Eli's story

My sister and I both wore this same outfit when we were born. 30 years later, it's still perfect for my little baby.

I had no idea that the pregnant picture I took Saturday morning would be the last. I did know that it was a perfect day...and it was topped off with the best gift ever. That morning I took Alison to parent/child swimming lessons. It was not an easy task, but I'm so thankful that I got that time with her. After we got cleaned up, Alison went to play and I walked a little over 1.5 miles on the treadmill. I saw a good friend while I was there and she just looked at me, laughed and said, "Are you crazy?!" I figured walking could only be beneficial at this point and I was right. On our way home, I treated us girls to some donuts. I remember thinking that it may be my last time to blame my bad food cravings on being pregnant. It was a beautiful day, so we went home to play outside for awhile and then my favorite part of the day-nap time! I sent Ben to Walmart (this was a first in our marriage, but I have to learn to let go) and enjoyed some time with the house completely quiet. Again, I remember thinking that this may be my last quiet nap in a long time-I think the Lord was trying to prepare me for what was to come. Later that afternoon I treated myself to a happy hour sonic drink and a pedicure. Ironically another good friend was doing the same thing and I really enjoyed some good girl time. I came home completely relaxed and pampered...apparently that's exactly what Eli was waiting for. I had been having stronger contractions throughout the day, but I've been having contractions for several weeks, so I didn't really think anything of it. Right before dinner I realized that I was definitely feeling different and was pretty sure I was headed for full blown labor. I went to tell Ben, who was working on the yard and he said, "Okay, well, can we eat dinner first?". At the time it made me laugh. He had very sweetly planned a special steak dinner and it was just the fuel I needed for the long night ahead. After a great dinner, Ben gave Alison a bubble bath and I cleaned the house. This is the part that made Ben laugh. I didn't just put some dishes away-I was cleaning the floor and scrubbing the counters and did a load of laundry. I even ironed some clothes. It was a little out of control. I spent some time with Alison, just the two of us, before she went to bed. The books were a little interrupted with contractions, but I just needed to soak up some time of life with just my little peanut. By the time Alison was settled in bed contractions were 5 minutes apart. We called our good friend Carolyn, who was on stand-by to come stay with Alison, and packed up our last minute things. We got to the hospital by 9pm (oh, and the ride across the James River Bridge was just as horrible as I thought it was going to be. With all those bumps, I can see why every woman fears giving birth on the bridge) and I was still only dilated 3 cm. I was clearly in labor, so they told me to go walk around for an hour. After that very boring hour of walking the same hallway, I was 3.25 centimeters. After several more hours and several more checks I was 3.5 centimeters. We kept debating just going back home, but the nurse insisted we stay. She said I was changing, it was just a very SLOW process and she was afraid we'd get on that bridge and things would really change. So we stayed. By 3am I was 4 centimeters and admitted. We tried to get as much rest as we could in between contractions and by 7am I was 5 centimeters. I admit that I was frustrated with my body and struggled with feeling guilty for making our friend stay at our house all night and for making Ben miss worship that morning (for some reason our babies like to make him miss important work days). The doctor came in around 8am and broke my water. The next few hours are a blur, but they felt like they happened in a blink of an eye. I requested an epidural when they broke my water because I knew things could happen fast a furious after that point. They started the epidural and told me that it wouldn't make me completely numb, but just take the edge off-perfect! Well, there was a little miss communication and it took them, I don't know how long, maybe eternity, to get the right IV medicine to keep the epidural going. The only thing I remember is lots of shaking, one constant contraction and me looking at Ben with pitiful eyes and saying that I couldn't do it. I told him I quit and he was going to have to take my place. When the right medicine finally arrived, I think they felt so sorry for me that they ended up giving me a little too much. Now, my whole body was numb and I was 9 centimeters. The baby's heart rate dropped and he had me push myself to 10. The cord was wrapped around his neck, and just like his sister, they said he needed to come out right away. So, with an amazing doctor and a little help of the vacuum, Eliot James quickly arrived at 11:16am. It was fast and easy and our beautiful baby was here! I was so numb though that it did feel a little surreal when they held him up. It just boggles my mind that he was inside of me. The nurses and doctor were amazing and I absolutely have no complaints about the experience.

Once we were settled and ready to call everyone to announce his arrival, we realized that all of our friends in family were in church. I found out later that Ben had texted George and my labor was announced at the pulpit (that's a little awkward) and then his arrival was announced in Sunday School. Carolyn brought Alison to the hospital after her nap to meet her baby brother. She was slightly confused by the whole thing, but was very excited to see him.

Little Eli has blonde hair (hurray! I won't lie, I was very excited about this) and his eyes are this really cool shade of blue. He's a great baby! He's nursing really well, sleeps a lot and only cries when he has a dirty diaper.

Recovery for me has been pretty easy-praise the Lord!!! I was so scared about reliving my experience with Alison, but thankfully, this time around has been 100% different. I'm sure it helps that I knew what to expect and am much more relaxed about everything this time, but I'm just so thankful for how easy it's been. Even not sleeping for several days didn't seem like a big deal.

As for his name, he is named after my great grandfather, Eli Yoder and has Ben's middle name. We debated about his name since the day we found out he was a boy. Ben first said he wanted to name him Aaron, but then I didn't like that it could also be Erin-so that name was out. Our other option was Owen William, but Ben wasn't completely crazy about it. I fell in love with Eli, but Ben said we couldn't name him just Eli because whenever he met someone with just a short name, they were always disappointed that it wasn't short for something longer. He came up with Eliot and I thought it was pretty original. I would never have thought of Eliot, but I was also nervous that I don't actually know anyone with the name. And that's why Ben loved it; it's original, classic, no one has it, but still a solid name. So we debated for several months whether we could call him two different names. Ben was set on calling him Eliot and I was set on Eli. I finally came to peace with his name would be what it is. Who knows what we'll actually call him in everyday life, but he has a solid name and I'm so excited that he's here.