Introducing Amelia

Amelia was born on January 8th at 1:40 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 inches long.

Here's the long version:

I was prepared to beg my doctor to induce me at my appointment on the 7th, but instead he surprised me and entered the room informing me that my blood pressure was up and that the baby needed to be evicted as soon as possible given my history with pre-eclampsia.  I was already 3cm dilated and 70% effaced and he figured it would take about 8 hours or so from induction to birth.

My last day being pregnant

So on Wednesday morning we dropped James off with some friends and headed to the hospital. We arrived a little before 6am and got admitted. I was taken to a labor and delivery room and Paul was told that he could join me in 30 minutes. After 40 minutes he arrived with a nurse, who told him that she needed him to go wait outside the door for a few minutes, where he was told by another nurse that waiting in the hall is prohibited and to take his butt back to the waiting room.

Our labor & delivery room

Apparently they have to ask you if you are being abused and no one else can be in the room when they ask. Lame.

Around 8:30 the most cruel nurse entered my room to get my IV started. She put a tourniquet on my arm that was so tight it turned my arm purple and left a mark on my arm for 4 days! I was bawling for the five minutes that she took to get the IV inserted in my wrist. It really hurt. A lot. Worse than giving birth. Seriously.

At 9:00 my doctor arrived to break my water and start the pitocin. Paul and I messed around on our phones and chatted. I insisted on many cups of ice to quench my hunger. I was surprised how fast the contractions started and requested an epidural around 10:00. The anesthesiologist had to insert it twice to get it right, but it worked and I spent the next couple hours sort-of-sleeping and watching my contractions get worse and worse on the computer screen. I was exceedingly grateful that I couldn't feel them as they looked pretty intense.

Breakfast: ice chips & pitocin

Around 1:20 my doctor came in to check me and let me know that he was passing me off to his associate since he'd been there all night, which I was fine with since the other doctor came highly recommended by several friends. He guessed it'd be another 4 hours based on how I'd been progressing. At that point I was 6cm dilated and still 70% effaced and the baby was in -2 position.

Within a couple minutes of my doctor leaving I started having really intense contractions to the point where the epidural wasn't helping. I pushed the little clicker thing a billion times, but nothing helped. At this point I was hysterically crying from the pain and the computer showed that my contractions were so close together it just looked like one bad contraction on the screen. Paul called for a nurse, who called for the anesthesiologist. He gave me a big dose right into my back, but the pain was getting worse and worse so the nurse decided to check me again. I was 10cm, 100% effaced and baby girl was ready to come out!

Tons of people rushed into the room and began preparing for the baby. I was still crying from pain and in total shock that I was having a baby RIGHT NOW. My doctor thought I had hours, but really I only had 20 minutes! Three pushes and Amelia was born! Luckily the epidural DID work for that! Apparently it just couldn't keep up with my pain threshold during those few minutes that my contractions were so intense.  The doctor sang "Happy Birthday" to her as she was born.

It was such a different birth experience from what I had with James. They cleaned her up on my chest and we got to hold her right away unlike with James where he was whisked away to the NICU.

Recovery has been awesome. It's been one week since she was born and I feel great!

First time holding Amelia

Me and my babies, ready to go home!

 I can't tell you what a relief it is to have this beautiful little girl in our lives. After all the ups and downs the past few years,  her presence has brought such a sense of peace and completeness to our home. I feel like the big hole that's been in my chest for years has been healed. I'm so grateful that my Heavenly Father sent us this little girl.

Our friends decorated the house while we were at the hospital. I love this letter from James: Dear sister, please don't touch my legos. Love, James. Ha ha!

All ready to go home!

A few interesting facts:

• When Paul and I were trying decide on a name we scoured through American history and family history names. We are sort of old school that way. I made a list and then we spent a couple of months trying to agree. Ultimately, she was named after her third great grandmother, Eliza Amelia Young and Amelia Earhart.

• Amelia was born on Elvis's birthday