th at 1:45pm, weighing in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and is 19 inches long!

Here goes the birth story I posted this on the WB's section too. And if this is all over the place, I apologize in advance--I'm still a little loopy from the weekend!

On Thursday the 7th, I had my weekly check up (39 weeks and 6 days). I had done quite a bit to get labor moving along previously that week but obviously had no luck. My blood pressure had been slightly elevated for the last 5 weeks so I was put on moderate bed rest...but that day my BP was too high.

My doctor said if there was room at the hospital, that he'd want to induce that night because of how uncomfortable he was with my sky high BP. We had an ultrasound done and baby Elly was measuring pretty big too. I was less than thrilled to hear I had to be induced. I wanted to have a natural, vaginal birth, to labor at home and go pain-med free and I knew with an induction (pitocin and rupturing my water) that it wouldn't be easy.

The morning of the induction was so nerve wracking, I even lost my breakfast and started to shake a little. I knew I had to be induced...I had been feeling horrible all week with pretty extreme upper abdominal pain (a major symptom of pre-eclampsia and I was worried that maybe my tests had been over looked).

We got to the hospital at 7:30am but labor and delivery was packed! I luckily got the last room. 221, the same room my son was born in--this made DH and I overly ecstatic haha, it had to be a good sign!

I was hooked up to the monitors and checked for dilation (2 cm's and 70% effaced) but I had contractions every 8 minutes that I couldn't feel. At that point I so hoped that I could have gone into labor naturally and waited over the weekend.

So, pitocin started at 8:45am. Hearing the pitocin drip was a scary mind game...every few minutes I could loudly hear more pitocin disperse and my contractions intensified but I was still okay. After 30 minutes, my doctor came in to break my water and I was dilated to 3 by that point.

Right after my water broke was when the game changed and I did some low humming through the contractions. That worked for awhile. I really wanted to move around but I had the monitor hooked up to me and my pitocin drip. I felt trapped during each contraction and it wasn't at all what I hoped for. The contractions became long and very close. My lower back had to have so much pressure applied to get through them. I breathed, hummed, held onto DH and did whatever I could to try to manage the pain. But then the contractions were on top of each other. I had wanted to labor in the tub but I couldn't even move or breathe from the intensity...I knew I had progressed so at 10:50am I was checked again. Only 4-5cm. Then a contraction came that was so impossible to get through, my BP was the highest it had ever been. I had DH call the nurse in for the anesthesiologist. I was mostly worried about my BP at that point.

The pitocin was turned off for the epidural, it took a good 20 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get to my room but in that time, the natural contractions were so much easier to get through. They were every 2 minutes but I had a break in between them and I could finally catch my breath! I was checked once again before the epidural was given and I was at 8 cm's...I know this sounds extreme but it felt as if my body was shutting down when I had the pitocin contractions...it had to be during transition. I know it was far from it, but that is all I can say about the intensity. DH noticed a huge difference from when the pitocin was turned off...if I hadn't been through hell then I would have gone forth without pain-meds.

From there it was easy. I labored down after the epidural, I gave one push and the doctor was called in, lights were on and the hospital bed was broken down--it was time! I was shaking uncontrollably though. 3 contractions (9 pushes) later she was born! Her collarbone fractured during delivery though but it should heal on its own in 3 weeks. She's just in pain when the area is touched
Postpartum recovery hasn't been bad...I'm barely bleeding anymore, I tore a little bit on my episiotomy scar and I've taken Motrin mostly for some cramping.

She has completed our family and we are so incredibly happy. DH and I constantly have smiles on our faces. Here's DS holding her for the first time!

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