She has arrived....the story of it all.

So....after all of those weeks of contractions I wondered if it was EVER going to happen!! Again...on Tuesday the 23rd I had some irregular, but painful contractions. I tried to get as much stuff done as possible to distract me from what wasn't happening. I went to bed after taking 25mg of Benadryl in hopes of getting a good night's sleep. At 0445, I woke up and rolled over in bed. As I was rolling over I felt what I thought was urine leakage. I heaved myself out of bed and got up to finish going potty and change my undies. At that time I realized I was having some contractions...started timing there and they were about every 4-5 minutes. I laid there for a while trying to go back to sleep and thinking that I would call Dr. Kauffman's office in the morning once they were opened to see about moving my appt up to the morning. Tanner got up shortly there after to watch a show. During that time, I had to get up and help him in the bathroom. As I did that, noticed my undies had another "wet" area on them. I again went to the bathroom thinking it was just urine. But this time, I noticed it was colorless and there were some other tell tale signs of labor showing. For those of you who are not well-versed in the smells of amniotic fluid...it has a distinct smell to it. And wouldn't you know it...that "wet" spot I had smelled like amniotic fluid!!! I realized that no matter how many time I cleaned myself up there was still the dampness and "bloody show" present. At this point, I told Kevin that I thought my water broke and that we needed to get someone to come over to sit with the kids. I called my step-mom and his mom. My mother in law was coming over. I took a shower....gotta be clean and looking presentable when in labor...didn't want to scare my new baby if today was the day! After I showered, Kevin did the same and I finished getting ready and packing my bag. I noticed that the contractions were not as noticeable which led me to question myself and whether my water did break. The signs pointing to yes it did were still there so we headed to the hospital once my mother in law arrived.

We got to the hospital at 0640. The nurses skipped the triage area and took me right to a room....I kept thinking..that I hope I am right!! The first thing we did was the amnisure test to test for the presence of amniotic fluid....needs to be done prior to any exams. Fortunately...it was positive!! Whew!! So I wasn't imagining the whole deal!! However, as I had suspected....my contractions had become very irregular and because of such I was till only 2-3cm/80%/-2. Dr. Kauffman was updated. He is so amazing...he let me decide where we went from here. We decided to hold off on initiating pitocin til after my next exam at 0900. I signed all of the necessary papers, got my IV lock put in, and went for a walk. Still no real regular contractions. At 0900, I was still the same dilation. Dr. Kauffman asked the nurses if I was ready for pitocin and I agreed that I was, but that I wanted to increase it slowly and not blast out my baby. I was still wanting to try and do this whole thing without the epidural. However, I never anticipated that I would come in with my water broke, little contractions, and desire pitocin!!

The pitocin was started around 0920. I started to "feel" the contractions around 1030 while walking some more. At 1100, the contractions started to really quick in and hurt. I was doing well breathing thru them, but definitely did not want to laugh and talk during them. I also knew that staying in bed was what felt the best for me!! Getting up and moving only made it all worse. My nurses told me they would recheck me again at 1200....I didn't know if I would be able to hold out that long as the contraction pain was really starting to kick my butt!!! I made it to noon...I really wanted to be checked because of the intensity and frequency of the contractions, but part of me did NOT want to be disappointed if I was still 2-3cm and in this much pain. Luckily, I had made some change...I was now 4cm/90%/-1. Dr. Kauffman was again updated and decided he would head into the hospital. I was somewhat surprised that he was going to come this soon, but he is the doctor and looking back now...he knew it was all about to happen!! I was fortunate to have good friends and family at my side providing me with labor support!! I have termed them "Team Ellie." By this time I was really hurting and it was taking all I had to focus on my breathing as each contraction came closer and stronger!!

Dr. Kauffman arrived and at 1235 he checked my cervix and said I was 6/100/0 and that she was looking in the correct directions (LOA for my OB-trained friends). At this point, I was really starting to wonder if I should just get the epidural...I was getting overwhelmed with the pain!! But with the help of Team Ellie I managed to tackle each contraction one at a time!! At 1300, I told Dr. Kauffman that I had "fullness" in my vaginal area...not necessarily pressure, but what I would describe as fullness. Again he checked me and I was 8/100/0. I got up to the bathroom to empty my bladder and was instructed not to have the baby in the toilet!! While in the bathroom I had one nasty contraction and tried several different positions to help with the discomfort...NOTHING was making it better. As I made my way back to the bed I actually felt some "pushy" pressure. I got into the bed and started to push a little with my next contraction. Dr. Kauffman was still at my bedside and he got ready for the delivery. At this point, I was pushing with contractions....but OMG...I was not in any way prepared for the pain of this event!! I began to lose control and started to freak out some!! My support team did an awesome job encouraging me and coaching me!! I remember apologizing in between the seering pain of pushing. From what I was told...I started pushing around 1309 or 1310 and at 1319, Ellie Renee arrived!! I felt like that 9 minutes was actually 90!! My first thoughts after the pain was how tiny she was and how bad it had hurt!!

I thank God many times each day that I was able to have this healthy and beautiful baby girl!! She was very bruised on her face due to fast descent down the birth canal, but otherwise doing well!! She was small....weighing only 5# 0.2 oz and was 19" long!! She has very long fingers, toes, arms, and feet!! She has the perfect amount of brown hair!! She is perfect!!

I want to thank "Team Ellie" for without them I could not have achieved my goals of natural childbirth....and NO STITCHES!! I did have some small lacerations, but nothing that required stitches. Those amazing people were my husband..KEVIN, my 2 labor nurses: Kim and Jenni, my sister-in-law (aka photographer) Jen, my sister Tara, the receiving nurse caring for Ellie: Lara, and my 2 LDR friends who came in on their day off to help support me: Teresa and Mandy!! And of course.....Dr. Kurt Kauffman!! Without all of these people...I wouldn't have done this as well as I did!! I love each of them for being there on our special day!!

So that's it...that's my story! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you!! My life is complete!! Ellie is all that I could have hoped for and more!! She was welcomed home by her very loving and overly mothering big sister Emma and her adoring big brother Tanner!! I look forward to watching her grow (although not too fast I hope) and spending each day with her!! THANK YOU all for your support and encouragement as I went thru this sometimes scary pregnancy and delivery!! I love each of you!!!

~Dana