Like brother like sister

Last night about 11:20 I was just getting ready to go to bed. Jeff had just gotten home from his softball game. All of a sudden I felt something funny and the next thing I knew my water had broken. Being in my bed was a lot messier than when my water broke with Carson in the tub. Once again, I am strep B positive so we got some stuff together, had Mitzi come stay with the kids and headed to the hospital.

We arrived just after midnight and were admitted. I was having fairly good contractions, but baby was still very high and I had not dilated. I was scheduled to go in to the doctor today and with those results I might have been home crying tonight that she decided not to induce on the 16th. But, since my water broke I knew they would have to get the baby out some time today.

Jeff and I tried to sleep. I did not want anything to happen until 9AM when the mid-wife would be on duty. The contractions were frequent and painful enough that I was not getting any sleep. They gave me something at one point, but it did not really help. This was after 5AM. At some point I asked for the epidural. I was actually dilating, but baby was still very high (just like it was with Carson). Renee (the midwife) come over about 9 and checked in with me. By then I almost fully dilated, but baby was still not dropping. So, Renee went to the office to see patients and I waited for something to happen. Well, around 12:30 Renee came back and baby was still hanging out higher than they like. So, we decided to go ahead and start pushing (just like with Carson)

Before we get to those detail there are some other similarities to Carson's birth. We had several episodes of dropping heart rate. There was a little fear about how baby would handle the delivery. The doctor was called over just in case and the NICU was on stand by. Since Carson turned out fine and I am not one to worry before its time I figured all would be fine.

So we decided to start pushing at 1:04. Elliott Grace arrived with a sweet little cry 10 minutes later at 1:14. Thankfully she did not follow in her big brothers footsteps with that. I pushed a long time with him. She, like her brother, is 21 inches. She is a full pound heavier than him at 8 pounds 7 ounces. (Macie was 7#15 right in the middle)

Ellie was a little trooper, she nursed very quickly and very well. But, she had a hard time with her breathing so she is spending some time in the transitional nursery. Jeff has gone down to give her a bottle. They have not decided if they will let her come to our room or admit her to the NICU for the night. She is not too bad, but she keeps doing some funny breathing they want to keep monitoring her.

I have not seen her since she left the delivery room. When we left the delivery room, I had a few issues. When we arrived upstairs in my room, I had some scary moments. I lost a ton of blood and ended up passing out. They got some smelling salts to wake me up and got me into the bed. There were people in here from everywhere. We had several regular floor nurses and tech, the urgent response team, someone from the ICU, someone from labor and delivery. They are all working frantically. Once I got into the bed, I really felt fine. With all the blood loss and of course the lack of sleep, I have been wiped out. My nurse was not comfortable letting me get up. She came in and said "you know a few hours ago you were about to bleed to death." I don't think it was that bad, I never got any blood and my counts have been good. But, I guess I need to make sure I take care of myself too.

We will get some pictures up soon. I have to get them from the camera and it is on the other side of the room! I promise we will get you pictures of out tax day baby by tomorrow. Unless of course tonight has as much drama as the afternoon.