March 11th was the day! We got the call around 6:15am to head into the hospital. Allison came over to get Meredith ready for school and Chris and I headed out. We stopped for a bagel on the way since I knew I wouldn't be eating for a long time and ended up getting to Rex around 7:30.
Of course, as soon as we got there we were told that two women had come in since they called and were in active labor (darn them! ha!), so we'd have to wait a bit for our room. We chatted with another couple who were in the same boat and within about 30 mins, we were called back to our room. They started my IV (ouch!! I know a little ol iv seems odd to be so painful considering the whole childbirth thing, but it really hurt a lot!!) and by about 9:15am they had started the pitocin and the waiting game began. UNC was playing in the ACC tournament that day at noon, so we kept joking with the doctors and nurses about how we hoped the baby would come before noon or wait until about 2:00 after the game (Ha, if it had only been so quick!).
So, the game came and went and we had very little progress. Chris was really good about trying to stay calm because it was a really close game! I tried to use the labor ball for a little while to see if I could help get things moving, but it didn't help and all of my monitors kept screwing up while I was on it, so back to the bed. I was definitely getting more and more uncomfortable as the contractions finally started to come. They broke my water around 3pm and then I finally decided to get the epidural since it was clearly going to be awhile and I might as well be comfortable. This time, the epidural was a totally different experience and I was much happier. My legs didn't feel like such dead weight and the whole procedure went much more smoothly, so I was happy. Around 5pm, Chris went out to the little kitchen area to get me some ice or something and he ran into the couple that we had checked in with that morning and they were on their way to recovery with their new baby...he came back and told me this and it made me really sad since I was maybe at 3 cm by this time! So, feeling quite discouraged, we continued to wait and wait. Around 7pm I told Chris that he needed to go get some dinner and while he was gone, the nurse came in and determined I had made major progress and things were finally moving along. So, around 10pm we started prepping for delivery and the nurse had me do one 'practice' push and with that she decided to call the doctor immediately since this baby was coming quickly. So, Dr. Groff came in and I pushed for two more contractions and Caroline Elizabeth came into this world at 10:53pm, 8lbs 14 oz, 21"! I was thouroughly amazed at how easy the actual delivery was, but I've been saying I deserved that since it took me 13 hours to get to that point! It was still about 10 hours shorter than Meredith's birth though! I was able to hold Caroline immediately following her delivery, all mucked up and all! I wasn't able to do that last time since there were a few concerns about Meredith and they whisked her over to be checked over. We got to our recovery room around 1am and I finally could have some food. That was the best ham and cheese sandwich I have ever had!! I was so hungry!
Our stay in the hospital was pretty uneventful and we did use the nursery when we could to get more sleep. We came home on Sunday and life with a newborn has set in. Chris' mom stayed with us for the first week, which was incredibly helpful and Meredith has been a wonderful big sister! I have been having some serious emotions over her no longer being my only child...the guilt of having to share my time and attention, especially with a needy newborn, but she has been really amazing and I'm so thankful for that.
Caroline has been pretty good so far. She doesn't like to sleep for very long and sleeping on her back has been a big challenge too, but she is nursing well and all the time! She has not taken a pacifier yet, which is ok in some ways, but I feel like she's just using me instead! The hardest part is just the lack of sleep in general. She is already 3 weeks old and she has certainly changed already. She was back up to her birthweight by the time she was 10 days old, and I can definitely tell that she has grown quite a bit.
So, life in the Elliott household has been a little nuts lately, but we are adjusting to life as a family of four and we love our new little girl so much! It's already hard to remember life before her :) Hopefully this post isn't too long and drawn out. I've been wanting to get the story of her birth documented and it's taken me awhile. She is actually sleeping in her crib for the first time right now, so I've had some time to think even though the ol brain is pretty tired!
