Her actual due date was June 7, but since Katelyn was born three days early, I had in my mind that Ellie would be born on Sunday the 4th. I worked the whole week up to the 4th trying to finish what I had to get done at my job before delivering my little angel. Apparently, God approved of my plan because he set it in motion Saturday night, June 3. Around 7 pm, I started feeling some contractions in my back. They got progressively stonger and closer together. I took a nice, relaxing bath to see if they would go away, but they didn't. Around 8:30 pm I called my mom and told her that I thought I was in labor so she could be ready to come up. I was reluctant to tell her to come right away out of fear that I was wrong and she would be half way from Louisville to here when I realized it was a false alarm. My sister had already come into town to take care of Katelyn should the need arise.
At 9 pm, I called her back and told her that the contractions felt like they had with Katelyn and I thought we'd be going to the hospital soon. She had my niece for the night, so she dropped her off and started heading to Nashville for the birth of her second grandchild.
We left for the hospital a little before 10:00 pm and were admitted at 10:20. I was a little disappointed to find I was only 4-5 cm when I got there because the conractions seemed stronger than they had initially with Katelyn, yet I was already 6 cm when I arrived with Katelyn. So I figured that we had 5 or 6 hours until delivery. I did decide to go the epidural route. We had not practiced any natural breathing techniques for this one and felt completely unprepared. Plus for some reason, I was a little more apprehensive about the pain involved in childbirth with this one. It was a decision I had struggled with for the last few weeks, but felt that I was not mentally aware for much of Katelyn's birth and wanted this one to be more imprinted in my mind.
And am I glad we did the epidural. It was the best decision I have made. I hardly felt it when they put it in and had no adverse side effects. I was able to deeply breathe through the contractions with very little pain. I was actually talking through contractions which did not happen at all with my previous birth. I progressed quickly to 7 cm and they called the doctor. they decided to go ahead and have the doctor come in since my first labor went pretty fast and that was with a face up baby. They found that this one was also face up, so they did some magic with pillows and positioning to turn her down for a more easy delivery.
When she checked me next, my water bag was bulging, so she just stopped checking out of fear that it would break and the baby would slide right out without the doctor. The doctor arrived, checked me and I was 10 cm and ready to go. He broke the water and the pushing began. I actually watched part of it in a mirror which was amazing to see a little head coming out of me. I couldn't watch during much of it because I tended to push with my eyes closed. Ten minutes later, I pushed her on out.
So at 12:26 am on June 4, 2006, Eleanor "Ellie" Grace Calhoun entered the world at 8 lbs 1 oz and 19 3/4 inches. She was a healthy, active baby with a 9.9 apgar score. I had a wonderful birth experience and felt completely connected and aware during the entire birthing process. It is truly a miracle the way the body works to produce such a perfect little person.
On a side note, my poor mama got lost and made it to the room just as they were stitching me up.
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