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Eli's Birth Story (long!)
You would think with such a short labor, that his birth story would be short too. 
At my 39 week appointment, I was still long and closed, but my blood pressure was starting to creep up. Since I had also begun to notice some swelling, the doctor told me to keep an eye on it and to visit L&D over the weekend if the swelling got any worse. Sure enough, I woke up Saturday morning to much more swelling, so off to L&D we went. My blood pressure had gone up even more, but they felt comfortable sending me home as long as I made sure to see my doctor Monday morning. It was a bit higher Monday morning, and after learning I had progressed to 3cm since Friday, my doctor said, ?Let?s do it tomorrow!? The remainder of the day was spent making excited phone calls to family, and cleaning the house and preparing for the hospital.
We arrived for the scheduled induction at 730am, only to find out they were incredibly busy that day. They had the space for us, but did not have adequate nursing staff. They gave us a room to relax, but said it could be as much as two hours before they got started. Luckily, 45 minutes later, two nurses came in to get things started! After they started the fluids, my doctor came in to check me again, and I had progressed to 4cm from the previous morning! I had a lot of contractions the night before, so I?m glad they helped things along! My doctor broke my water (which was a weird and gross feeling, but luckily not painful) and started me on pitocin. The nurse began upping it every fifteen minutes to try to regulate my contractions, but it took a while for them to become consistent. They were painful at this point, but I was able to breathe through the contractions. I wanted to wait until I was at least 5cm for the epidural, but I figured I would hold off as long as I could. The nurse checked me around 11 and I was 5-6cm, but I decided to wait just a bit longer for the epidural. Justin?s family arrived from New Jersey around noon, which was unfortunately when the contractions became unbearable. They may have been in the room for fifteen minutes, before I had Justin kick them out and call the nurse for the epidural. The anesthesiologists were fantastic, and arrived within fifteen minutes. The doctor was great about waiting between contractions and I barely felt it at all. Unfortunately, the epi only took on my left side. After laying on my right side for a while, the contractions continued to get worse (only on my right side) so a second anesthesiologist came in to add a bolus to my IV. He told me if it didn?t help, they would need to readminister the epi. The pain changed to pressure, and I was fine with that! I stayed on my right side, but felt much better. After watching a bit of Ellen, all of a sudden the pain on my right side came shooting back. My left side was still completely numb (Justin had to pick up my leg when I wanted to move), but I was feeling the full force of the contractions on the right side. I also started to feel very nauseated. My nurse came in to check me to make sure I wasn?t complete, but I knew I wasn?t even close. I was only at 6 cm, so we decided redoing the epidural was necessary. The original anesthesiologist was back in my room with ten minutes, ready to try again. This was took perfectly, and I only felt strong pressure on the right side of my pelvis with each contractions. It was fantastic!
After waiting another 30 minutes, we invited Justin?s family back into the room. Another fifteen minutes went by, and I realized I was breathing through the pressure. It didn?t exactly hurt, but I could no longer carry on a conversation during contractions. It felt like I had to have a huge bowel movement, but even though that?s what everyone says that is what it feels like when it is time to push, I knew I still had a ways to go. I immediately asked Justin?s family to leave (poor things were in and out so fast!) and begged the nurse to come back and check me. As soon as she did, she looked at me and said, ?It?s time to have a baby!? I couldn?t believe it! I went from 6-10cm in less than an hour. Justin grabbed one leg (since they were both incredibly numb at this point) and the nurse grabbed the other and we began to do some practice pushes. The doctor came in a few minutes later and started suiting up. It was really time! The nurse was incredibly encouraging, which really helped motivate me to push as hard as I could. I don?t think I felt the ?ring of fire?, but the doctor made me stop pushing once his head was out so she could suction. After she was done, she said, ?Amber, open your eyes and look at your baby.? After only six hours of labor and seventeen minutes of pushing, Eli Rich was born at 4:45pm, weighting 6 lbs, 14 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. They immediately placed him on my chest and starting rubbing him so he could pink up. He came out crying and it was just the most beautiful sound I have ever heard! Both Justin and I immediately started crying and Justin kept saying, ?This is the happiest day of my life!? Justin cut the cord and they took him over to the warmer to take his vitals. He scored an 8 and a 9 on his Apgars, and everything was just perfect! The doctor did not give me an episiotomy, but I did have a second degree tear which needed a number of stitches. After she was finished with me, they brought Eli back over to me and the three of us just cuddled while they finished cleaning up the room. Everyone couldn?t believe how quickly I pushed him out! (And frankly, neither can I!)
