The Hamptons: Introducing.....Elle Maryann Hampton

Ok. I know that Elle is now 2 months old and this post is a little bit over due but I still wanted to share my labor and delivery experience with you. It begins like this......

I was scheduled to be induced on Friday, May 27th at 6am.

So here I am, bright and early, one last prego shot.

They broke my water first thing and a few hours later they started the pitocin. I was pretty comfortable til about noon. The nurse suggested she call for the epidural because by the time it gets there I would be really be ready for it. Well she was right! Giving Birth was one of the easiest, most beautiful things I have ever done. I loved every minute. Getting an epidural was the most horrible, terrifying thing I have ever had happen to me. Here is that story....

First here is a few wonderful (hahaha) shots of me before and after the pain set in. I am sure you can guess which is which.

So for the epidural story...

The nurse paged the doctor for the epidural. He never got the page and went home. From the time she sent the page to the time the doctor came back to give me the epidural was about 2 hours. By that time I was dying, or at least it felt like it. Thankfully the nurse did all she could to get me comfortable. The one thing that seemed to help was to stand up and rock myself back and forth or to sit in the wooden rocking chair and rock back and forth. So the doctor shows up to give me the epidural and by that time the contractions were pretty strong, really frequent and very long. He preped my back and began. To make a long and painful story short....I was given the epidural 4 times, each time being unsuccessful. That's right people, 4 back preps, 4 numbing shots, 4 epidural needles and 4 epidural catheters, none of which worked. I have come to learn that I have very small spinal spaces which make for very difficult epidural placement. Lucky me! At that point, I was a total mess. I was bawling, terrified and miserable. It didn't help that the doctor told me that he didn't think I would be getting an epidural. At that very sentence I freaked. I was in so much pain and still only dilated to a 4. I could only imagine what kind of pain I was in for if I didn't get that dang epidural! He said he would call in a pro, another doctor who had been doing epidurals for over 30 years. So I waited another hour in pain (this time it was from my back being stabbed over and over).

I got my epidural, at 4pm. The 5th try is the charm!

Elle joined us at 12:03am on Saturday, May 28th, 2011. I started pushing at 11:20pm and was trying my best to get her here before the next day, but she had other plans. Giving birth was awesome. I felt so proud of myself for doing something that seemed so hard. It was kind of euphoric. I wish I could relive that experience again and again. Elle was the most beautiful little baby and she still is. They put her up on my stomach right when she came out and it was wonderful to finally hold and lay my eyes on my little girl. Danny cut the cord, they cleaned her up and we were able to hold, nurse and snuggle her for a good 2 hours before they whisked her away to do all the tests and stuff they do on babies.

Here is the first picture of our Baby Elle....