delivery day

i have been asked by almost everyone how delivery day went so i thought i would share my story via the blog. (what better way!)
i will admit, i had blake write down the details, times and events of the day so this should be fairly accurate.
as most of you know, i had my 38 week appointment (which was my last blog before the baby).
this was thursday the 11th.
i was 4 cm dilated and 75% effaced.
my doctor mentioned that because i was so far a long, i had the option of coming in on monday, the 15th, to be induced if i didn't have eleanor over the weekend with my original due date being march 20th.
she said she would not normally suggest this but because of my progress, she figured i would handle an induction pretty well.
she definitely said it wasn't necessary and thought maybe eleanor would even arrive over the weekend.
also, my doctor was going to be out of town beginning tuesday the 16th through the week so it would be my only chance of having her deliver my baby- which i really wanted.
after talking it over with blake and our families, we decided to go with the 15th due date for several different reasons.

how it all went down-
monday morning we arrived at presby at 8 am. (this happens to be the same hospital both blake & i were born in..how neat is that!)
we filled out the all necessary paper work and got settled in our delivery room.
before getting any meds, i was 4 cm 90% effaced.
by 9:15 am, i was given the pitocin.
at this point, i felt great.
still had normal contractions but nothing i couldn't handle.
9:30 am is officially when labor began.
it didn't take long to feel stronger contractions that were more regular than anything i felt before.
both families were in the room with us up until push time (including lyla & jett!) so this helped the time to go by pretty quickly.
by 11:40, i was 5 cm and around 1:15pm i got the epidural. (can we say AMAZING!)
from this moment on, i NEVER felt a single bit of pain. not one. it was great.
at 1:30 they broke my water and by 3:00 pm i was fully dilated and effaced.
when the doc came in to tell us, we thought she was going to say i was around a 7.
needless to say blake and i were shocked and both started crying realizing we were about to meet our baby girl.
by the time they actually prepared and set up the room for delivery, it was 4:00 pm.
PUSH TIME.
i always imagined a crew of medical staff in my delivery room running around while i pushed out a child.
however, for the first 30 minutes, it was just me, blake and our nurse. then my doc came in for the last 30 min.
the pushing part was indescribable, something i will never forget!
we chose to watch everything in a huge mirror.
to all mommies-to-be out there- if you have this option...DO IT!
before my doc came in the room, every time i would push, eleanor's heart rate would drop so i would have to turn onto my side and wait for it to go back up.
however once my doctor came in the room, things changed for the better and out came eleanor!
she was born at 5:02 pm.
my labor totaled to 7 1/2 hours.

delivering eleanor was the most amazing experience i have ever been through.
i have not one complaint about the hospital, labor & delivery or my recovery room stay.

so there you have it! i probably forgot something so feel free to ask me!

more pics of baby eleanor coming soon!