She was due on Sunday, March 17th and all signs were pointing to me having a full-term baby. But since Brennan was nearly 3 weeks early, once we passed 37 weeks pregnant, both Lane and I became so anxious and excited for her to come, wondering 'Is today the day??' All of his meetings had the asterisk of happening as long as Sarah was not in labor, every time his phone rang he would jump wondering if it was me, every time I stood up I wondered if it would send me into labor... she was on our minds constantly. There was so much anticipation surrounding her birth. But sweet Ellie took her time getting ready to come, until a few days into my 39th week of pregnancy.
On Wednesday, March 13th, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning feeling very strong back pains that radiated to my front and I wasn't quite sure if this was the real deal or not so I just tried to go back to sleep. Shortly after that, I felt a pain again and looked at the clock and it was only 5:36...odd, I thought, but I tried to go back to sleep but then I felt another one and looked at the clock...5:42. So, I'm having bad pains that come every 6 minutes. I think that this might possibly be the real thing but knew that Lane had been up late the night before finishing a seminary paper so didn't want to wake him up just in case it turned out to be false labor so I headed down to our couch to ride out as much as I could and become certain that this was the real deal. By the time 7 am came around, I had been timing my contractions and consistently had them spaced 6 minutes apart for about 1 1/2 hours so decided that it was time to go get Lane and let him know that today was the day that we get to meet Ellie.
From 7:00-8:30 I had regular contractions that I had to pause and breath through, but we were able to move around the house, I took a shower, finished packing our bags, etc but was definitely feeling a lot of pain. As contractions built, I spent riding them out on the floor and Brennan would come over to rub my back, mimicking what she saw Daddy do. At 8:30 I had a bad contraction which broke my water, and from then on, it got crazy. I couldn't move that far before another contraction would send me to the ground, and things began progressing VERY quickly.
Lane was rushing around trying to tie up loose ends before we headed to the hospital and kept telling me that we have to go NOW. I felt like we should stay at home because I just didn't want to make the mistake of going to the hospital too early. I think that Lane could sense things that I couldn't and knew that we were going to be having this baby very soon as my contractions were now 2 minutes apart. We jumped in the car, practically threw Brennan at Jess' house on our way to the hospital, Lane yelling 'thanks!' as he ducked back into the still-running car with me writhing in the back seat in pain.
We had a 20 minute drive to the hospital. As I had contraction after contraction and screamed in the back seat, Lane yelled at cars to get out of the way and raced around the round-a-bouts to get to the hospital. We parked and had about a 50 yard walk to the front door. I had 3 terrible contractions in that walk that sent me either to my knees in the parking lot or just screaming in pain clinging to Lane. People were passing by us, asking Lane if we were alright and he just yelled "We need a wheelchair now!"
We got up to our floor and our midwife was there waiting for us since Lane had called on our way over telling them to expect us. As soon as we got into our room another contraction hit, so they barely could pull off the pants I was wearing (we never did get my shirt off; I gave birth to Ellie half-dressed as there wasn't time to even get me into a hospital gown!). I was aware enough to notice that all of the nurses followed us into our room and began getting set up to take care of her once she came out... I knew that they knew that she would be here soon if they were getting the room prepared for a newborn, not just a laboring momma who would be there awhile.
Susan, my midwife, checked me and I was already at an 8... I had ridden out transition in our car drive pretty much... when it had taken 4 hours of gut-wrenching work with Brennan to get me through transition!
I remember with Brennan, I just almost went into this meditative-like state where I did not say a single word that entire labor; I just zoned in and kind of turned into myself and made it through that long long long labor. With Ellie, it was just INTENSE and wild and fast and furious. It was more like a bucking bronco. I can picture myself on the hospital bed yelling "I want this baby out of me!" And Susan, very calmly, would respond, she is practically here... on your next push we are going to see her. On your next push, she will be here."
In summary, we arrived at the hospital at 9:20, I pushed for FOUR MINUTES, and she was born at 9:51.
It was 30 minutes of CRAZINESS. It was intense, wild, and painful. But, it was short, and I would take that kind of labor any day. I woke up at 5:30 with mild contractions and before 10 a.m., I was holding my sweet girl in my arms. Lane and I just kept looking at each other in shock, laughing at how wild that became and how quickly it got wild. We were in shock all day long that she was actually here already!
As one of my favorite children's books so beautifully says:
Heaving blew every trumpet
and played every horn
on the wonderful, marvelous,
night you were born
Ellison Kate Sandifer
7 lbs, 5 oz
19 1/2 inches
9:51 a.m.
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