Ellie Beth Hardy Arrives!!!

Ellie Beth Hardy ~ Birth Story

April 12, 2013 ~ 7:55 pm

7 pounds 6 ounces ~ 20 ½ inches

Friday April 12^th quickly became one of the very best days of my life.  We welcomed our first little one, Ellie Beth, into our family.  Landen and I could not be more thrilled to finally have her here! 

It all started on Thursday when I went to my doctor’s appointment.  I was dilated to 2 centimeters and 80% effaced…not much progress from my appointment the week before.  Dr. Olsen stripped my membranes again…a little more aggressively than last week, or at least it felt like it.  We scheduled an appointment for the following Monday to see him and get an ultrasound in case I didn’t have the baby by then.  I was praying I didn’t make it to that appointment! 

After we left my lower back started hurting really bad.  It was a constant pain that didn’t let up.  I hadn’t had any pain like that during my pregnancy.  I became so uncomfortable that I called the doctor’s office to make sure it wasn’t something to be concerned about.  They told me to take some Tylenol and a warm bath.  I did just that.  While I was in the bath I felt better, but once I got out the pain was back immediately.  So I just had to put up with it the rest of the day.  (Little did I know at the time I’m pretty sure it was the start of my labor…oh the joys of first time pregnancy!)

Friday morning started at 7:45 am.  Landen sent me a text to call him because he was at the store to buy our strawberries to make jam and needed to know how many to buy.  (Side note: We were supposed to make jam with Nita on Saturday, if I didn’t have the baby.  She ended up having to make it for us!  And the reason we felt the need to do this the weekend I was due was because the strawberries were on sale for $0.99 a carton!  It was a steal! Anyway…)  That is when I noticed the contractions.  HELLO! 

As I thought back on the situation, I’m pretty sure I was having contractions throughout the night.  When I would get out of bed to go pee I would have these pains that kept me there for a little bit, but it was the middle of the night and I was out of it and didn’t think much of it.  I wasn’t up long enough to have more than one so I didn’t realize it was happening. 

So, at 7:45 I started timing my contractions.  They were about 7-10 minutes apart and uncomfortable.  I was still having the back pain from the day before…yuck!  (I ended up having a lot of back labor.  It was not fun at all.)  I wasn’t too concerned at that point and just kept praying that they would continue…I didn’t want it to be false labor!  I soon found out that it was NOT false labor.  Ha!  I’m so grateful that my labor started naturally.  That was one thing I really wanted to happen naturally because then I would know that my body was ready to be in labor…I really didn’t want to be induced. 

I kept track of my contractions all morning.  Landen was up with me for a little while but I told him to get some sleep since he had worked all night and we’d hopefully need to go to the hospital that day.  I told him I would wake him up if I needed him or we needed to leave.  He went to bed. I took a shower and shaved my legs.  Yes, I shaved.  While 9 months pregnant and in labor…I couldn’t be having a baby with hairy legs!!!  Ridiculous, I know.  Then I started watching “Remember the Titans” and tried to relax. 

Not too long into the movie I had 3 contractions 3 minutes apart.  That got my adrenaline pumping.  I figured it was a fluke but kept a close eye on things.  After that point they came between 3-5 minutes for a while and then I was consistently having contractions every 4 minutes.  I stuck that out for probably about 45 minutes, all the while they were getting stronger and stronger.  I had a fear of going to the hospital and then being sent home so I was trying to put it off, but finally I knew it was time.  I woke Landen up so he could shower.  We grabbed our last minute stuff and were ready to go.  I had most of our stuff packed in the car for about the past 2 weeks…just in case! 

All morning I had been keeping my Mom, Nita and Adri up to date on my progress.  Mom called as we were trying to leave the house, but I couldn’t focus on talking and leaving and contractions all at the same time.  She asked what was keeping us from going to the hospital and I said, “Being on the phone!”  Oh!  She got off the phone pretty quick!  I felt bad, but I couldn’t handle it all.  The contractions were getting pretty painful by this point. 

The ride to the hospital was a little surreal.  It’s one of those moments in life you always wonder about and what it will be like…and if it will be like it is in the movies!  Well, it was missing the exciting background music!  Oh well, I’m over it.  I was just focused on getting through each contraction.  We got stuck at a long light and I was having a bad contraction and just remember hitting the car door to get through it.  It was kinda funny. 

We arrived at Logan Regional Hospital and hurried in to Labor and Delivery.  It was pretty calm in there, not much going on which was nice.  As the girl was getting my information she asked me if I was okay to stand there for a few minutes.  Sure, why not!  I’m in pain whether I’m standing or sitting.  I was impressed with how quickly they got me back and hooked up to monitors and all that jazz.  Once I was all hooked up so they could monitor my contractions it was about 11:30 am.  They monitored me for a little while and Dr. Olsen was downstairs keeping track of things and he said they could admit me.  THANKGOODNESS! 

