Welcome Elliot!

The stats for people who don't want to read this whole thing:

Elliot Henry Blood

Dec 20, 4:06 AM 

(Due date was Dec 17)

7 lb 4 oz

20 inches long
Really, Really Cute

Anybody who has talked to me in the past few weeks should know how antsy I was for Elliot to come. I found out the week before Thanksgiving (36 weeks pregnant) that I was dilated 2 cm and my doctor told me to take it easy to make sure that I made it to at least 37 weeks. He was pretty convinced that I was going to have the baby early. I made it to 37 weeks... then 38 weeks... 39 weeks... 40 weeks... by then I was dilated to 3 cm and about 70% effaced. My due date was Dec 17 but I was absolutely convinced that I wouldn't make it that long. Elliot had dropped quite a bit as well and I was really waddling around. I wasn't crazy uncomfortable like I know many women are during their last few weeks of pregnancy, but I was really hoping for a birthday as far away from Christmas as possible. 

I kept working up until the day I had the baby, which made some of my co-workers VERY nervous. Apparently there was a woman who had a baby in a Raytheon bathroom about 4 years ago. The fire department and her cubicle mate delivered the baby then they helicoptered them to the hospital. One co-worker in particular told me this story multiple times and tried to convince me that it would be worth it to have such a cool birth story. I disagreed, but we did have fun making extravagant plans on what we would do if I had the baby in the factory. My favorite one involved me giving birth in a missile container while a forklift carted me out to meet up with the ambulance/helicopter (people were really fixated on there being a helicopter) and then swaddling the babe in ESD smocks. Fortunately I did not go into labor while I was at work and people got to give me crap when I showed up to work every day, even after my due date passed. I could have gone on leave whenever I wanted to, but the idea of sitting at home waiting to go into labor sounded pretty boring to me. I was also closer to both Aaron and the hospital at work. 

I started having contractions around 10:00 p.m. on Friday night, right after we got into bed. This was December 19, 2 days after my due date. My doctor had said that I should wait to go into the hospital until the contractions worked their way down to 6 minutes apart and stayed at that frequency for at least an hour. Mine were only 3 minutes apart right from the start. However, I wasn't sure if it was the real deal or not because they weren't quite as intense as I had expected them to be. I could still walk and talk through them. I decided we should be play it safe and woke Aaron up (yes, he was already fast asleep after being in bed for just a few minutes) and told him we should go to the hospital just in case. I figured worse case scenario would be sent home, and I didn't want to risk having a baby in the car or some 7-Eleven parking lot if we waited longer. We threw some last minute stuff together and headed out. I was surprisingly calm through all this.

By the time we got to the hospital around 11:30, the contractions were more intense and I was becoming convinced that it was go time. We got all checked in, and sure enough I was dilated to 6 cm. The contractions were still coming every 2 to 3 minutes apart. They got me hooked up on an IV (which was horrible- I hate needles) and sent me to the nice labor room. The IV fluid was super cold and made me shake all over.  Once I got the bag of IV fluid in me, they could give me the epidural. Having the epidural put in wasn't the greatest feeling, but it was definitely worth it. I can't really imagine going through labor without one. I was able to get in an hour and a half nap in before I woke up feeling the contractions again around 2:30. I called the nurse back in and she pushed the magic 'no pain' button. Apparently I was progressing so fast that the epidural had a hard time keeping up. I was now dilated to 9 cm.

The nurse checking on me more frequently after that, and pretty soon she said it was time to start pushing. The doctor on call was with another woman at the time, so the nurse and Aaron help me through the first few pushes. The nurse then left to go get the doctor and I didn't know what I was supposed to do, so I just held back the urge to push for a while. It wasn't that strong anyway because I was all numbed up. The doctor came in after not too long and got all set up. It went pretty quickly after that. I think I was only pushing for about 15 minutes, including the pushes before the doctor got there. In retrospect, it was too fast because I ended up getting 3rd degree tears. I didn't know it until she started stitching me up because I couldn't feel anything. Have I mentioned that epidurals are awesome?

I had spent a lot of time thinking about what I would say when I saw it for the first time. When I actually saw him I don't think I said anything at all. I just looked at him in awe when they put him on my chest and toweled him off. He was so TINY. 

First picture of the little guy. I forget what his head measurement was, but they said it was in the 95%. The rest of him was in the 60%. Hence the rather unfortunate tearing.

Itty Bitty Feet

Heart melting

Hello World!

We stayed at the hospital until Sunday afternoon because we had to wait for all the various people that have to get us to sign things before we could check out. We didn't mind hanging out- my bed was super comfy and we thought the food was good. We all got caught up on sleep and it was actually pretty relaxing. Elliot has been a healthy little champ since day 1. He was slightly jaundiced, but that went away by his first appointment a couple days later. We are absolutely in love with our little guy!

First family picture. Elliot was asleep and rather floppy.