Sendusout

We are so pleased to welcome baby Elanor home and to introduce her to you all. She treated us both as well as we could have hoped during her delivery.

Melissa had begun to have contractions late Sunday evening which continued through the night. They continued throughout the day Monday the 18th till around 4:00 pm when she was having to stop and focus to get through them. She called me home from work and we were headed to the hospital by 5:00.

Once in the car, we started timing her contractions and found them to still be spaced 10 – 13 minutes apart rather than 5 minutes apart which was the optimum time for heading to the hospital. We debated what to do the whole way to Boise and decided to wander around Target for a while. This helped get the contractions closer together and also made them harder on Melissa (oops).

We arrived at! the hospital at around 6:45 pm. They checked us in and let us know our midwife was already on her way to the hospital to see another lady. She came to see us a little after 7:00 and checked Melissa who was dilated to 6 cm. They moved us to our room and got Melissa settled, meanwhile the transactions continued and Melissa was doing a grand job of getting through these. Once settled in they checked her again 30 minutes later. Our midwife told us she had progressed to 8 cm and asked if we wanted her to break her water and have this baby within the hour. After two deliveries with very little pain relief, Melissa was ready to get an epidural this time around and asked if we could wait until after that was in place. They gave her an IV of fluid followed by the epidural and by 8:45 she was checked again. She was at 9 cm. They broke her water and by around 9:00 she was ready to push. After about 8 pushes Elanor came to see us at 9:22 pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces ! and measured 20 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful and perfect! in ever y way.

All in all we had a very smooth delivery, and I can attest that in the Garden of Eden there must have been the Divine equivalent to an epidural freely available. As I watched the monster contractions of transition on the monitor screen Melissa, our midwife, the nurse and I had a casual conversation about worship music, russian traditions, and the life of a Life Flight nurse.

The HUGE bonus for me was getting the chance to deliver our little girl with our midwife’s coaching. Liz has delivered our two boys and I can not think of how to express how we appreciate and love her for her care and professionalism in bringing our babies to see us. She asked if I would like to help, and as Melissa had the pain taken care of, I was eager to go for it. Catching a baby is less like casually received a little slimy ball and much more like forcefully tugging on one. I was different and more fulfilling than I could ever have imagined. I am ! a different man for the experience.

We love Elanor immensely as do Isaiah and Ian. The prayers over her continue to echo that she will be a worshipper with a compassionate heart for the lost. I am anxious to watch our little girl grow and to see her place in the Lord’s Kingdom. She is beautiful.

Created with Paul’s flickrSLiDR.