Welcome to the world Elliott Jeffrey

After the news that we weren't going to be induced until Thursday, June 9th I was pretty bummed to say the least. Jeff had to work on Saturday, and I was absolutely miserable. It was too hot to sit outside, and I was bored out of my mind. Since I wasn't being induced until Thursday I decided I was going to continue to work from home so that I didn't take away any days that I could be off once Elliott was born. So Monday morning I logged on and worked a full day. Jeff was home working in the yard all day and when I finished work around 4 I went downstairs to find Jeff napping. Around 5 I woke him up because I was starving. While Jeff was grilling I went to the restroom and noticed a wet spot in my underwear. I wondered to myself if my water was leaking. During my pregnancy I was an avid follower of The Bump. It's basically a website where people can ask questions and blog about their pregnancy. I'd seen multiple posts of people "thinking" their water broke and the dr. telling them to put on a pad and if it soaks in an hour to head to the hospital. So I nonchalantly went to the back door and told Jeff I thought my water might be leaking. (I wish I had my camera to take a picture of his face.) He said "do we need to go?!" I told him I didn't think so but I'd call the dr.'s office. I called and spoke with the nurse who said she would have the dr. on call call me back. In the meantime I went upstairs and started to grab the last minute things for our bag just in case, (ie toothbrushes and toothpaste) and when I was standing in our bathroom I felt a small gush and then something trickling down my leg. I ran downstairs and told Jeff I was pretty sure it was my water now. He scrambled to pull the chicken and veggies off the grill and yelled across the yard to ask our neighbor, Cheryl, if she'd cover the grill once it cooled down. And we were on our way... 

We got to the hospital a little after 6, and they checked me and determined it was amniotic fluid and got us admitted. Next came the iv (1 of 3 things I was dreading). Jeff was great. He stood by my side and flipped through pictures on his iphone to distract me from woman about to stab me in the hand :) Once the IV was in we were taken to labor and delivery and shown our room. 

Because I was still only 1 cm dilated they wanted us to walk the halls for an hour and see if that got things moving along. So we walked, and we walked and we walked. By the end of the hour I was ready to sit down as my back was starting to hurt. The nurse checked me and I was barely to 2 cm. She called the dr. on call from the practice and they suggested we start pitocin. I was fine with whatever was going to get things going. 

In the meantime Kathy and my Mom were on their way to Columbus and made it to our room by about 8:15. The pitocin got things going and I was starting to feel contractions. Around 10:30 Dad and Tina arrived. The family was in it for the long haul and ended up staying all night until the little guy was born. By 1 am I was in a lot more pain and Jeff asked the nurse when I could get an epidural. She checked me, and I was at 3 cm so we got the green light for the drugs. It's amazing how quickly it kicked in. (The epidural was the 2nd of 3 things I was dreading.) Again Jeff was great and sat right in front of me talking to me and holding my hand getting me through it. After the epidural the family came in and said goodnight and headed to the lobby to try to get some sleep and to allow Jeff and I to get some sleep as well. I'm pretty sure someone was in my room at least once every hour to move me around or check my temperature, but we managed to get a little rest.

At 6 am I woke up and was up for the day. They checked me and I was 7 cm. By 9:30 am it was time to push. I pushed with the nurses for about 30 minutes, and then they had me stop until my dr. arrived. I pushed a few times with the dr. and Elliott was born at 10:26 am. I can't even begin to describe what I felt when they put him on my chest for the first time. He was 8 lbs 14 oz of absolute perfection!

He got checked out and the dr. began stitching me up, (thing 3 of 3 I was dreading... tearing) and Jeff got to hold him until they were done with me. The family got to come in for just a few minutes to see him and then they were off to lunch so we could get moved into our room. We had lots of visitors that day, and then we finally settled in for the night, just the three of us. :)

Pitocin started...