GUESS WHAT?!?!?

Announcing the birth of our daughter, Ellinore Farnsworth Born April 25, 2012 at 11:45 pm Weight : 7lb 15oz Height : 20 inches For those of you who love to know all the details I thought I would give you a quick rundown of the events of her birth. For those of you who don't want all the dirty details feel free to skip right to the picture section of this post. :) I went into the doctor on Wednesday the 25th to get my blood pressure checked. It was previously elevated and our Dr. wanted to make sure it wasn't staying that way. He said if it was still elevated the baby would need to be delivered that day. If not, he said he would rupture my membranes and get us going on labor. They checked my blood pressure and it was normal, so my Dr ruptured my membranes. In the process he noticed that my bag of waters was bulging and Elli was really low in my pelvis. He was concerned that my water would break during labor and since I was Group B strep positive I needed at least 2 doses of antibiotics before she was delivered and 1 of those before my water broke. Due to all of these factors my Dr. decided we were going to go to the hospital that day at 4pm to get started on the antibiotics. Andrew got off work at 3 and we had already packed all we would need for the birth the night before! We got to the hospital and checked in. They hooked me up to the monitors for the baby's heart rate and contractions. It was then that we realized that I was actually having contractions and they were 2-3 minutes apart! I also realized that I had indeed had contractions before but I didn't know what they had felt like. My contractions were in my lower back so I was never aware that my back pain was a contraction. Anyway, they got the antibiotic going and Andrew and I played a few card games. I was a nice calm before the storm:) My mom arrived and we got to hangout for a while. Once the antibiotic was done, our Dr. came to break my water and get labor really going. This was around 6pm. After he broke my water contractions got a lot stronger. Luckily my mother had some lamazze experience with her labors for Amy and I. She coached me through these new contractions and the growing pain as well. Soon after these contractions started the nurse brought in the birthing ball. This is a large, inflated ball in the shape of an egg. She showed me how to use it and the helped me to get on the ball to help my labor progress more rapidly. This made the contractions particularly intense and hard to bear. Andrew rubbed my back and my mom helped me breath during the ever increasingly painful contractions. Andrew ran out to get dinner and my mom took over the back rubbing and the coaching. Andrew returned with his dinner and after 40 minutes of laboring on the ball I was allowed to get back in bed so they could monitor the baby again. At this point they checked me and I was dilated to an 8. This is when our nurse decided to call our Dr. to come back in since I'd progressed much faster than anticipated. I labored 2 more hours in bed with Andrew massaging my temples during contractions. For some reason this helped me focus my breathing so I could last through each painful contraction. At 10 pm they checked me again and I was dilated to a 10. It was time to push. This was nicer than having to feel each contraction, but much more exhausting. I pushed for an hour and 45 minutes until our baby girl was born at 11:45 pm. I was of course screaming with pain while pushing during the last half hour especially. It was worth it to have our baby here healthy. When we first found out I was pregnant, I told Andrew I wanted to try to deliver her naturally without pain killer of any kind. Andrew was reluctant at first but I slowly broke him down and by the time we were going into labor he was on my side:) I was really happy that we made it through the delivery accomplishing this goal! I know that I couldn't have done it without Andrew helping me and being by my side the whole way through. Also my mother was instrumental in helping me endure the contractions well and teaching me to breath and focus. Thanks to Cindy (Andrew's mom) for being there to help during the contractions as well. If there is more you wish to know of the events of Elli's birth feel free to ask, otherwise this is it! Thanks for your interest in our mew addition! We are continually learning from her and gaining new insight and patience each day. Every day brings a new set of challenges and we are learning all along the way. Thank you all for your support and prayers for us! We are so blessed to have our little angel in our home. She is such a fresh spirit from our Heavenly Father and we love her so much!!