Ella Raquel Seymore joined our family on
Monday, August 15, 2011
at 4:37 in the morning
weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces
and 19.5 inches long.
She is the most beautiful baby girl. Ella was born exactly one week "early". I couldn't have had a more different birth experience with her than I did with my first delivery. The experience in a nut shell was like a car crash! ...Very intense, chaotic, and quick! I was only in labor for about 4 hours, only 2 hours were spent in the hospital, and I only pushed for about 15 minutes!! (I could do that again)
Okay, so here's the story. (grab the popcorn, it's kind of long.)...
I had been doing EVERYTHING to try and get "baby girl" out. My pregnancy was really getting hard towards the end and I was really just over it, considering I had been pregnant for practically two years in a row! Sunday the 14th was just like any other Sunday. I went to church, chased Lincoln around, visited with family... but I was determined to go into labor! So that night my brother-in-law prayed for me to have a good labor and delivery and I had my friends send me "laboring vibes" and I was focused and ready to go into labor. (I know I sound crazy right now, but the mind is a powerful thing!) I did my "pregnancy belly dance" one last time before I went to bed that night.
I was just starting to dose off when my water broke at 12:55 am! I just felt a big pop and I jumped. I was so tired at that time that all I was thinking was "Ugh, not now..." I laid their a little longer then finally got up to the bathroom. There was no gush just a little tinkle. (TMI ?) Then I whispered to Chris that my water broke. He just mumbled something and rolled over. So, the procrastinator that I am, I started packing my hospital bag. As I was getting things together, I started having really strong, painful contractions. They were coming so strong and so close together I couldn't even time them. I went to wake Chris up again and he wouldn't even move. Ahhh! I was in so much pain. "Chris! Get up! We have to go now!" Okay, he's up now. (Later he said I just didn't sound urgent enough. What's more urgent than 'my water broke!') My contraction were literally on top of each other. I couldn't even walk to the car.
We got to the hospital at about 2 am, checked in and was wheeled to my room. I couldn't even get up to the bathroom to change. My nurse, Christine, came in and saved my life! (that's what it felt like) I loved her so much! I don't think I could have done it with out her. She was a hustler! Anyway, she was like "forget the bathroom, just drop your pants and I'll check you right now!" She checked how dilated I was and I was only at 2 cm. I was sure I would be farther than that because of how much pain I was in. There weren't any doctor's available to give me an epidural so she gave my some other drugs to "take the edge off." That was fun, but not powerful enough. She checked me again and I was at a 4. Before she even took her hand out, I progressed to a 6! This was happening faster than we thought and still no epidural! Maybe 30 minutes later I was dilated to an 8 and that's when the anesthesiologist finally came in to give me the epidural. She finished up and now I'm 10 cm dilated and It's time to push!
I did about 3 "practice" pushes with the nurse (that's just because there wasn't a doctor available) and she was stopping me and trying to get the doctor in asap. About 2 pushes with the doctor and our beautiful baby was born! I couldn't believe it! It happened so fast that I couldn't even register what had just happened, yet I was holding my precious new baby in my arms. She was the most beautiful things I had ever laid my eyes on.
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| She's here! I had no clue she was out until the plopped her on me. |
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| Hello "baby girl!" |
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| My awesome nurse, Christine with baby Ella. |
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| This perfect little human just came out of me! |
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| Proud papa. Chris is so sweet with her. He always says how beautiful she is. |
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| I just can't stop staring at her |
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| She was not happy about the car ride home |
NAME GAME:
"Baby girl" didn't have a set name until 30 minutes before we left the hospital. She was "baby girl Seymore" for almost two days! Chris and I both really liked the names Cali and Ella, so what better way to come to a decision than to flip a coin?! And that's exactly what we did. Heads, it's Ella. Tails, it's Cali. Chris flipped the quarter, and well, Ella it is! (but I still call her "baby girl" most of the time.) Raquel is my mom's name and we wanted our baby to be named after someone great. My mom is such a wonderful person and I'd love for my little Ella to have some of her qualities.
>>Here is the link to Lincoln's birth story only 11 months ago!
