So I decided it was time to write Eli's Birth Story down before I forget any of it. I'm already having trouble remember some things. Eli was due on August 6 but he had other plans for us! We had actually been praying that he would come early or late because Stephen had some really busy weeks at the bakery with cakes and we weren't sure how it would work. We had been praying that he would come when he did because it was a "slow" week at the bakery. God had everything under control, as always!
At about 3am on Monday, July 27 I was awaken to what I thought were Braxton Hicks. They were stronger then they had been but really inconsistent, 7 mins in between and then 3 minutes. I tried to sleep but had trouble because they were so strong. When Stephen got up for work at about 5:30am, they were still the same intensity and still inconsistent but I had a feeling that our baby might be joining the world. We decided Stephen would go into the bakery since it is only 5 minutes away and if I needed him he would come right home. He really thought that it was false labor and that it was too early for the baby to be coming anyways. At about 7:30ish they were still coming with the same intensity and still inconsistent! I kept calling Stephen because they weren't stopping, no matter what I did and I wasn't sure what to do. I actually was supposed to have an OBGYN appointment that day at 2:30. So we decided that I should call the doctors office when it opened to see if they could get me in earlier. At about 9am I spoke to the nurse at Dr. R's office and she said to take a shower and walk around, it should make things more consistent if it was actual labor. She said they couldn't get me in any earlier but to call back if they got more consistent. By about 9:30ish they were coming more regular, so I called my mom and told her she better get my dad and come to our house. My dad was going be staying with Isaac while we were all at the hospital. My mom, and sister-in-law, Katie were going to be in the delivery room with Stephen and I, so Katie came to our house also to wait and see what was happening. At about 10ish I called the doctors office again and told them that my contractions were more regular and they said I should come on into the hospital. By this time I could no longer speak during my contractions so my mom said that we should probably time them to see how close the contractions were coming because they seemed to be coming pretty often. She was right, they were only 2 minutes apart. I called Stephen and told him he needed to come now. By 10:30 we were off to the hospital. I remember telling Stephen as we were driving into the parking lot of the hospital that he better hurry because the baby was coming now, in fact I thought he was already between my legs! When we got to our room it felt like it was taking forever for a nurse to come in. I told Stephen I needed to use the bathroom and then I started to get sick. My mom went to find a nurse and told them, "I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure my daughter is in transition, someone better come check her." A nurse came right in and checked me and I was already 8-9 cm. By this time I was pretty unaware of things that were happening, the nurse was asking me questions to get checked in so Stephen was answering them for her. Stephen said that he kept watching and the baby's heart rate kept dropping. I kept telling the nurse I needed to push and she said that I had to wait, that Dr. R was on his way! At this point obviously I was 10 cm. and was ready to have this baby. The nurse told me I needed to roll to my left side to raise the babies heart rate, that didn't help so I had to roll to my right. When she said that didn't work I had to get up on all fours on the bed. By the time I got on all fours, which took so much work, I had had it with waiting and started pushing to relieve some pressure. About this time Dr. R walked in and I remember hearing him talking to the nurses about the babies heart rate being low. He told me that I needed to roll over and push! So I turned over, again which took a lot of work in the middle of contractions! As soon as I got turned over he told me I needed to push. I was pretty out of it at this point and just so focused on having the baby I don't know much of what happened at this point. I just remember not hearing Eli cry when he was born. I kept looking at Stephen's face and Katie's and asking them why he wasn't crying if he was OK. They just kept saying yes, but I saw worry in their eyes. It felt like an eternity until I heard his first little cry! It was so different then when Isaac was born, I didn't get to see him as soon as he was born, they whisked him right over to his bassinet to work on him.
After I finally got to hold him, Stephen told me that Eli's heart rate had dropped into the 30's so Dr. R had to use a suction to get him out faster then was happening with just the pushing. So Eli entered the world at 11:59, only 51 minutes after we checked into the hospital. His birth was fast and scary! I'm so thankful that he was born a healthy beautiful baby boy!
Eli is developing as a baby his age should! He's smiling, holding his head up during tummy time, cooing and talking and just the other day he giggled! All things that in God's goodness has aloud to happen to my Eli! To the sweet child that grew within me and then came into this world in a bit of a 
