Hi everyone! So it has been quite an adjustment around here since Elijah was born. Sorry for the lack of new baby photos. My labor was 6 hours from start to finish. I woke up around 3 am with regular contractions 7-8 minutes apart. I took a warm shower and then woke up Andrew as the contractions were picking up speed. we labored in our tiny bath tub until they were 3-4 minutes apart lasting over a minute and then I said "we better call the people watching Levi. They need to be here, NOW!" When they were able to get here we took off for the hospital. I attempted to walk in the door to check in but got no further than the entrance to the ambulance garage before I had to stop with an intense contraction. An off duty nurse stopped and asked if she could help. She grabbed a wheelchair for me and pretty quickly they decided to skip check in and go straight up to L & D. They checked me and I was dialated to an 8 already. They called the doctor and by the time she got there I was complete and ready to push. I was able to make it through birth med. free but boy was it intense and really, really hard and painful! His head was not engaged properly so my doctor worked with me on changing positions to try to get him free. As soon as I was able to roll on my other side he was ready to come out (after at least an hour of pushing). He was born in his bag of waters. It never broke. (good thing I didn't "wait for my water to break" like the hospital suggested at one point) Andrew said it was kinda interesting. It doesn't often happen but it kept Elijah's heartbeat steady and peaceful through the whole birth. He was born at 9:14 am so we were only in the hospital 2 hours. He then did the birth crawl up my belly and began nursing immediately. After 3 hours of cuddling I allowed them to take him to get weighed and cleaned up. He was 9 lb 2 oz, 22" long. At his 10 day appointment he weighed 9 lb 9 oz. He is growing fast! More later hopefully!
