Eli's Birth Story

A few days before Eli was born I had been leaking amniotic fluid.  My first thought was that I wet my pants, but I stopped doing that when I was potty trained :) This was different, and I knew what it was.  I called the hospital and they wanted me to come in that night.  I called at 10:00 that night so I jumped in the shower, got things together and headed over to the hopsital.  I knew this baby was coming soon but Bryan was not sure if they would keep me there. 

The nurse tested the fluid and it came back positive for amniotic fluid (duh).  So I dressed in that awesome gown and got hooked up to all the lovely monitors.  I was having contractions every 7 minutes but didn't feel them so they started me on Pitocin (drugs from Hell).  I hope to NEVER have that again.  About 30 minuts later (now at 2:30 in the morning) my contractions really became painful.  I wasn't able to talk through them anymore and I wanted to walk around but with my being on Pit I wasn't allowed to.  I was only 2 cm dilated and they offered me the epidural but I wanted to eperience a little more of what labor and childbirth were like. 

My pain was about a 6 or 7 on the pain scale and she injected fentynal in my IV.  It did NOTHING.  A while later the nurse returned and asked what my pain was at now.  I may or may not have said "Where does holy crap go in the pain scale." I was hurting!  I coud hardly breathe through them but they just ket coming one on top of another.  All I could get out was "help, help, help" during each contraction. My mom and Bryan would rub my feet or head to help me get through it. 

It was actually Bryan who asked for the epidural for me.  Since it was 5:00 AM he had to come from home which too about 30 minutes.  By this time I was 7-8 cm and 100% effaced.  My mind went pretty fuzzy from this time until he came in, as I was trying not to die with each contraction.  He did fantastic job placing the epidural and I don't remember feeling it hurt when it was placed.

The epidural never took the pain completely away but kept me from being a potty mouth :)  I kept having to roll one side to the other to help the medicine disperse better.  It was now Saturday and very few doctors were making rounds.  I needed my bag of water broken, but it took 2 hours for a Doc to come around.  UGH.   By this time we were all tired and impatient and ready to meet Mr. Eli.

Around 1 o'clock that afternoon I was finally dilated completely and ready to push.  Eli tolerated labor and pushing really well and a little over an hour later he made his appearance!  As soon as they set his slipperly littld body on my chest tears started pouring out.  It was such an overwhelming experience- He was beautiful and perfect!

As soon as he was warm and dry they brought him to me and I was able to try to nurse him.  He latched on immediatly and knew exactly what to do, it was pretty amazing. 

*Please don't laugh too hard at these pictures, I was in labor for 18 hours!*

 

 

 

Eli Bryan Westfall
Born June 30, 2012
2:50 PM
20.5 inches long
7 pounds 11 ounces of perfections