did i ever tell you the story?

You know, the one where I had a baby?

It's a good one. It started on a Thursday at about 3pm. I was getting bundled up to take le dog out for le walk when my water broke. It must have been all the walking around Target that morning. I called the husband {who had just left home to go back to work} and told him what happened and that if he wanted to come home he could or he could just wait until I spoke with the midwife and figured out what we should do. He turned around as the midwife told me to come into the hospital. She wanted to make sure I had actually gone into labor. Well, I of course had, and decided to head back home until I really started to feel contractions. So around 8pm or so I decided to check into the hospital. In hindsight, I probably could have labored a bit longer at home, but being my first time, I was new to all this and not really sure how much time I had.

So back at the hospital, my contractions were pretty strong, about a minute long and a minute apart, yay, I was close, right? Not so much. I labored all night long with those contractions, a minute long, pretty intense, a minute apart. You don't realize how tired it can make you when you're only getting 1 minute naps...So I cried, and slept, and felt very much drugged through the night, even though I wasn't. I stood, I leaned, tried a bath, a birthing ball, the rocking chair. I begged the midwife to drug me, just let me sleep, but she assured me I could do it, I could actually stick to my birthing plan and that I had the strength to do it all sans drugs. So i'll leave out a lot of the gory details, it wasn't the best 20+ hours of my life, but it was almost over, she was almost here and doing remarkably well. By about 11 the next morning, my midwife decided it was time for me to start pushing. I pushed and pushed, and according to my husband, the midwife pulled and pulled {bebe was really cozy and happy in there} and finally at about 12:30ish bebe made her debut.

We didn't have a name picked out yet, so on Friday she remained unnamed and then by Saturday we filled out all her paperwork as Elsie Grace and I loved it. Sure, it wasn't Zoey, but it was cute and unique, and really we think it fits her perfectly.

The first month was crazy and a HUGE adjustment. I felt like a walking zombie, but we had helpers and somehow we made it through unscathed. Elsie didn't do a whole lot except eat and sleep and a whole lotta pooping.

The second month has been so much easier, and although I'm finding it difficult to have 'me time', I've organized my days to handle all the necessary things, like diaper washing, house cleaning and food making. And I even manage a daily shower now, which is more than I can say for month one.

All in all, I was blessed to have had such a drama and problem free delivery as well as an amazing pregnancy. I am proud to have experienced a drug-free labor. My midwife says they still talk about my birth at the hospital, and were all impressed by my strength and determination {it's called stubbornness and I have it in droves}. The main nurse who helped said I was only the second successful hypnobirth she had witnessed! I was so blessed to have an amazing support system in my family and friends, a wonderful midwife team, and most importantly my husband. Without his encouragement, his help and his love, I would never have made it through to the other side with my sanity in tact.

And now, we have this beautiful little girl who fills our days with smiles and coos and several poopy diapers: