Eli's birth

What a roller coaster of a ride the last few days have been.  It all started last Friday night with another false alarm that ended with my parents driving down in the middle of the night b/c we thought I might be in labor.  Of course as soon as they get here my contractions are back down and we knew I wasn't.  Thankfully they didn't mind too much and spent the weekend with us and doing last minute nesting activities.  They left Sunday at 4:00 pm and we chalked it up that I would see them Wednesday evening since Paul and I had to be at the hospital at 5:00am Thursday morning for my induction.  At my 39 week check up last Thursday I was 3.5 cm and 70% effaced, so I wanted to give myself another week to go into labor on my own.  After my parents left, Sunday I gave up on that fact.  I figured with all the contractions, if I had not gone into labor by then, I wasn't going to.  Well I was wrong.  After going to a Sunday School social at the park Sunday night, I went to bed with contractions like every other night.  I woke at 1:45 am with stronger contractions and figured I just needed to go to the bathroom..  By 2:30 I knew the contractions were stronger and more "cramp like" so I decided to start timing them.  After several 8-10 minute contractions it jumped to 5 minutes and that was the quickest I had them thus far.  I paused, trying to not get my hopes up and I prayed.  I prayed for strength and guidance.  I prayed for the Lord to give me a sign this was the real deal because I did not want to call my parents at 3:00am  with another false alarm, especially since they just got home just hours before.  It was at that time I felt "wet" in my underwear and decided I should go to the bathroom and make sure I wasn't imagining it.  Well to my somewhat surprise, my water had finally broken.  It wasn't the "big gush" but enough to know we were heading to the hospital with contractions 3-5 min apart at this point and water leaking.  I woke Paul up about 3:15am Monday May 21 and we both showered and were at the hospital by 4:00am.  My next door neighbor came over to watch Sam until my Dad could get there.  They checked me and I was a good 4.5cm and about 80% in the triage.  My water continued to leak and we were admitted and my antibiotics started a little before 5:00am. This labor I asked for a hep lock IV so I could move around and I am glad I did that.  I was able to go to the bathroom and "sway" to help with the contractions.  My sciatic nerve came back and it was with a vengeance.  I knew if I ended with pain medicine it wouldn't have been b/c of the contractions but because of the leg tingling. Thankfully I progressed quickly.  I was 8 cm by about 8:00am and completely thinned out.  Unfortunately for anyone on my L&D floor I also got worked up and began to scream at this point.  I was quiet and in the zone prior to but it got worked up and couldn't catch my breath and thus the embarrassing screaming began.  Labor for me is a very personal time with God.  Really because He is the only person that can help me get through the pain.  It is truly amazing to see how quickly He will answer your prayer especially at such a vulnerable time.  But as always He did and Elijah Paul Ebert was born at 8:44am weighing 8lbs 2 oz and 21 3/4 inches.  Several nurses came very close to delivering Eli because there were no doctors available.  My doctor was in surgery at the time and it took 3 pages and finally the nurse stating to send any doctor available to have him delivered but it was all good in the end.  I can't believe Eli is already a day old.  Sam was not very interested in Eli yesterday but hopefully will warm up to him in the days to come.  Here are a few pictures from yesterday.