Hello there. It's been a while. I've got a bit to catch you up on, unless you follow me on Instagram or Facebook :) We had a baby girl. Yes, a precious, surprise gift, that we are so incredibly blessed to have as part of our family. As we draw close to Ellie Rae's first birthday, I've been thinking about the day of her birth, and I realized I hadn't written it down, anywhere; so here I am, writing it down in this very neglected space. If you're not in to birth stories. . .you've been warned; that is the purpose of this very long post ;)
This girl. She has kept us guessing from the beginning. I started pre-term labor with her at 31 weeks. I was extra concerned, since her big brother Ethan tried to make his first appearance at 33 weeks. Thankfully, though, she stayed put until 9 days before her due date.
The evening of Sunday, July 3rd 2016, my contractions picked up, grew stronger, and got quite regular. When they reached 5 minutes apart, we called my sister and told her to drive on up from Alabama, to where we live an hour outside Nashville. When my contractions had been 3 minutes apart for 30 minutes, the midwife said it was time to head to the hospital. Oh, yes. I gave birth with the Vanderbilt Nurse Midwives! I LOVED them! Only drawback, is that they were 1 hour away. So, we had to be sure we were getting on the road before things got too serious. We dropped off our sleepy boys with some friends, and made our way to the hospital. Once there, we got settled in an observation room. . . .and then the contractions slowed down. Seriously slowed down. My sister walked in the door after her three hour drive, just after the midwife told us that we should head home to get some rest, and wait for things to pick back up again. . . .which she thought would be really soon.
Ahhhhh!!!! I had to take the "walk of shame"!!! With my THIRD baby!! Never having had to do that before, I was rather discouraged. I'm telling you guys, those contractions were REAL!! I couldn't understand why they all of a sudden quit. Ugh.
We actually spent the night at my brother's house, since he lives only about 10 minutes away from the hospital. . .that way, if the contractions picked up again in the night, we would be close by. Well, I was QUITE disappointed to wake up the next morning without any contractions going on.
So, we picked up our boys, and went home. We were all quite sure that true labor would start soon; so my sister came home with us, and her husband and boys joined us a couple days later. And then, we waited. ALL. WEEK. LONG. Two families together in our less than 800 square foot apartment for daaaaaaays. . . .it actually was fun, believe it or not. My siblings and I grew up in a 40 foot travel trailer, as we traveled the U.S. with my parents; so my sister and I are no stranger to sharing small spaces ;) Our families get along fabulously, and the cousins were having the time of their lives. I, on the other hand was just ready to have this baby in in my arms instead of in my belly!!
And then, one of my sister's boys got sick. The sort of sick that the pediatrician said shouldn't be around a newborn baby; so they packed up and headed for home on Friday evening. That same evening, Basketball Camp started at our church (which is an hour away; yes, we live in the middle of nowhere, and yes, our church is soooo worth the drive.); so my husband and oldest son went to that. Ethan and I had been home alone for about an hour, when my water broke. Of course. At 7:15pm. I'd been praying that God would make it very obvious when we should head to the hospital. Well, there was our answer.
I called my sister, to tell her to stop driving toward Alabama, and come back to TN! Her husband and boys continued on home. Jeremy and Jordan were in the middle of the fun of Basketball Camp, and ran out the door to the cheers of our church family.
So, here Ethan and I were an hour away from the hospital, and both my husband and my sister were an hour away from me!! One of our neighbors kindly came and sat with me while I packed up our things, once again, and offered to drive us to the hospital, if needed. Well, I was rather slow in packing because the contractions had gotten a bit more intense; so Jeremy made it home to pick me up just as I was finishing.
Now, you also need to know that my previous baby had been born in just four hours. We'd had enough medical personnel tell us that this baby could be born even faster, that my husband was in QUITE a hurry to get me to the hospital. He was NOT wanting to deliver a baby himself on the side of the road , even though a nurse had given him a couple cord clamps, just in case, when she heard how far we live from the hospital ;)
I knew, though, that were weren't going to be seeing baby any time in the next few minutes, though. My contractions were still 10-15 minutes apart. Actually, I was just plain hungry. My brother and his family were kind enough to meet us at the hospital parking lot with Chipotle in tow, and then to take our boys home with them for the night. Yes, I was one of "those" women scarfing down food before I went in the hospital, where they would tell me I shouldn't be eating anymore ;) My sister met us there, and we all went in about 9:30 pm.
After we got settled in our super nice birthing room around 10:30, STILL the contractions were 10-15 minutes apart!! So, Anna walked the hallways with me for a while, while Jeremy tried to get some sleep. The walking actually worked. The contractions picked up, and were about 3-5 minutes apart. We went back to the room so the nurse could put me on the monitor for a little bit; and to see how things were progressing. As soon as I climbed back into bed, the contractions slowed down again. Back to 10 minutes apart. Ugh!!!!! The midwives cam in to check on me, and I was only dilated to three. We all assumed we were in for a long night. So, we decided to try to get some sleep. I figured I could at least doze off in between contractions, since they were so far apart.
So, the nurse got all three of us plenty of pillows and blankets. Just as she was tucking the last pillow in behind my back, the first serious labor contraction hit. The kind that you have during transition, where you don't think you can do this anymore. Yep, that kind. Oh. My goodness. I went from chatty and sleepy to SERIOUS labor in a matter of minutes.
The nurse quickly said, . . . I'm going to go get the delivery cart ready, because things can change quickly with your third baby. So glad she did! Not long after she left the room, the second super serious contraction hit. ..and with this one, I felt Ellie Rae moving down, and starting to come out. Really, truly. Just like that. The contraction was so strong, I couldn't talk, but managed to get Jeremy to call the nurse on the intercom. When they answered and asked what I needed, I couldn't answer, and Jeremy didn't know what to say, because I couldn't tell him either. I finally managed to pretty much yell, "The baby is coming out!!!"
And then, there was people running into our room, stuff being set up faster than I've ever seen it done before. . . midwives rushed in. . .and then we were on to our third contraction, and that baby was coming out! In fact, the midwives told me to stop pushing, because she was coming out on her own. This girl. I think she's going to be a mover and a shaker ;) And, then, she was there in my arms. Just perfect. The baby girl I had wished for and prayed for, for so long. Jeremy was crying, I was crying, and everyone in the room was just completely shocked at how fast that baby had arrived. About ten minutes earlier, I thought I was going to sleep for the night, hopefully to meet our girl in the morning. She had other plans, though!
Our girl was born on July 9, 2016 at 1:25 am. She weighed 6 lbs 7 ounces, and was 18 3/4 inches long. Her midwives were Tonya (a teacher) and Sharon, who was a student. Sharon was actually the one who caught Ellie Rae. They were wonderful.
We marveled over the new life God had entrusted to us, while my sweet sister kept taking all these amazing photos. There are a bunch more I could share, but I don't want to keep you here ALL day. We finally got settled for the night in a temporary room a couple hours later.
Later that day, big brothers came to meet their sister, and it was completely adorable.
They had soooo looked forward to meeting her. They were completely enamored with her, and still are.
So, there's her birth story. We're so glad we get to be a part of it, and so thankful for the gift God has given us in our baby girl.
