I finally have a few minutes to update my blog and talk about my beautiful little girl. Wow I don't even know where to start... Since I last wrote our family grew from 2 to 3 and we moved from Arizona to Utah! Both huge events and both happened within just weeks of each other. But I'll start with Elliana's birth.
So Christmas passed and I breathed a huge sigh of relief that she didn't come on Christmas. Then 2 days later, the 27th , I woke up and thought that my water was leaking. I didn't know for sure. It sounds kind of strange but I just didn't know if my water was leaking or what was going on. I had an appointment with my Dr. the next day (which was my due date) so I thought that I would just wait until then. But luckily I called my sister Ashly and told her what was going on and she thought that I should call my Dr. and see if they could see me immediately. So I called my Dr.'s office and my Dr. wasn't in, but her nurse told me that I needed to go to the hospital and they would check there. If my water was leaking then I needed to have Elliana within 24 hrs. Anyways so I called Zack at work and told him that the nurse said that we needed to go to the hospital. So he came home and we got all ready to go. We weren't even going to bring all of our hospital stuff because I really thought they were just going to send us home and that there really wasn't anything going on. But we went to the hospital, and when they checked me and they were like "Oh yep you're staying, your water is ruptured." And then it was real. Zack and I just looked at each other and knew that everything was really happening and that we were going to have our baby soon. Then we called all of our family and my mom and Zacks mom flew in from UT to be with us. Thank goodness, because honestly I don't think I could have done what I did if my mom wasn't there.
I had decided early in my pregnancy that I wanted to try and have this baby naturally. That was our plan, but man was it harder then I thought. So, after they had checked me my contractions started. They weren't too intense and at that point I was feeling pretty confident that I could do this. They were pretty consistent and and the nurse said that they might not have to put me on pitocin because my contractions were so consistent. That was my hope because I had heard that if I was going to try this naturally that getting pitocin would make it a lot harder. Well after a couple of hours they saw that I wasn't dilating as fast as they would have liked so... they started me on pitocin:(
That was about 1 in the afternoon on Tuesday the 27th. Then my contractions got more intense and more intense. As the hours went on I kept thinking with all of these contractions and all of this pain surely there has to be some progress and I have to be dilating. Haha, nope hours would go by and the nurse would check me and she would say "You're about a good 2." Ahh that was the worst! I remember thinking, oh my gosh this is never going to end. So they kept upping my dosage of pitocin. Then finally they had me on the max dosage that they could give me and had to call my Dr. to get permission to keep upping it! Painful! That's all I can say. Every 2 minutes I would have the most intense contractions and I never got a break. Finally around 11:00 that night I was able to get in the shower and labor for a couple of hours in there. That really helped me relax a lot and took a tiny little bit of the edge off.
Oh I forgot to mention that the night before I didn't sleep well and had been up since 4:30, and in the morning all I had to eat was a piece of toast. While you're in labor you can't eat anything, and if you're going natural you can't sleep either... so by midnight that night to say I was exhausted is an understatement. I was so tired and depleted of energy that I could barely lift my eyelids let alone talk. I was able to drink some juice a little bit but that didn't stay down long:) Anyways as the hours went on I slowly, slowly progressed. Then around 4:30ish I was finally at a nine and I had to push. My body literally had to push. I'll spare you some of the details, but it was just intense. So for hours I had been on the max dosage of pitocin and for anyone who has ever felt that you'll know what I'm talking about. They say that a natural contraction is like a hill, and a contraction on pitocin is like a steep mountain. Not to undermine a natural contraction at all, it's just a lot more intense. They had to take me off it for an hour because her heart rate kept dropping, but then they put me back on it. So anyways it was time to push. Everytime a contraction came on I would tell them and everyone would get in position and I would push. It was hard. I pushed for about 45 minutes. Then finally, time stood still and my baby came! Within seconds I felt the most pain I have ever felt in my entire life and then the most joy I have ever experienced. Zack cut the cord and then they laid Elliana right on me. For several minutes I got to just hold her and cry and talk to her. It was like there was no one else in the room, just her and I. I'm in tears just writing about it. It was some of the best minutes of my life. this is a picture of that exact moment!
It was so surreal. I was so relieved in that moment that she was here and healthy and that my labor was finally over. I felt so accomplished and SO exhausted! She was finally here! Then after a couple of minutes, she pooped on me and then they took her and started cleaning her off:)
I love her so much its incomprehensible.
I am so grateful for all of the love and support I felt through this whole process. I am so grateful for Zacks dad and Mary and for ALL that they did for us during this time. For Zack's mom for flying out and being by our side the whole time. I'm so grateful for my mom. For her amazing ability to help me through labor. She kept me focus and calm and really should be a labor coach :) This obviously wasn't her first time doing this and I know it wont be her last. I am so grateful for all 3 of those amazing women; Mary, Leisa and my mom. I am so amazed that all 3 of them delivered some of their children naturally. I have such a deeper respect for all mothers, and am grateful that all 3 were by my side for this miraculous event. And I am especially grateful for my dear husband. He was by my side the entire time. He was my ALL through this whole process. He kept me going and let me know the whole time how much he loved me. I could just look at him and find strength to keep going. I love him so much.
We had decided a couple of months ago to move back to Utah soon after Elliana was born. So when she was almost 2 weeks old, we packed up the rest of our stuff (most of it we moved up a couple of weeks earlier) and drove from Arizona to Utah. It was so bittersweet. We have absolutely LOVED living in arizona and spending time with Zack's family there. It was hard to leave, but luckily we will be seeing all of them soon:)
It took us a while to unpack, I wasn't in any rush, and now we are finally settled. Elliana's almost a month already! Time has flown by. I love her more and more as the days go by and I feel so blessed that she is such a good, happy and healthy baby.
I love her so much its incomprehensible.
I am so grateful for all of the love and support I felt through this whole process. I am so grateful for Zacks dad and Mary and for ALL that they did for us during this time. For Zack's mom for flying out and being by our side the whole time. I'm so grateful for my mom. For her amazing ability to help me through labor. She kept me focus and calm and really should be a labor coach :) This obviously wasn't her first time doing this and I know it wont be her last. I am so grateful for all 3 of those amazing women; Mary, Leisa and my mom. I am so amazed that all 3 of them delivered some of their children naturally. I have such a deeper respect for all mothers, and am grateful that all 3 were by my side for this miraculous event. And I am especially grateful for my dear husband. He was by my side the entire time. He was my ALL through this whole process. He kept me going and let me know the whole time how much he loved me. I could just look at him and find strength to keep going. I love him so much.
We had decided a couple of months ago to move back to Utah soon after Elliana was born. So when she was almost 2 weeks old, we packed up the rest of our stuff (most of it we moved up a couple of weeks earlier) and drove from Arizona to Utah. It was so bittersweet. We have absolutely LOVED living in arizona and spending time with Zack's family there. It was hard to leave, but luckily we will be seeing all of them soon:)
It took us a while to unpack, I wasn't in any rush, and now we are finally settled. Elliana's almost a month already! Time has flown by. I love her more and more as the days go by and I feel so blessed that she is such a good, happy and healthy baby.
