I am happy to announce that I have finally gotten a new working computer for myself. This and the fact that Elise is taking a nap allows me time to post on here again. Life has been so wonderful and so different for me as a new mom. Elise is doing great, she gets bigger and bigger every day, that little girl loves to eat. She is one month old today and we couldn't be prouder. I have almost grown accustomed to the lack of sleep, I manage to squeeze in a short nap every now and then.
I could not have asked for a better birthing experience with Elise. I was very nervous because of my issues with low blood pressure and I was worried that something would go wrong and that it would be a stressful event for me. I should not have worried so much, things went very smoothly. As I said before, we planned an induction on May 31st, as it seemed this little girl was determined to stay in there. We showed up at the hospital at 5:30AM for our scheduled appointment. The set-up process seemed to take forever. There were enormous piles of paperwork to fill out before anything could get started. I got frustrated with the whole ordeal and just had Kenny fill them out for me. The nurse set up an IV to get me started on fluids and Pitocin. It took her several tries to get it in the vein correctly. My mom, sister, and brother-in-law met us at the hospital at around 7:00AM, we were all ready to get this show on the road. We had fun laughing it up and joking around while things got started. At 8:00AM my doctor came in and broke my water, there was no turning back after that! Only after my water was broken did the nurse tell me that the anesthesiologist was in the middle of a c-section so if I wanted my epidural soon, I was going to have to wait. Needless to say, this made me a little nervous. From there my contractions started coming on fast. The pain was getting stronger and stronger and I just hoped that I could hang on for my epidural. I tried to stay calm and hide the pain because of everyone else in the room, but it was hard to do. After about an hour and a half I told Kenny to go tell the nurse that I needed my epidural ASAP! My mom laughed at my grimacing face and Kenny played around on the computer checking his stocks and sending emails. I must say, I was not a happy camper at that point. I just wanted to kick everyone out of my room! Thirty minutes later the anesthesiologist came to my rescue. My mom warned me that the epidural would be painful, but I found it actually quite relieving as it distracted me from the pain of my contractions. The epidural started working almost immediately and I felt great. I was all smiles after that. I joked around with the staff and was having a good time. Eloy (my brother-in-law) went out and got lunch for everyone to tide them over for the long wait. I watched everyone eat because apparently you aren't allowed to eat while you're in labor. We all took a quick nap and I woke up again at 1:00 when the nurse came in to check on my progress. She found that I was already 10 centimeters dilated and it was time to start pushing. I thought she was joking at first, but it was really time. She had me do a few pushes while the doctor came and then asked me to stop because the baby was coming out so fast. My doctor came in and she had to rush to put on her gloves. I was joking around with the rest of the staff, the nurse told them not to make me laugh because the baby would come out! My doctor said that if I was laughing so much during labor, that was a good epidural, and it was. A few pushes later and Elise was born. She was born at 1:27PM on May 31st. She weighed 7lbs. 6oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. We spent two nights at the hospital before coming home.
At her two week appontment we found that Elise had not gotten back up to her birth weight. It made me very sad because apparently I hadn't been making enough milk for her and didn't known about it. I've been having to supplement her with formula and she has been thriving ever since. We weigh her daily to make sure that she is growing accordingly. She is an absolutely beautiful little girl and we love her very much. We are truly blessed.
