Elijah's grand entrance

Well, he made it. Both Elijah and his Daddy are sound asleep in the room right now. Everything went so fast last night that it's hard to believe it all really happened.

All day Sunday I had been having contractions. The morning ones weren't too bad and then by late afternoon, they had really moved into my back. I decided to call doc as I wasn't completely sure if my water had broken or not. So around 8:30pm, we talked to the doctor and he said to go ahead in and have them check me. If it had broken and was just leaking slowly, Eli needed to get out. So we got to the hospital around 9:15pm and just walked in with the clothes on our back - no bags or anything, thinking we were going home. Well, that's not quite what happened. In triage, one of my doctors showed up to check me. I was already 100% effaced and 4-1/2 to 5cm dilated. Tim & I were both surprised at that. I had done really well to get to that point. I was also surprised because in class, they teach you that 0-5 takes longer than 5-10, he was coming soon! We were put in a labor and delivery room probably an hour and a half or so later - probably in there by 10:45pm. The contractions at that point were soooooooooo strong and my water still had not broken. A little after 11pm, I decided that I couldn't do it so I asked the nurse for an epidural. My water broke at 11:35pm and the epidural guy (can't spell it due to mind numbing right now!) got there AFTER that. From what I'm told, he had to try three times to get a good spot in my back. While he was trying, I had the hardest contractions I could imagine. Well, turns out, I quickly went to 10cm! The epidural wasn't in my back 15-20 minutes and I started pushing. The good part was that the epidural took for the stitching and stuff after but didn't help much for contractions and all that. The nurse gave me credit for going natural - I give myself 95% credit. It was the most amazing and wild thing I'ver EVER been through in my entire life. I think it was pretty wild for Tim as well. Elijah Royal made his way into our world at 12:47am today weighing 8 pounds 15.2 ounces and 21-3/4" long. His Apgar score was good - 9 of 10. The only thing is that he has some facial bruising due to his quick descent and entry into the world.

I'm doing very well right now. Just watching my boys sleep. They're both so cute - and both loud sleepers!! About 2-1/2 hours after he was born, Elijah had his first snack. He did really well and will be ready here shortly for another.

Just a few pictures to enjoy. There will, of course, be more to come!!