Introducing our third child, a girl!

Elsie Marie was born to us on January 22, 2017 at 2:10 PM.  She was 6lb, 5 oz and 19.29" long.

The day (and weekend) was record rainy. I thought we might wash off the road trying to get to the hospital!

With Elsie's birth, I had a lot of fears. Since John's was quick (4 hours of "pain") and Isabelle's was under 2 hours having slept through most of it, I had NO idea what to expect.  I did know that the doctors wanted me to get some antibiotics during labor this time since I'd missed it the last two times (to prevent Strep B). Isabelle's birth was FAR more painful than John's, and I knew Elsie was in the same (posterior, "sunny side up" where her face points to the front of me instead of the rear) which can be an incredibly painful labor situation AND make labor take longer.

So I was really focused this time on getting to the hospital on time. I woke up the morning of the 22nd with some contractions at night and started timing them. When they got bad, around 3:30/4, I woke up Zach to hang out with me on the couch and help me make decisions about the pain levels and when to go in. (The weekend before, I had contractions 3 minutes apart but mild and had driven myself to the hospital for monitoring because I didn't want to wake the kids...and he didn't remember me waking him up to tell him. So I figured this time, we could endure this together.) At 4am we decided we would track for an hour then consider going in. Contractions were really getting painful. At 4:52AM I couldn't stand it anymore and told Zach to get ready to go and I'd call our nanny.  But at 4:57 I couldn't bear to call her before 5am so I told myself I'd ride out ONE more contraction, then call after 5.

That contraction never came! Seriously! So, we both went back to bed until 7.  We decided not to go to church because I was really tired and the kids had questionable runny noses.  Around 10 I was getting pretty testy with the kids and 10:30 started getting a lot more testy and started timing the contractions that had started up again. It was raining but Zach took the kids outside in rain gear to get them away from me and to burn off some energy. At 11:30 I texted our nanny that she should probably come over.  "Shall I come at 12 when church is over, or now?" she asked. I opted for right away.  By the time she arrived (around 12) I was not breathing through contractions and in a lot of pain. At some point I think I called L&D at the hospital and told them we'd be in as soon as our childcare had arrived. They advised (based on my history) to come ASAP, BUT, to drive safely. The rains were torrential at this point!

So I think we got to the hospital around 12:30. Zach dropped me off and I hobbled to L&D while he parked the car and caught up with me. This time I knew were I was going. (With Isabelle I got lost in the hallways. Oops.)  Our L&D room was ready for me and I suggested they check me pretty quickly so we could evaluate where I was at before we made any pain management decisions, etc. I was only at 6cm and contractions were fierce.  I was really scared of an epidural, but also scared of labor pain, so I figured since we made it in time, I'd go with the epidural. They had it in quickly, along with the antibiotics I needed.

15 minutes after the epidural was in (sweet pain relief, except the IV burned so badly), I was ready to push! We'd been there for about an hour, tops. Elsie was born at 2:10 PM. She was born "in the caul" meaning her water didn't break until her head was coming out.  I got to see her being born because they got me a mirror (not in time to see the bag of waters though). It was really amazing.

Out of 6 ladies delivering that day, I was the last to arrive and the first to deliver. Surprising? No. Ha ha.  We weren't positive on Elsie's name right away so we jokingly called her Stormy after the rain.

When she was born, they laid her on my chest and she was SO SO SO alert. These beautiful blue eyes were staring at this outside world as she quietly took it all in. We are so happy she is in our lives!

Elsie is named after a family friend and mentor who is a wonderful role model and Woman of God. Elsie's name also means "pledged to God" which is actually the same meaning as Isabelle's name. (Both names derive from Elizabeth,another name we love.) And we do hope both of our girls know God as we do and so we hope the name fits them well.

Apparently...blogger no longer lets me link to my google image account. So, for pictures, you'll have to find me on other social media. Sorry!




Note: I wrote this (and more posts) up previously but they did not publish/save so this is a recap. Sorry, Elsie!