Waiting and Welcoming

Baby Eli's due date was March 3rd. I thought for sure that he was going to come early. My ideal date was 2/27/11, because it rhymed. That date went by and no baby. Then I thought that 3/2/11 was cool. No baby. 3/7/11. It rhymes. No baby. We were at the doctor a week after my due date. They tried desperately to get me in for an induction, something I actually didn't want a week earlier. There was no room at the inn...er, hospital. Finally, I was scheduled to be induced on March 16th...13 days past due.

We were trying everything to get this baby to come! Bouncing on the ball was one of them. I also got a little spa treatment from my good friend Lisa.

Her daughter wanted Baby Eli to wake up.

We got the hospital between 8:30 and 9 that Wednesday morning, and about half an hour later, I was in the room getting an IV started. Lisa got there about an hour later, and we were off. When Dr. Wind came in to check me and break my water, she told me, "We have to consider the possibility of a c-section because of the size of this baby." An ultrasound a week before told us 9, 15 for his weight!

At 11:30 is when I first really felt a contraction. They were manageable for several hours, even though they kept increasing the pitocin drip. We found that standing up was the best position to keep the contractions going. It was tiring, but everytime I sat in a chair, on the bed, on a ball, the contractions slowed or stopped. Dad and Cathy came to visit for a little while. The day kept on dragging on and on. I eventually was told to lay in the bed, on my side, for a while. I was able to cope with the contractions pretty well by listening to relaxing music, breathing and moaning through them. I was dilating slowly, but Baby Eli's head was not descending.

Mark and the nurse talked in the hallway, and they convinced me to get an epidural. I was at 5 centimeters at that time. She thought that (1) it would help me relax my pelvis, (2) I could get some rest, and (3) it would already be there in case we needed to do a c-section.

Getting the epidural was excruciating! I was still having strong contractions, but I couldn't cope with them. She was pushing on and sticking my back, and my shoulder blades got painfully cramped and stiff. I was crying and screaming and just hoping it would be over soon.

After it was finally over, I was able to get about two hours of sleep. At that point, Dr. Inge came in to check me again. It was 2:20am. I was at 7 centimeters, but Eli was not coming down. I watched as Dr. Inge looked at the monitor. I could tell he was thinking, "This is not what she wants." I was okay with whatever, as long as the baby was healthy. I told him, "I'm okay with a c-section, if that's what we need to do." He told that the baby could be out in 15 minutes, and that ball started rolling. I was all prepped, Lisa and Eileen left (sadly), and Mark dressed in scrubs.

I remember feeling slightly nauseous, but also very tired. I remember a big bright room with lots of people around. They introduced everyone to me. Did they really expect me to remember them, though? I kept asking questions about what was going on. I remember lots of pulling during the surgery, and Mark sitting next to me, just looking at me.

Eli David was born at 3:00am, Thursday, March 17th, 2011. Saint Patrick's Day. He cried as soon as he came out, and so did I. Somehow, I don't remember crying like that with either of the other boys' births. They held him up so I could see him, then whisked him away to an adjoining room. Mark went with him, and I finished up from the surgery.

Our baby weighed...

Mark said he was alert very quickly and even making some noises. The nurses in there said he couldn't have been as late as my due date indicated. (At 9 weeks, the ultrasound indicated 10 weeks, so they moved my due date up.)

Mark said that right from the beginning, Eli's big, beautiful, blue eyes were wide open. They brought him back into the OR as I was finishing up. I took off his hat and discovered dark hair!

After more tugging and pulling and some discomfort as they closed me up, I got to meet my sweet little man. They found him a green and white hat, the little leprechaun.

Eli's first picture with Mommy and Daddy

We got to our room, nursed for a little while, and finally got to sleep between 5 and 5:30. That only lasted a couple of hours, of course. And somewhere mid-morning, we got visitors. Eileen was the first one, but somehow I don't have a picture of her. Here's Danny with Baby Eli.

Grandpa and Nana Cathy--I love this picture!

Zack finally meeting his baby brother! Xander ended up with a fever when he came to visit, so he didn't hold Eli. He really didn't even stay in the room very long, either.

Aunt Mo

Stacy (you notice all the green?)

Daddy, just hanging with his youngest son

Xander came back on Saturday. We picnicked outside while Eli had a little procedure done. Then we could finally be together as a family.

Xander, me, Zack and Eli...my three sweet boys!

(This one's out of order, but oh well.)

I'm not sure if Xander knew what to think.

Do you think Zack likes his baby brother??

Here's our family...me with all my boys!

Eileen and her kids came on Saturday also..it made for a crowded room, but it was fun. Alannah, Alyssa, Damien and Christopher all got to hold Eli. This is Damien.

My good friend Susan came to visit on Saturday afternoon, too.

We finally got to go home on Sunday. I started taking pictures of hospital memories. The boys made these picture frames for Baby Eli to have. Now the pictures are beside the changing table, and Eli loves to look at them.

Balloons from Aunt Eileen

Our going home outfits

Boys getting ready

Okay, Mommy, I'm ready to go home. Daddy did a good job dressing me!

Almost there...have to get a pic before getting in the car

Mark stayed home the whole next week. It was so great adjusting to home life with him there with me. He took the boys to school, shopped for anything we needed, and drove me places, too, since I couldn't drive yet. Here's my babies' daddy playing with Eli on the floor

I love that face!

Zack bought treats from the ice cream truck, and this is what Xander looked like afterwards. I didn't see this mess until I uploaded the pics to the computer.

I don't think he liked that Eli was crying, or maybe he didn't want me to take his picture.

Trying out the Moby wrap that Susan gave me...this try was not so great. I've gotten better at using it, though

All my boys!

The first few weeks of Eli's life included many trips to the doctor for weight checks. He was not gaining weight as fast as they wanted him to. When he was three-and-a-half weeks old, they put him back in the hospital to make sure there was nothing else going on that was causing him to not gain weight. I had to sit on the other side of the room while they drew blood and got a urine sample. They also took his temperature to wake him up multiple times a day. It was heartbreaking for me. After seeing the lactation consultants, nutritionist, nurses, nurse practitioners and doctors, we learned that there was nothing wrong with Eli. We worked on getting to nurse better and supplemented with formula or pumped milk. It was a tiring and trying couple of days in the hospital. Not only did I have to feed Eli every three hours, even over night, I had to use a supplementer (a bottle attached on my shoulder with a tube going into Eli's mouth, which had to be in just the right place) and pump after every feeding. He gained a few ounces while in the hospital. Finally, when he was almost 6 weeks old, his last weight check showed 10 pounds, 2 ounces. He was finally back up to his birthweight after losing 11 ounces. i tried to go back to exclusive breastfeeding for several days, but my milk supply was not increasing and Eli was chomping on me. Since then, I've been weaning him to a bottle. A tinge of disappointment for me, but I know he's a healthy, growing baby.

Well, that's up to date. There will be couple more posts coming soon with more pictures, other things that have happened since Eli was born. And I really need to work on the format and pictures on the page. Maybe I'll get back to blogging...