I guess I can start off with the weeks leading up to Elianne's Birthday. We waited and waited and waited some more... Elianne's due date came and went. After going to my mid-wife twice a week for two weeks, it was March 29, and we decided it may be time to induce. I was having lots of contractions, but I wasn't progressing like we had hoped. We thought a slow induction would do the trick. Jason and I checked into the hospital at 6 PM Monday night and we were greeted by an enormous hospital room and friendly staff at Erlanger Hospital's labor and delivery ward. A special thank you goes out to Maggie Estes, who is married to one of my best friends from Baylor. She greeted me at the hospital and she was going to be my nurse the next day. She was so amazing as a nurse and friend at the hospital. I feel really blessed to have her in my life.
We settled in for the night and my nurse kindly whispered to me to get a really good meal in tonight because I wouldn't be able to really eat once the induction started. Dad brought us food from one of my favorite Chattanooga restaurants, Alleia. It was so yummy! I was hooked up to monitors and Elianne was being monitored as well. My contractions were very regular before we even started the induction, but Elianne just didn't seem to want to come. We hoped the cervidil, the first medication used in the induction, would just speed things along for us. Settled in for the night, Jason and I tried to get some shut-eye. Around 5 AM, the staff came rushing into our room, put me quickly on my left side and put an Oxygen mask on my face. It turns out, Elianne was having a little bit of a hissy fit with the contractions, which caused her heart rate to drop a bit too low and not come up as quickly as we like. The mid-wife on call, Meg Brasel, was called and it was decided they would come in and check me before we did anything else with the induction. When Meg came in and checked my progress in the morning, I hardly had made any changes and we started discussing the very real possibility I may end up needing a c-section. As disappointed as I was at this prospect, I have always been saying- I will do whatever is safest for Elianne. She still did want to progress with the induction, though, so we started the dreaded pitocin. It causes contractions to come faster and harder. I spoke with Sarah, my mid-wife- better known as "Ya-Ya" to Elianne, and she told me she would come in around lunchtime and we would see where we are. Sarah was my clinical instructor for my women's health clincals during nurse practitioner school. She and I became very close, and she has been like a mom to me- I wouldn't imagine anyone else delivering my baby. I actually felt okay during the entire induction process, and I felt for sure we were making progress. When Sarah came in at lunchtime, she checked me again, and we had made no change from the day before in the office before we even started the induction. At this point, she spoke to Dr. Gary Brunvoll, the OB-GYN on call and they decided it would be best if we went ahead and did a c-section. Elianne may not tolerate another 24 hrs of induction, and they didn't feel it would make a difference anyway, as I was contracting well, with no change in progress. Sarah said she would come back around 4 or 5 and we would do the induction. Jason's family was called, and it felt surprisingly good to have a plan in place. I truly was at peace with the fact that I was going to have to have a c-section as well. Maggie, Sarah, Meg, Jason, and my Mom were all instrumental in encouraging me on this decision. Thank you all.
All of the family arrived and Sarah came in to say we were ready. Maggie walked me down the hall to the OR. I should also thank my friend from Baylor, Amar Reddy, who called his dad, Dr. Reddy, anesthesiologist to come and do my epidural/spinal. Dr. Reddy was going to be off work by the end of the day, but he put one of his partners in his place, who did a perfect job on my spinal. I definately didn't feel a thing! Being on the table for the c-section was very surreal. I saw c-sections in practitioner school and had watched a number of them on tv as well. Now- I was lying on the table for mine. It seemed very much in slow motion the whole time. Dr. Brunvoll was in there along with Sarah, Maggie, Jason, and the rest of the medical team. I felt like it was taking forever, and I kept asking Sarah if everything was ok. She kept saying, "yes." She said, "She does not want to come out." Dr. B said, "You are going to feel a lot of pressure." Everyone kept asking if I was doing ok. I was, except it felt like it was hard to take a deep breath. All of a sudden, she was out and everyone was talking about how much hair she had! I didn't hear her cry yet, so I just kept asking if she was ok. They said she was and then I heard her cry. Jason watched the whole time. Once Dr. B was performing the c-section, it was apparent why I wasn't progressing. Elianne had the cord wrapped around her neck and it was a short cord anyway, which was causing her not to be able to descend onto my cervix or into the birth canal. Dr. B even had to use the vacuum to get her our during the c-section. Sarah said the reason why it was so hard to breath was because Dr. B was on the table practically standing on my chest trying to get her out. WOW! I couldn't believe it. Thanks be to God my mid-wives and doctor knew it was time to get Elianne out and not risk further complications in continuing with the induction. Sarah said there was no way Elianne would have come out any way but a c-section- no matter how long we waited- it was very reassuring to know that. Seeing her, finally, was so exciting and overwhelming, and boy did she have a lot of hair! Proud Daddy Jason walked with her to the nursery and to show her off to the rest of the family while they finished closing me up. It was so amazing and I finally got to hold her when we got back to the room. It was wonderful. I couldn't believe the day was finally here. She has totally changed our world! It was incredible- the amount of joy this little baby brought to our families. We were all so instantly in love. She was 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches long!
We went home Friday with excited anticipation of our new life. This is one of Elianne's first things she did at home. She went in her swing (thank you Aunt Vicky, Uncle Mike and family).
The first night home was really challenging. We had a tough time. Elianne was up it seemed like every 30-45 minutes and it seemed the only thing that soothed her was to eat! It was tough, but we made it. This was the first of many sleepless nights. We are still trying to play catch-up now!
We were thrilled to hear Aunt Cindy, Aunt Janet, Uncle Marty, and Juliana were coming to visit, so Yasmine went up to spend a couple of extra days up there since she was still on maternity leave. Jason made it up for the weekend. We had a WONDERFUL time, and Elianne loved to meet more of her family. Elia was able to spend some weekends down in Chattanooga as well, so it was nice to be able to come to Knoxville and share her up there. Babies sure do come with a lot of stuff, though. It took a lot to pack for a few days. Here are some photos of our visit. Elianne was almost 1 month old here.
Mother's Day was our first big holiday. We were so excited Sitty Jessie Kadrie could be here for it. It was very special to spend my first mother's day with my mom and her mom. Jason's mom was even there in the morning, as she had stayed the weekend before.
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We were so excited to find out Micki and Brian were expecting last fall, so not only were we going to be Mom and Dad but also Aunt Yasmine and Uncle Jason. Not only were Micki and Brian expecting one child, but two- and two boys at that! Lucas Emerson and Sullivan Anderson were due in the end of August, and on Micki's 30th Birthday, we helped to host a shower for them at Micki's parents gorgeous lake house.
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