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HulaBaby Update
Hi eveyone,
Russ and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl on December 14. HulaBaby's name is Elyse (Elle for short). We don't have a middle name yet because I was so sure she was going to be a boy.
She's laying on my lap all cute and snuggly in her pink stripped onsie. Today is the first day I've had some alone time to get on the computer. My mom is staying with us (which has been a god send!!).
I always loved reading labour stories, so here is mine. I started having contractions on Dec 13 at 5:30pm. I called my doula to let her know then Russ went to rent some movies and I vacuumed/washed the floor. We were settling in to labour at home for the night. At about 12:30am when my contractions started getting quite painful I got into the bath. They were still random (5-8 min apart lasting about 45 seconds) at that point. Then at 1:30am I started having very painful contractions that were all of a sudden 2-3 min apart. I didn't think I could labour at home anymore because they were so close together that I wouldn't get any rest. Russ called the midwife, while he was on the phone with her my water broke (luckily I was labouring on the toilet or that would have been a bad situation!) and I had a strong urge to push. We hopped in the car - which is a very uncomfortable place to be trying to not have a baby. When we got to the hospital neither my midwife or doula had been able to make it there yet so the nurse checked me and told me that I was 10cm dilated and could start pushing with the next contraction. The only thing I could think/say was this is NOT how labour is described in the books! Then I asked what drug options I had available to me and the nurse says "sweetie - it's to late, you're going to have this baby right now". It wasn't that instantaneous, but after 2.5 hours of pushing my baby girl arrived.
We had my mom, and doula for labour support. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I ideally wanted a drug free labour, but never truely thought I would be brave enough or strong enough to do it. I think the speed at which everything progressed was exactly what I needed. The stitching afterwards and healing is a whole other story 
But my baby girl has changed my entire life - I'm so in love with her and my husband that my heart could just explode!
I'm going to go try to catch up on what everyone has been up to before Elyse wakes up.
Teri
Re: HulaBaby Update
Way to go Mama!
Can't wait to *meet* your little one. Glad to hear that everything went okay and baby/mama is doing well! Lucky ur mom is there to help you guys out ;D
I love Hawaii!
Tara & Ian . 4/24/2008 . The Kahala Planning . Married
Congrats again Teri!
Yay, I remember us talking about drug-free birth and that you wanted to do that so I'm so glad you got to experience it!
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
Wow! That's awesome that you progressed so fast! Congrats, again - can't wait to see some photos!
Wow, that is incredible!
It so wonderful to hear that you are all healthy. Congratulations to you and Russ and baby Elsye.
{{{hugs}}}
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TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
wow what a great birth story! I can't believe you were already 10cm dilated upon check in! kudos to you for pushing for 2.5 hrs w/o any drugs! I felt like I was going to die after pushing that long. btw - i love the name Elyse - it was my 2nd favorite girl's name but DH vetoed it.
congrats mama! hope breast feeding is going well...if you have any questions, lemme know
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
| Olowalu, Maui ~ August 6, 2008 |
| Family of 4 ~ April 2, 2011 |
| Family of 5 - October 24, 2012 |
Wow! Congratulations to you and your DH! Thanks for sharing your birth story and enjoy every second w/ your precious daughter.