Welcoming Eli into our World!

March 29th, 2014

For the past 10 months we waited for this day.  As our "due date" came and went my level of uncertainty increased.  

I tried my best to remain calm... but every morning I could not help but think... 

Is today THE day? And if so, how is this all going to happen? How painful will this be? Will I SURVIVE?!?

Ever day I wanted so badly to start feeling contractions and know that the baby would be coming soon... at the same time I was extremely nervous about child birth, and scared about how this would all happen.  

In the end..... I realized it did not even matter if I had an easy or difficult delivery.  Regardless, the end result was the same.  We experienced a miracle, and our lives had changed forever in the best way possible!  It would have been totally worth it no matter what.  Now we were parents to this beautiful baby boy.  It was absolutely amazing, and truly a gift from above.  We feel so beyond blessed and thankful for our healthy baby and surprisingly easy delivery.  

-- Meet Eli --

He was born at 9am on March 29th, 2014

He weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 19.5 inches long

From the first moment we saw him we were so in love. 

        

3 generations of Beattie's 

 

Introducing Eli to the world of social media

Heading home with our baby!

Rocket and Eli Meet for the first time!

So, lets go back to March 28th when this all started....

 3 days past the due date 

I was doing whatever I could to keep my mind busy.  I had read online that walking and eating spicy food could help induce labor. So, that morning I went for a long walk on the tread mill and had some left over jalapeno, pineapple, and bacon pizza from Bruno's (which was the first time I ever had jalapenos on a pizza!!)  I started noticing around lunch time a dull pain in my lower back.  I thought this was odd and quickly googled what this could mean.  Well... "They say" it could mean labor is soon.. or "They also say" it could still be another week or so.  That afternoon I started timing when these pains came and went.  I noticed a very consistent pattern of every 15 minutes.   Meanwhile I ran some errands around town to occupy my time.  

I stopped at the store to prepare for our Friday night entertainment: a red box movie (The Dallas Buyers Club) a pack of m&m's for Jon, and a pack of sour patch kids for me!  Throughout the movie I would write down the time of each "back pain" I felt.  At one point the pains were so inconsistent... some were painful and others were not, that Jon and I both were convinced nothing would happen any time soon, and maybe we should stop keeping track.  

 Then.... the pain increased, we both started thinking that this could be it! 

Around 8:40 Jon started keeping record of the contractions. (this was when it became really painful!!)  So painful that I could hardly speak when they started.  So, we come up with a hand signal.  That way we could keep track accurately and I did not have to try and talk.   The contractions were still slightly inconsistent, and we were not sure if we were actually progressing.  Then, Jon had an idea to start walking around the house.  (eventually we shut all the curtains, because we figured the neighbors didn't need to see what was going on.. the laps around the fireplace holding hands must have looked pretty silly!) But, once we started this, the contractions strengthened and before we knew it, we were making the call to Dr. Knutson around 10:45pm.   Grab your bags, its time to go!!!

 We were at the hospital a little after 11pm on March 28th 

As we were checking in, I recognized a girl I went to school with, Heidi.  She was our nurse! It was so comforting to have a familiar face helping prepare us for labor.  So, a few hours later... and a few contractions later we were in our room.  The epidural was starting to kick in.  (what a relief!!)  

  Now we wait until it is time to push! 

The mood in our room was very calm and peaceful.. Jon and I were thankful  to dose off and sleep while we waited.  Meanwhile, I was having huge contractions, and not feeling them at all.  In that moment, I was so relieved and had to wonder....what would that night have been like without the epidural???  

I guess I will never know...

10 cm dilated at 5AM

We reached the 10 cm point, and I was shocked at how quickly we were progressing.  The nurses decided we would "labor down" for a while and let my body and the baby continue to do some of the work before pushing.  About every 30-45 minutes a nurse would stop into our room to check for progress.  Around 8:30am we started to push

Hooray! Baby is coming soon!

By this point I could actually feel each contraction, but I could not feel the pain.  Jon was on my left side, and a very nice nursing student was on my right.  Together they did an awesome job coaching me, and keeping me motivated to push like I have never pushed before. Once the nurse said, "Looks like he has daddy's hair" I started to get so excited! They could see the baby's head, what a miracle!    We pushed for almost 30 minutes before they called the doctor in.  Dr. Knutson literally walked in the room with just enough time to catch the baby.  The experience was remarkable, and something I will never forget.  After that last push, they brought the baby to my arms and I am was completely in awe of the moment.  Our hearts were overfilled with joy and thankfulness for the successful birth of our baby boy Eli!  It was truly a wonderful and beautiful experience for Jon and I to share together.  

Welcome Baby!

And that is how Elijah Itin Beattie entered the world promptly at 9AM

we are calling him "Eli"