Announcing Elena Grace!

I can honestly say giving birth was the most amazing experience ever. The past three days of laboring have been miserable, but the pushing-- the actual birth... incredible. When I got to 10 cm and it was time to push, they actually turned my epidural off, which surprised me a bit but in the end feeling everything was incredible. After the last push I was able to catch Elena myself and pull her up onto my chest. The doctor and nurse were shocked how quickly I was able to push her out... it was under 1 hour. I was up, eating breakfast and showering less than 2 hours after delivery.

Elena had a busy day today. Ita and Ito (Dad's parents) arrived at the hospital right after she was born so they were the first to meet her. Grammy (Mom's mom) arrived at about 10:00 am. Uncle Jose stopped by after work, and Pop (Mom's Dad) and Aunt Becca came after Aunt Becca finished her Physics test (oh the joy's of high school :) . So she has officially met all her grandparents and her god parents.

Mom and Dad are going to try to get some sleep while she is sleeping... but paparazzi dad updated the photos on the link... so check them out.

At the hospital for good!

So we are at the hospital finally! We got here around 10:30 PM. When we got here Lauren was having intense contractions every 5 minutes or so. As soon as they put us in her room they checked her and she was 5 cm! So immediately they started the process to admit her.

After being admitted, the first step was to get an IV bag in her. After which, it was the moment she had been waiting for, the EPIDURAL! When they gave her the epidural she was all smiles, no pain. With the ambien still in her system Lauren quickly fell asleep.

48 hours of labor and counting...

Contractions started Saturday night after I went to sleep, and by Sunday morning had picked up to about every ten minutes. The Redskins played at 1:00, so I knew nothing could happen until like 4:00 pm regardless... Juan would have none of that (It was worth it, they won 24-17!)

By 8:00 pm the contractions were super painful and coming every 7 minutes or so, so we called the doctor and she had us go over to labor and delivery. They hooked me up to the monitor, contractions showed strong. They then checked me for dilation and I was only 1.5cm. 18 hours of contractions and no dilation. Makes a woman in labor happy. I was sent to walk the halls for nearly two hours to see if we could get anything going before they would admit me. 2 more hours, contractions at 5 minutes... checked me again... about 1.5 cm.

I'm not talking braxton hicks contractions. I'm talking stop you in your tracks can't talk through need special breathing contractions. Every 5-7 minutes.

Nurse comes back in, and sends me home. "Get some rest," she says.

We head home to "rest". Needless to say I got no sleep, contracting every 7 minutes all night long. We got up this morning at about 5:45 am and as soon as I was out of bed they dropped closer to 3-4 minutes apart and were much more painful. I held out until 8:00 am and then we called the doctor again. She said to go over to the hospital to get checked out.

36 hours of contractions. 1.5 cm dilated. Sent to walk the halls again. You don't move very quickly when you have to stop for a 1.5 minute contraction every 3-4 minutes.

We finally ran into the doctor in the hallway and she could tell by the look on my face I was not a happy camper. She asked if I was ready to throw in the towel and get the induction started. I briefly saw a choir of angels over her head singing Hallelujah. Little did I know....

So we went back to the room to be checked again... still no dilation. 40 hours of consistent contractions... and no dilation.

My doctor comes back into the room with bad news. The L&D Floor of the hospital is undergoing renovations. They aren't doing any "elective" inductions today or tomorrow because the nurses station is being moved and they need all hands on deck. The earliest they can start the induction is my scheduled time of WEDNESDAY at 8:00 am. So I will just have to go home and wait it out, unless my body progresses on its own, or my water breaks.

"Do you want a shot of Morphine before you leave?"
"Is it safe for the baby?"
"Yes."
"Hell yes."

An hour later the nurse arrived and shot my thigh with 15 mg of morphine and i headed home for an hour and a half of uninterrupted sleep (contracting, but able to ignore them). And then relaxed in bed with only the mild pain of morphine masked contractions for the next 4 hours.

The Morphine has worn off. The Contractions are still at 5 minutes. 36 hours until induction. Not a happy camper.

Send the fairy dust my way please

You've been served...

This week at the doctor, they did an ultrasound and the doctor reaffirmed what I already knew... Elena is very comfortable on the inside. She still has plenty of fluid, her heartbeat is perfect, and she is floating high in my belly. (DROP BABY DROP!)

Our practice doesn't like to let the pregnancy go past 41 weeks so an eviction notice (induction) was served to little Elena for Sept. 24th. Both mom and dad are hoping she decides to come on her own prior to then, but it is nice to have an end date in site.

If she waits until induction day... my sister wins the baby pool. She's been saying Sept. 24 for weeks and weeks now. With a Sept. 24 birthday in the mix, our family would celebrate birthdays on the 24th 4 months in a row (Grandma Swaintek Aug. 24, Little Elena Sept. 24, Aunt Becca Oct. 24th, and Dad Nov. 24th.)