I wanted to record, so I could remember, the details of Elliots Birth.
The morning he was born, we were quite shocked to learn that he was coming, you see, we were not expecting him for another 3 weeks. His due date was January 25th.
Before his birth, we had had quite a busy few days. We celebrated the Christmas Season, Tuckers Birthday and Tuckers Birthday Party. We were all worn out from the busy-ness that had occurred. So a few days before he was born, I had been feeling pretty tired, and had been experiencing contractions. Which didn’t seem abnormal, considering how busy we were, and how much we were doing. The night before his birth,we went as a family to the store, and I had purchased the food to make freezer meals, we got home, put away the groceries, put the boys to bed, and I was so tired, and uncomfortable, I soaked in the tub to ease the pain, and then went to bed early. The next morning around 6:00 AM, I was awakened when my water broke. I was shocked, sat up, and woke up Christopher, saying, I think my water just broke. To which Christopher responded, are you sure? I wasn’t positive at first, (as we still had planned on doing so many things and almost a month to do it!), but shortly thereafter the strong contractions started, and I was positive Elliot was on his way!
I called the Doctor, who told us to come to the hospital (I’d never had my boys this early before, so I was feeling a little nervous). I then called my parents who started their journey from SLC, they too were a little shocked, and I think I will always remember the sound of my mom’s voice as I told her the news. While I was doing this Christopher ran around the house packing our hospital bag. Then I called our sweet neighbor to come over to watch the boys until my parents could get here. She was so willing, and for that, I will be always grateful.
We arrived at the hospital, and got checked in, then admitted. At this point I was anticipating my labor to be similar to what was experienced with the previous two. Which was Short. So when I was asked if I wanted an Epidural, I declined, thinking my Labor would be the same as my previous two experiences. It soon became apparent that this time, my water broke which put me into labor INSTEAD of being in labor which broke my water, which presents a different labor experience.
We went to our labor and delivery room, where Christopher began to make a flurry of phone calls to family, and then to friends whom we had plans with that evening, and then a little later to his work, other church members to take over his church responsibilities, and the Relief Society President to take over the Enrichment Programs that had been planned for later that week. After those minor details were in place, we began to walk the halls, to encourage labor, again with my previous two, they were born a few short hours after my water broke. I was grateful for this extra time, to begin to wrap my mind around the upcoming arrival of our sweet Elliot. As mentioned I had intentions of preparing for his arrival both mentally and physically, over the next few weeks, so as we walked the halls of the hospital I was grateful for this extra time I had been given to prepare myself mentally for his arrival.
Christopher and I walked the halls together, for quite sometime, there was such an adrenaline rush pacing those halls, knowing that so soon we would be meeting the newest member of our family and trying to narrow down our long list of names to find the perfect one. We finally decided upon Elliot Christopher, and the timing was perfect, as we returned to the room, and the contractions became more frequent and harder.
The labor and delivery nurse called the doctor on call, as well as the 2 pediatric nurses, and the pediatric respiratory therapist, the extra people were there because of his early arrival. I remember thinking, there are alot of people here, but not really caring. Soon our little boy would be here.
At this point in the delivery process, I always begin to doubt my choice to have a natural child birth. And Christopher always says to me, ‘I am so proud of you Emily, you’re doing such a good job’ (to which I always think, he’s never given birth, how would he know that I am doing a good job?), but then always feeling grateful he is there by my side. Christopher is a tremendously supportive man, and he has been able to be there with all three children through the entire process, and I know it would have been different experience had he not been there.
Soon I was ready to push, and after about 30 minutes of pushing, Elliot made his appearance.
Blue faced and screaming. An image I will never forget.
We were soon reassured the blue face was not from lack of oxygen but from bruising. After a through look over, he was pronounced a healthy little boy.
A blessed day full of many miracles.
