The Story of Elle's Birth

Well, it has been exactly six weeks since Elle arrived in our arms and I am so thankful to God for every day we’ve had with her in our lives. I underestimated how much time is dedicated to a newborn, along with a toddler, all while trying to maintain a marriage and manage a household; therefore, it’s taken me this entire time to finally sit down to write about Elle’s birth story!

I’ll start with a fun Pregnancy Checklist I created to remember some of the stats and specifics of the 40 weeks and 6 days I was pregnant.

Pregnancy Checklist:

# of positive pregnancy tests: 1 (Valentine’s Day 2/14/12)
# ER visits: 0 (acid reflux was not nearly as bad this pregnancy as last. Reflux sent me to the ER last time!)
# outie belly buttons: 1
# of intact belly button rings: 0 (I had to remove the ring at the beginning of this pregnancy, but I plan to put the ring back in at some point.)
# of stretch marks: about 10 purple lines along my hips (none on my tummy)
# of linea negra lines (dark vertical line on a pregnant belly): 1 (it showed up during delivery…it wasn’t there when I went to the hospital)
# of normal (vaginal) births: 1 (2 total)
# of healthy babies born: 1- Elle Marie Rupprecht (2 total)
Total pounds gained: 34.8 lbs…slightly less than my self-determined maximum of 35 lbs and approximately 7 lbs more than my last pregnancy
Total waist measurement: 42.5”(last pregnancy my waist was 39.25”)
Total hours at Sky Ridge before Elle arrived: 6 hours, 36 minutes
Total hours in labor (defined as time after contractions started): 13 hours, 6 minutes
# of weeks pregnant when I delivered: 40 weeks, 6 days
# OBGYN appts: 16 (12 appts had ultrasounds- @ 8 wks, 20 wks, 28 wks, and every week from 32 wks through 40 wks)
Appts were monthly up until the 6th appt @ 28 wks, then 7th appt 2 weeks later, then starting with the 8th appointment they were once a week!
# of ultrasound photos: 38 photos
# of potty stops throughout the nights: too many to count
# of movements felt: SOOOO many!!! I loved that!!!
# of things I loved about being pregnant: almost everything!
# of things I disliked about being pregnant: 7 things… nausea, exhaustion (being pregnant while chasing a toddler around), higher weight gain (which lead to another item…stretch marks!), heartburn (again), frequent potty stops, and cervical exams

The labor and delivery process started at approximately 4:30am on Monday, October 29^th, 2012. I woke due to Braxton Hicks contractions, or so I thought! The contractions were consistent enough that, once Phil woke up that morning around 7am, I told him about the contractions and he urged me to start timing them. By 8:30am I called my doctor’s office to see if the contractions I was having we ‘real’ or simply Braxton Hicks. The nurse mentioned I shouldn’t be able to talk through the contractions. I should have to stop talking in order to breath. So she left me with instructions to call back if the contractions got stronger in the next 30 minutes.

Well, they definitely got stronger! I called the office back again a short time later to explain that the contractions had intensified, so they made an appointment for me to come into the OB office at 10:30am. Meanwhile, Phil and I had been preparing ourselves, Rock, and our hospital bags just in case this was the real ‘go time’! So Rock and I snuggled in bed extra long that morning, while I was also making lots of potty stops (not sure if that was due to nerves or the contractions). Then we baked a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls together, and we placed a birthday candle in Rock’s breakfast roll and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him (just in case we would be in the hospital the next day on his actual birthday…which we were!). Then Rock got to watch cartoons while Phil and I ran around the house packing ourselves and Rock for the next few days away from home.

I was frantic. I had so many thoughts running through my head that it made my feet run in every direction! I couldn’t get one thought or task completed before I was running a different direction to do something else I thought of! Finally the contractions got intense enough that I had to stop in order to breathe through each one, which gave me time to organize my thoughts and my next move. Plus Phil told me I had to calm down because I was being crazy and talking too fast! The contractions hurt badly enough that at one point I was leaning on the bed and told Phil, “remind me to get an epidural when we get to the hospital” (since I was still debating having an epidural)…there was no more debate once the contractions intensified!

