Eleanor is a few days shy of being a month old, it's time to start the monthly updates again! But before that I wanted to post her birth story. Like I've said before...my memory is horrible and if I don't type it up now I might forget the special details of that day, so here we go!
On Thursday, October 20, we went to the doctor for my check up. It was three days before my due date so I was excited to see what they would tell me. It's also important to note that my doctor was out of town...Vegas to be exact. Lol so I ended up seeing a midwife. When she came in and checked me she said, "you are not going to believe this! ...you are dilated to a 5!" I looked at Nathan in shock, but I was also super excited. I'm sure he was too because he was probably tired of me complaining about how I was so exhausted and uncomfortable. She asked me how my contractions were, they must have been okay because I didn't know I was having them. Lol she then told us that if we wanted she could go ahead and call the hospital and let them know I was coming. I had a bit of a panic because the next day was supposed to be my last day at work. I seriously contemplated going but then had a vision of my water breaking at school and decided against it. I ended up going back up to the school and tried to finish preparing things for my sub. I got home around 7 and was still in a bit of shock that she could literally arrive at any moment.
The next morning I asked Nathan if he could work from home, just in case I did go into labor. I didn't want to have to wait on him to drive home from Dallas and then have to head to Flower Mound. He agreed and we both got Emerson up and got her ready for school. I gave her hugs and kisses and then Nathan dropped her off. It was my last time to see her before Eleanor was born, she had no idea what was coming! When Nathan got home I told him maybe we should call the hospital to see what they wanted us to do. My fear was that since I wasn't feeling my contractions and my water hadn't broken that they would send me home. However, since I was already dilated so far they told me I could go ahead and come in.
Since it was kind of on our own terms we had time to calmly finish picking up the house, take showers, finalize our hospital bags, ...and per Nathan's request get his truck washed on the way. (Oh my...) We got to the hospital and checked in and then a sweet lady escorted us up to our delivery room. We met our nurse, Tara, who turned out to be an angel in disguise. She was seriously the best, super informative but personable at the same time. I could tell she really had our best interests at heart. So thankful for her! I got changed into the glamorous hospital gown and climbed into the hospital bed at 12:00 on the dot. Like I mentioned earlier, my doctor was out of town, so the nurse told me that Dr. Gupta was on call. I wasn't thrilled because he's a man...and I'm weird about having male doctors, but he turned out to be amazing as well! He came in and assessed me. He said I was indeed dilated to a 5 but since I was a 5 the day before he said he was going to go ahead and break my water to speed things up a little. They waited about an hour to see how I would progress, when they checked me again I had only dilated about half a centimeter more so they decided to give me a small dose of pitocin. That really helped to get my contractions on more of a regular schedule. The anesthesiologist came and administered my epidural. (With Emerson my contractions had been so painful that I really didn't feel them give me my epidural, but this time I was much more cognizant of the fact that they were sticking a huge needle in my back.) Nathan held my hand and refrained from looking. Lol
After they gave me the epidural I tried to close my eyes for a little bit. I started to get a little bit too numb, such a weird feeling. So they ended up turning off the pain pump for a bit. I needed to be able to feel to push! They kept coming in to check me and said I was progressing nicely, at one point Dr. Gupta pulled up a chair and talked to us about going on cruises, golf, etc.
At about 5:00 I began to feel more pressure and the urge to push. Tara said I was ready to go so they got everything ready and called Dr. Gupta in. When she began to crown Tara asked me if red hair ran in my family...not what I expected! But I also didn't expect Emerson to have dark hair. Our babies are full of surprises. :) I pushed through about 8 contractions and Eleanor Grace arrived at 5:33 pm!
She weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 19.25 inches long. She was absolutely beautiful! I will never forget the feeling of holding her for the first time. She was perfect.
Nathan and I spent about 20 minutes with Eleanor before our families came in to see us. My next favorite moment from that day was seeing Emerson light up when she got to meet Eleanor for the first time.
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| About thirty minutes before she was born! |
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| She's here!!! |
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| There's no kind of pride like holding your perfect daughter for the first time! |
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| Emerson meeting baby sister for the first time! |
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| Meeting Gigi |
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| Sneaky sister... |
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| "I'm a big sister!!" |
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| Meeting Juju |
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| Ellie and Mimi |
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| Poppy and the newest gal in his life :) |
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| I wish Emerson was in this picture! |
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| Meeting Aunt Bug |
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| Sweet Baby |
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| Uncle Mitchell and Emerson |
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| Changing the first diaper |
Eleanor Grace Eltzholtz
October 21, 2016, 5:33 PM
7 lbs, 3 oz
19.25 inches
I prayed and prayed that day, thanking God for such a safe and smooth delivery and perfect, healthy baby girl. We are absolutely blessed! She is the PERFECT addition to our family and I can't even put into words how lucky we are. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, gifts, food, etc. We have appreciated the love and support more than you all know.
Now please excuse me, while I got snuggle my almost one month old!
