Introducing . . .

Elizabeth Rachel (Ellie), born November 3, 2009 at 11:57 p.m., 7 lbs. 10 oz. 19.5 inches long.

Labor was pretty fast (they told me my second baby will probably just slide right out). I woke up around 3:45 a.m. feeling pretty uncomfortable. After a while I started noticing that there seemed to be a pattern to the pain I was feeling and that this must be contractions, about 10 min. apart. By about 6:30, they were more like 5 min. apart and I finally woke Brady. I still wasn’t sure if I was really in labor or not and was too uncomfortable to leave if it was just false labor. We called the midwives and they said to come on in after an hour or so.

We got to the birthing center a little after 8:00 a.m. and got settled in. I was dilated to a 4 and they decided this was in fact the real thing, so we had to call my mom and tell her I would not be picking her up from the airport that evening (she got the plane ticket for the 3rd a couple months ago—I guess Grandma gets to pick the due date since nearly the same thing happened with one of our nephews). One of the many things that had appealed to us about the birth center was that their approach to labor, letting women move around, eat, etc. if they wanted to during labor, rather than being tied to all the monitors and stuck in bed. As soon as we got there, though, I did not want to get out of bed at all. I admit I had a few fantasies about transferring to the hospital and getting all set up with an epidural right about then. But since that would have meant getting dressed again and moving even more, I didn’t mention it. I hadn’t really practiced any particular breathing/relaxation technique. Every contraction I just made myself keep breathing and counted each deep breath. I would just tell myself to get through 10 good breaths and the contraction would be over. After a while it took 12 breaths, then 15 to get through a contraction. I was able to relax enough to even fall asleep for a couple of minutes between contractions. After two and a half hours, though, the pain in my back was pretty intense and I asked for a little something to help with the pain. One of the midwives checked me and told me that I had dilated from a 4 to an 8 in under 3 hours and that if they gave me any drugs at that point, I wouldn’t be able to push when it was time and they thought I would be pushing soon. In the few minutes we were debating the whole to medicate or not dilemma, I suddenly felt the baby coming. I told her I felt like pushing already; she seemed a little skeptical that it was time yet. She checked my dilation, and then said, “Oh . . . OH!” and then rushed out to get everyone else. 45 min. later, little Ellie finally made her way into the world.

They set her onto my stomach. While everyone else was scurrying around doing whatever it is they were doing, she slowly turned and looked up at me with this expression in her eyes that seemed to ask “what is happening here?” I probably had the same expression. She was quite alert and calm and we just sat and looked at each other while I held her and let everyone else take care of us.

Brady has been smitten with this little girl for months already, but was pretty overcome to finally get to meet her. This is less than one hour after delivery. He and Ellie have some pretty good daddy-daughter time each night while I sneak in some napping in the late evening between feedings.

This is just before we left the birth center. They discharged us about 12 hours after birth (NOTE: we won’t be posting any pictures of me 48 hours post-partum—that’s when I was looking really haggard). We were really happy with our choice of the birth center. It was a much less stressful setting than a hospital, but still with all the access to medical equipment that might have been necessary had there been an emergency. The midwives and nurses were all great and we have been thrilled with our care there.

Another crucial member of team Ellie. Grandma has been beyond helpful, changing more than anyone’s fair share of messy diapers, doing laundry, preparing food, and keeping me company as we try to figure out late night feedings.

This is a picture a couple days after we were home. The swelling had gone down around her eyes and you can see how big they are.

Not the most flattering picture, but really shows her big eyes. Amazing.

One week old here.
Just a quick comparison. This is a picture of me with my dad when I was two weeks old. Some of the pictures we have of Ellie reminded us of this one. We will have to find some Brady baby pictures soon.

A few people have asked about how we decided on her name. It took quite a while. We actually didn’t call family members for a couple hours after she was born because we knew they would all want to know her name and we didn’t know for sure ourselves yet. We chose Elizabeth after my grandmother (I am named after my great-grandmother and we wanted to give Ellie a family name too). Rachel was the one part we had decided long before she was born. That is after Rachel in the Old Testament. Around our sixth anniversary when it seemed like we would just be waiting forever, I commented to Brady that maybe we would have to wait seven years like Jacob had to wait for Rachel. It ended up being eight and a half for us. A couple years ago in General Conference Elder Condie gave a talk called “Claim the Exceeding Great and Precious Promises,” talking about how sometimes the Lord’s promises seem far away but that we need to hold on and trust that He will fulfill those promises. He talked about Rachel, how she also had to wait, longing for children. Toward the end of the talk, a few lines really struck me and stuck with me over the last couple of years: “But with the passage of time, we encounter four of the most beautiful words in holy writ: ‘And God remembered Rachel’ (Genesis 30:22).” And then: “When heaven’s promises sometimes seem afar off, I pray that each of us will embrace these exceeding great and precious promises and never let go. And just as God remembered Rachel, God will remember you.” Those are words I clung to for so long, hoping and trusting that God would remember us. And He did. So that’s where Rachel comes from. It was quite a trial for us to hold on and trust that our girl was coming, but she is finally here and healthy and wonderful. We really feel like we have been part of a miracle here and couldn’t ask for a sweeter baby.