It was hard trying to finalize all of the thoughts I had had in the past few weeks now that the contractions were real. Even though we were about to have a new baby, I knew we needed to still focus on Rock too, especially because his second birthday was the next day! So we packed his presents and streamers for Grandma Sandi and Grandpa Jim to hang from his doorway the morning of his birthday. We had to think through an activity bag for him in case he was waiting at the hospital for hours before Elle arrived. There was a LOT on my motherly mind that morningJ

We finally got the car loaded and took Rock to daycare at Mrs. B’s house around 10am and dropped off his suitcase and activity bag at grandma and grandpa’s right after. Then we were on our way to the doctor’s office at the hospital. My contractions slowed during our car ride, so thought it might be false labor and the doctor would send me home after our appointment. But that was not the case!

At 10:30am we were at my OB’s office at Sky Ridge Medical Center checking in for our appointment. Dr. Melissa Zart checked my cervix and I was 4cm dilated (which was an increase from my 40 week appointment where I was 2.5cm dilated). She said it didn’t look like I was in a very active labor yet, but I should still go to Admissions and check into the hospital, get to a room, and get my epidural started, then she would come break my water to help labor progress.

 

And progress it did…fast enough that we had to write down times and notes in order to keep the next few hours in order because everything went much faster with this delivery than Rock’s multi-day delivery! By 11am we were checking in at Admissions and by 11:30am I was moved onto LDR (labor and delivery room) #4, I already had my gown on, blood work started (in preparation for my epidural) and IV fluids hooked up! By noon the anesthesiologist was giving me an epidural, while my mom and Becki were arriving at the hospital. We hoped Rock would be able to get a nap at Mrs. B’s before he came to the hospital with Grandpa Jim, which worked out perfectly because we eventually had all the women in my hospital room visiting (once Sandi arrived) while labor was progressing. Then the men and kids came right before it was time to push (men and kids being Grandpa Jim and Rock, along with Rich, Mason, Katelyn, and Caleb and our family friend Allen).

 

At 1pm, Dr. Zart came over and checked my cervix and broke my bag of waters. I was 5cm dilated at that point, 80% effaced (thinning of the cervix) and a -2 station. At 2:30pm, when they checked my cervix again, I was still 5cm dilated, so the nursed started Pitocin through my IV. At 3:30pm, I was 6.5cm dilated and by 4pm I was calling the nurse because the contraction pain was getting so bad that the anesthesiologist was back to give me additional meds. He explained he would come back in 15 minutes to check on me and I should have a ‘smile on my face’ from the new meds. But when he returned and I did NOT have a smile, he gave me even more meds and came back 15 minutes later. I was still in pain, so he asked the nurses to check my cervix which is when we found out I jumped from 6.5cm dilated to 9.5cm dilated! That’s when the intense pressure to push started. The nurses left the room and told me I would start pushing in 10 minutes when they returned, so I had time to explain what was going on to Rock and spend a few minutes with all of our family before we kicked everyone out of the room.

By 5pm I was able to start pushing, which was an answer to prayer. It was the only thing that made the contractions bearable! It felt GREAT to push through the pain. And the nurse was very helpful in teaching me how to push, which I was not good at with Rock! Plus, they put handles up on each side of the bed for me to hold and use to pull myself into a sit-up position, which helped me contract my abdominal muscles to push during each contraction.

The nurse wanted me to do three sets of pushes during each contraction, for 10 seconds each set. I quickly determined I could only hold my breath for 8 seconds during each push, so we did 3 sets of 8 seconds each after thatJ Phil and the nurses were very complimentary on how well the pushing was going, and within 30 minutes the nurses stopped me in the middle of one of the sets of pushes because they needed to call the doctor in to deliver Elle! While we waited for the doctor, the nurses had me and Phil feel the top of Elle’s head, which was crowning. That was such a crazy experience! It felt like a partially inflated water balloon, soft and fluid-filled to the touch!

Our family said they saw Dr. Zart running down the hallway to get to my room, so I must have been pretty close to delivery. Sure enough, Dr. Zart arrived at 5:30pm and our beautiful and healthy Elle arrived at 5:36pm!

Elle was perfect! She weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces and was 19.75” long. She was able to have skin to skin time with me right after birth and even nursed for the first time. Phil’s eyes teared up when he saw her. She was a healthy and beautiful baby girl…thank you God for such an AMAZING blessing!!!