Baby Eli Has Arrived!!!!

Baby Hallam, now called Eli was born at 10:01 pm on Friday May 11th and here is his story! We left for the hospital around 6:55 am and arrived at the hospital in the Labor and Delivery Unit around 7:11 am. When there, we told them we had an appointment and had to answer questions forever it seemed like which did not make the induction process go any faster. After that we went into the hospital room and I had to change into the most attractive gown ever and once I sat in the hospital bed that is where all the fun began.

I felt like I was being strapped down to the bed because they had to put monitors around my belly to monitor my skin tightness during contractions and the baby's heart beat. Then they put the lovely IV in my arm. Actually, that was not lovely at all, it was the worse experience of my entire life and it hurt so bad, but I guess it did help keep me hydrated and to make Baby Eli come faster.

 

 They put a drug through my IV that they would increase every hour or so to have the contractions come faster and to make the baby come faster. So basically it was supposed to put me in labor. At around 9 I was still only dialated one centimeter. Then the doctor came around again at 2 pm and I was only dialated another centimeter. At that point I knew it was going to be a long day. I was dialated enough that he was able to break my water. Once he did that, the contractions slowly started intensifying. I went as natural as I thought I could and did not ask for an epidural around 5 pm. That is when I decided that the pain was way too much. The nurse anesthetist came in around 5:30 and had the epidural in me around 6pm. Alex was not too sure about the epidural, but I knew that once I had it, the pain was definitely more tolerable and I was hoping that I would dialate more than I had. I was able to relax and hang out with my husband and then they came in and checked me again around 7 pm and I had dialated to about 5 or 6 centimeters. So I hung out a little bit longer because I felt like it had took me all day to get to a 5 or 6 centimeter dialation and I didn't even know how long it would take me to get to 10 centimeters. So then they checked me an hour later at around 8 and the nurse said that I was fully dialated and ready to push. So they called the doctor and I started pushing at 8:01 and Eli Hallam was born at 10:01. It was a crazy experience.

We both love him so much and am so excited to have him around. He is just the cutest thing alive. He was born at 5 pounds 4 ounces and was 18 inches long. Alex loves him to death and loves having him around. We both can't get over how small he is and how strong he is and how good looking he is. I know I am biased but he is one good looking boy. We could not have asked for a better baby in the world. He is the best.

Now here are a ton of pictures. I know some people want to know the story but I know that pictures are the best part of this whole birthing experience. So here are the pictures and I hope that you enjoy him just as much as we do.