Eloise Magdelena Isaacson
November 6, 2015 • 10:18pm
8 lbs 12.5 oz • 20.5 inches
Our chubby cheeked little girl decided to follow in her brother's footsteps and be born on her due date! She is so incredibly perfect and we are so in love. I'm going to share her birth story here so I have it documented, but if you aren't interested in the details skip to the pictures at the bottom! Also, being totally spoiled with Carly as my sister, we have some incredible photos of her when she isn't even a day old. I'll post more later when I get my greedy hands on those precious photos!
My Mom and Natalie were here visiting and helping out (and hoping to be here when the baby was born!) And my contractions and discomfort I was having the week before was practically gone. Seriously I was feeling great (besides being massive and thinking the skin on my stomach would split!) Mom and Natalie both had to get back to work and church callings and families, so they were going to leave first thing Saturday morning. Friday I woke up pretty early (around 4:45) and couldn't fall back asleep so I was just laying in bed listening to an audio book and thinking about how bummed I was that Natalie and Mom were going home and they missed the baby! I was trying to think about what we should do with their last day in town when my water broke (5:10am)! I jumped up and thankfully the bathroom is just a couple steps from my side of the bed. Dylan was already awake too, so I told him what was going on and he went and told my mom (who was also already awake). I jumped in the shower then called the hospital and we getting ready to go but my I wasn't having any contractions. I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible but the hospital wanted me to come in since my water broke already. I knew it would be a long day there if we left then for the hospital, and still no contractions, so I took my time. We ate breakfast and played a couple of games and waited for Tom and Glenda to come get Hendrix. After a couple of hours of still no contractions I decided I better just go to the hospital.
Since my water broke I was admitted event though I wasn't in active labor yet. I tested group b strep positive so I had to get at least 1 round of antibiotics in before the baby came so I got hooked up to an IV then we started the hurry up and wait phase. We played some Camel Up (a new game Natalie bought that is so incredibly fun) and Skip-bo and walked around and just killed time. They brought Dylan and I lunch and Dylan got chicken and potatoes and vegetables and dessert. I got chicken broth, juice, and jello.......Anyway I was having a couple of contractions but nothing serious (I couldn't even feel all of the contractions I was having) and they weren't starting any sort of pattern. After 7 hours of pretty much no contractions we talked Pitocin but I wanted to try to avoid that, so I tried pumping a couple of times for nipple stimulation and got a massage from the medical student (who was also a massage therapist). For a little bit it looked like things were working but my contractions never established a pattern, and when they did become more frequent it was only shortly before they practically died off. I finally decided to start the Pitocin (side note, my Doctor was taking vacation days to take care of her son who just go his tonsils removed but still came to the hospital to take care of me. I seriously love Doctor Whitaker so incredibly much and am so grateful that she is my doctor). I started Pitocin around 3:30 I think and was hoping contractions would pick up.
Things still weren't really happening contraction wise so they slowly increased the Pitocin until my contractions started a pattern then were hoping my body would kick in and they would become stronger and more frequent. It took a while but even though my contractions were week I was making progressing with dilation so Dr Whitaker was please with that. Around 7:30 my contractions finally felt like they were doing something and, while I could still talk through them, I could definitely feel them. Around 8:30 my contractions started to get painful and I could feel her head moving down (If my water hadn't broken that morning this is the point I would have chosen to come into the hospital). I was making great progress still with dilating (with Hendrix I stayed in the 3-4 range until about an hour before he was born. I also had terrible back labor. I'm so glad I didn't have either of those things this time!) and around 9:30 was at a 9. My contractions were really strong at this point, but seriously it was still so easy compared to Hendrix. I definitely had to breath and push aside the pain through those contractions but in between contractions I was totally fine. I felt great! I told myself that I was going to get to a 10 in an hour (just mentally trying to pretend like I can control that...) but I could feel that her head was so low and I started to feel like I needed to push soon. I thought it was too early for that though and decided I just needed to go to the bathroom (for the twelve hundredth time) I made it to the bathroom but the contractions brought me to my hands and knees and I really felt like she was coming soon. The nurse told me that Dr Whitaker and the nurses wouldn't all fit in the bathroom with me so I needed to get back to the bedroom. My contractions at this point were really strong and really close together, so I told them I was going to run between contractions. As soon as the last one stopped Dylan helped me stand and the nurse grabbed my IV/antibiotics/Pitocin wheely thing and we raced to the bed. I just barely got there when I needed to push. I laid on my side and started pushing and felt her head crown right away. I seriously could not believe her head was there already so I stopped and asked "is that her head?" My Mom said the doctor and nurse kinda gave each other looks and said, "Yeah, that's her head" I asked if she had hair and what color it was (seriously it was driving me crazy for some reason that I didn't know what color her hair was). My Mom said Dr Whitaker and the nurses just gave each other looks again like "this girl is in the middle of pushing a baby out and she is asking us what color her hair is?" (they replied yes she has hair and it's dark) With Hendrix when he crowned everyone told me to stop pushing and wait for a little bit so I hadn't started pushing again once she crowned. I asked "I feel like I want to keep pushing, can I keep pushing?" and Dr Whitaker told me to do whatever I felt like needed to happen. I pushed I think just 1 or 2 more times with my contractions and she came right out! I seriously couldn't believe she was there already, I felt like my actual labor had just barely started.
They laid her on my belly (I wanted to delay cord clamping) and my Mom shoved my glasses on my face. I'm seriously so blind and I couldn't see Hendrix until we was right in front of my face so I wanted to be prepared this time. It wasn't long before we heard her little voice cry out. She was so perfect. My Mom cut the cord and I brought her up to lay on my chest. The doctors and nurses cleaned her up a little bit while she was laying there and took care of some other things and made sure I was okay then everyone left and Dylan and I spent some time just loving on our new perfect little girl.
Anyway things have been just wonderful since. Nursing is going way better this time around. She eats like a champ (gotta keep those cheeks chubby!) and she sleeps really well through the night. She doesn't like being naked, but besides that she hardly fusses. Hendrix didn't really care about her at first, but to be fair when he met her it was in a new place with lots of people and distractions around. He adores her now. He likes to point to her nose and help us put her hat on and wrap her up in a blanket. Since he watches us swaddle her he wanted to be swaddled too, but doesn't like not being able to move hah so we just loosely wrap him up. He loves it. Anyway, pictures!
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| water broke! killing time. |
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| Dylan's lunch looks SO MUCH better. |
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| She's here! |
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| Grandma and Eloise |
Hendrix spent Friday and Saturday with Nana and Papa and Nana brought him home Sunday. We were updated with adorable pictures that kept us going. It was sure difficult to be away from him that long. We missed him so much!
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| Talked Nana into letting him stay up |
Taking selfies on Nana's phone
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| Okay, now I'm ready for bed |
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| Next morning...... |