It was between nursing shifts, so we ended up staying in the labor/delivery room for longer than usual. We invited Justin?s family back to meet their grandson/nephew about an hour after he was born, and then we were moved to the post partum area where we stayed for the next two days!
Recovery has been going very well. I skipped the strong pain medication, and only took motrin and Tylenol for the first couple of days. I have had several migraines which has been a challenge, but I?m hoping they will calm down once my hormones level out.
Nursing has also been a major challenge. Eli was born tongue tied, which means he had a tiny piece of cartilage that attached his tongue to the bottom of his mouth. Apparently, there is one kind that is genetic - and Justin has the same thing! (I never knew!) The only implication Justin has now is not being able to stick out his tongue very far, but it made it nearly impossible for Eli to latch. He wasn't really able to get his tongue past his gum line, which meant not only could he not do much more than bite/clench (umm, ouch), but he couldn't use his tongue to draw milk back to swallow. Thankfully, the lactation staff at the hospital was AMAZING! and met with us at nearly every feeding. Although a nipple shield helped a lot, the day we left the hospital, the lactation consultant suggested I exclusively pump until we get his frendulum clipped. (Since it can also cause speech issues (which Justin had therapy for) and orthodontic problems, his pediatrician suggested getting it done, even aside from the bfing issues. We went to an ear, nose and throat doctor this morning to have it done, and the procedure was super super easy and it didn't seem to hurt him at all. He didn't even cry and there is zero recovery to worry about. Anyway, after I cried that we couldn't bf right away, we started supplementing with formula until my milk came in (which did yesterday) and I pumped every time he ate. I am now able to pump more than enough for him to exclusively have breast milk, and we are going to try exclusively bfing again, although I expect it to be a challenge since we had to give him a bottle. Only time will tell, but I'm so glad I went to pumping right away. The lactation consulant took one look at his mouth and said I would give up by the weekend because it was just too hard with his tongue. This way, we have a great chance of going back to bfing, or at worst, he was able to get all of my colostrum and now breast milk, even if it is from a bottle.
So that?s our little (long) story! We are so so happy to have Eli with us and already couldn?t imagine our life without him. 
Re: Eli's Birth Story (long!)
awww I love this! the part about the nurse telling you to look at him and you and Justin crying made me so teary!!
I'm so so so happy for you guys
Love! Sounds a lot like P's story, too (the uneven epi, rapid dilation, and only pushing for a brief amount of time). They're destined to be buddies!
Everything you said about how Justin feels is reflected in the photo Kara posted of Justin and Eli last week. You can see how much he loves him!
Can't wait until I can make it down to meet Eli!
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Thank you for sharing. Glad to hear everyone is doing well and I am glad you were at the GTG in "spirit" this past weekend.
I can not wait for more pictures soon :-)
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Ditto...a little 'aw' out loud slipped out too.
You can tell from the pictures that were posted last week that daddy is just so proud!
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Sorry you had an awful time with the epi. Glad it worked out in the end.
I am glad to hear you are still working on BFing and it sounds like things might work out!
Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to see more pictures of Eli, he's adorable! I never new that being 'tongue tied' could be genetic...I was when I was born too.
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THIS! Also, my bff's daughter was born tongue-tied and after they snipped it she was able to breastfeed without major issues. Good luck and congrats on the beautiful baby boy!!!