Once they had the permission to admit me they asked if I wanted an epidural.  Umm…I can get rid of this pain?  YES!!!  By that point I was hurting pretty bad.  Landen, Adri and Nita and I would be talking and laughing one second and the next I was in tears from pain!  It was crazy.  Again, I was impressed with how fast they came in and gave me the epidural.  It went really smooth.  I was grateful for that.  I just told myself to be calm and not to worry about it.  A friend had told me that it doesn’t hurt any more than when they draw blood and she was right.  It wasn’t bad.  A little uncomfortable, but at that point I didn’t care...I just wanted the pain to go away.  I’m grateful for modern medicine.  Once the epidural kicked in I was living the high life!  HA!  It was fantastic.  It was crazy to watch the contractions on the monitor and know that they would be worse than what I felt earlier.  I didn’t want any part of that.  Maybe I’m a wimp, but I don’t care.  It was a great choice for me.  I wasn’t completely numb, which I was grateful for.  The lower half of my body was tingly…really, really tingly…like when your leg falls asleep.  And I felt like I was freezing cold most of the time but my legs were actually really warm to the touch.  It was bizarre.  Toward the end, when my contractions were getting much stronger, I could feel them just enough to know they were happening but there was no pain.  Since I wasn’t completely numb I could feel when I was pushing which was nice because I knew I was pushing!  I’m seriously so grateful I was able to have the epidural and that everything went well. 

The day seemed to fly by.  When I was admitted I was dilated to a 3.  They continued to check me about every hour.  The next check I was only at a 4.  Next check a 6!  That made me more excited.  But the next was just a 7.  I was a little bummed.  During all of this they had to keep checking my temperature because I was right on the edge of having a fever (since I was sick the whole week I was due).  At one point I was .1 degree from having a fever and having to get pumped full of antibiotics.  That made me a little extra emotional.  I just didn’t want to have that happen.  But thankfully my temperature stayed under the threshold!  (The only thing they did when Ellie was born was that they had the NICU respiratory nurse in there to check her since I was so close to having a fever, but she was completely fine.)  I’m so grateful that soon after I was admitted Landen and Derek gave me a blessing.  That gave me a lot of peace about the situation.  I’m very grateful for the power of the priesthood and knowing that Heavenly Father was aware of us and our situation. 

The next check after my 7 I was dilated to a 9 ½!!!  Yes!  That was great news.  Before that I was getting really tired, but once I knew I was that close it got my adrenaline pumping.  From that point things happened really fast.  The nurse told me that she was going to check me in about a ½ hour.  When she came back I was at a 10!  It was time to have this baby!  She let Dr. Olsen know my progress and then started getting everything ready for the delivery.  I’m so glad Landen, Adri and Nita were there with me!  I couldn’t have done it without them.  I was really glad Dr. Olsen was there too and not a different doctor.  Earlier in the day he had come in to check me and break my water and told me that he may not be there to deliver the baby because he had plans that night with his family…but luckily his plans got canceled!!! 

Once everything was ready to go, the nurse had me do some practice pushes.  I had to push for 10 seconds, 3 times during each contraction.  We did a set of practice pushes and then on the next contraction she had me push for real.  After the first push she told me to stop and that she was going to get Dr. Olsen…apparently the baby was RIGHT THERE!  I think we waited longer for him than it took for me to push her out!  At one point I coughed and the nurse was pretty much like, “Please don’t do that again!”  While we were waiting they got out the mirror so I could see and you could already see the top of her head!  I guess she was ready to come.

Dr. Olsen got in there and ready to go and we started pushing again.  I did one set of pushes and she was crowning pretty good.  While we were waiting for the next contraction we noticed how much hair she had.  Next thing we know Dr. Olsen started “doing” her hair!  He got one of the clamps and started combing it into a mohawk!  Absolutely hilarious.  Then I said, “She got a groom in the womb!”  Yeah, I was in labor and came up with that witty one liner.  That’s how awesome I am.  We were all laughing pretty good at this situation!  Good memories :)  Once the next contraction came I started pushing again …and out came little Ellie Beth’s head!!!  I think I was supposed to push again to get the shoulders out but I don’t remember doing it…I think she may have just slid right out.  Yeah, I pushed like 4 times and she came out…I was one of the lucky ones.  The nurses told me I shouldn’t tell other women that, they’d probably hate me.  Ha!  I’m just grateful it went so smoothly!!!  We were really blessed to have such a smooth pregnancy and delivery. 

Everything else is kind of a blur and happened really fast. They got her to cry and then after that she didn’t cry again (until I was left completely alone with her in the hospital room later that night!).  She was so calm, even when she got a shot.  Landen cut the cord!  I didn’t get to see that happen but luckily I have pictures to prove it :)  Then they laid her on me and it was the most incredible thing ever.  We finally had our little baby girl.  She was beautiful and healthy.  That’s all I could ask for.  Of course I cried, tears of joy that is. 

It was one of the most special moments of my life.  There aren’t really words to describe emotion like that.  To finally hold your very own child is priceless.  We got to hold in our arms a little piece of Heaven that day.  I feel so extremely grateful to my Father in Heaven for sending us this little girl.  I can’t believe he really trusts us with her!  I feel so inadequate but I know that the most important thing I can do in this life is to be a mother and I know that He will help fill in where I lack.  I know I couldn’t do this without Him.  I’m so grateful for my amazing support team!  Landen, Anita and Adri were awesome!  I’m so thankful they were there especially since my Mom couldn’t be there.  What an incredible experience.  This is something I will cherish forever.  Words don’t do it justice.  We are so blessed.  We love you, Ellie Beth!

(I had to take a picture of this flower on the way to the car...I knew it was going to be a good day!)