Eliza Joy

The labor & delivery story: I didn't feel very well all day Monday, December 21. Just feeling VERY pregnant and done! I tried to clean the house and get the last minute things done I hadn't gotten to yet. I guess that "nesting" thing they talk about kicked in. As the night came I was having more contractions and my lower back was aching.... I knew labor was beginning. I think I went to bed around 11:30 or 12:00 that night, but never really slept. I would doze off, but the contractions would wake me up. I would try to time them, but was lazy at it. So around 2:30 a.m. I decided to time them better. I used an application on my iphone that did all the work for me. It was awesome! All I did was press a button to start and stop the clock. It kept track of the duration and how far apart the contractions were. They were about 7 minutes apart, but soon after that they were between 2-5 minutes apart and hurting. So I called my mom to come out around 3:30 a.m.. I didn't want my water to break at home like it did with Rachel and Kaden. That pretty much sucks! We arrived at the hospital around 4:00 a.m.. When they checked me they said there was no change from my doctor visit last week. I was still at a 2+ and 80%. Dang it!! I wasn't very happy about that because #1 my contractions were hurting pretty bad and #2 I didn't want to get sent home... no one does! After an hour of waiting they checked me again and I was at a 3 and 80% and my contractions were getting further apart. WHAT?!! I didn't feel like they were, but their monitor sure said that. They wanted to send me home, but let me stay another hour to be nice. There was still no change after that hour. So by now it's about 6:00 and all I can think is if they send me home I'll for sure wait until my water breaks and then all hell and misery will break loose.... a home birth perhaps. (I think you get more paranoid and nervous with each birth. Besides the fact that it's my 5th and who knows how fast she'll come.) The nurse decided to go talk to the doctor on-call and see what he wanted to do. So we waited and waited. The shift change came and went and finally around 7:00 a.m. my new nurse came in and said let's have a baby! Music to my ears!! She had talked to my actual doctor and they decided to keep me and help my labor along, especially since Christmas was in 3 days. Why not have this baby a.s.a.p. and get home Christmas Eve?! I was group B strep positive... grrrr! so they started an antibiotic and let me get my epidural. Thank you!! My contractions were hurting more and more, but still getting further apart. Weird. We were just waiting for time to pass and then I got sick. Nate was the only one in the room with me and the only thing he could find was a huge garbage can. So I vomited in it. Then I was fine. I have never gotten sick during labor and that's not a new experience I was hoping to have. At 10:45 they started the second dose of antibiotics and got the pitocin going. I had progressed a little from a 3 to barely a 4. So I was progressing, just very slowly. Of course, once the pitocin stepped in the contractions were back to where they needed to be. An hour later, at 11:45 my doctor checked me and I was at a 5 and still 80%. She decided to break my water. I had never had it done manually, even when I was induced, it always just broke on it's own. So that was another new experience. At least it was more pleasant than throwing up! From here on until I give birth, time isn't on my radar. At some point the nurse checks me and says I'm complete! The doctor is over in her office across the parking lot. So they call her to come, they set-up everything, I push 3 times during one contraction and I have a sweet baby girl in my arms all in less than an hour! Eliza Joy was born December, 22, 2009 at12:39 p.m.. She weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 inches long. Nate says she cried before she was even all the way out! Wow! What a miracle. Those moments are indescribable (as most all of you know).

I ended up nauseated a couple times in the hours after. It would hit me. I'd throw up. Then I was fine. They did give me something for the nausea and I was pretty groggy the rest of the day. I guess I'd rather be groggy than barfing every hour. By the next morning I was fine.

I was so happy to hear my kids were allowed to visit us at the hospital. The "H1N1- No kids allowed" ban had been lifted. So the kids were all able to come visit. They all were very happy.... well, most of them...
A very proud biggest brother, Kaden.

Haley was extremely happy to see and hold her new sister, but wanted NOTHING to do with me. The only way we got her to come close to me was to let her play with the hospital bed!

Very happy big sister, Rachel! She will be a very good helper, I just know it! :)

Tye, Tye, Tye! As you can see, he's happy in the first picture, but then we tell him her middle name is Joy (named after Nate's mom, Mary Joy and she's our Christmas baby, so it was very fitting) and he gets all upset because he wanted it to be Crystal. I'm not quite sure where "Crystal" comes from, but little did we know it was a big deal to him. We told him he could call her Crystal for a nickname if he would like. He seemed okay with that. Thanks to Rachel for giving him rabbit ears and making him laugh and forget all his troubles!

Eliza with her grandparents.
Top: Grandpa and Nana Bishop, bottom: Grandma and Grandpa Swensen
A BIG thank you to all of them for helping so much with the 4 older kids!

We came home around 11:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve. It's always weird to drive away from the hospital with a child you are now responsible for. Now for the big, new adventure of life with 5 kids!!