Delivering Eli

Announcing the arrival of Eli Michael Collins, born May 10th. He weighed 7lbs 7oz and was 19 inches long. He was born with tons of dark hair. We just love him to pieces already. Now for the birth story..we arrived at the hospital at 7am for my induction. By 9am, I had an IV with pitocin and penicillin (for Strep B) and an epidural. I was feeling great although I was really itchy. At that time I thought it was the epidural, but looking back I think it was the penicillin. They gave me some benadryl for the itchiness. My mom and Scott were at the hospital with me so we just talked and relaxed. Around noon, the nurse checked me and I was 4 cm dilated. The nurse told me to progress faster I should switch laying on my sides so I did. Around 30 minutes later I felt a massive amount of pressure and felt like I needed to push. The nurse checked me again and sure enough, I was 10 cm and ready to push! It came on so fast that my Doctor was actually delivering another baby at that moment, but he made it to my room in time. I pushed through three contractions and he was born at 12:43. He had so much hair and was simply adorable. Although I had an epidural, it was different than my delivery with Lucy. With Lucy, I couldn't feel a thing, not even pressure. With this guy, I felt the pressure and I could almost feel exactly what was happening. I can't imagine NOT getting the epidural, I respect those who do it without one! Anyways, after they put him on my chest, they took his vitals and he was breathing really fast and a little 'floppy' (as the nurse put it). They took him to the nursery to check him out, but he was fine and came back a little while later. I stayed in the delivery room longer that usual because I stayed numb and itchy for a couple hours after. I think it was because I pressed the 'more epidural' button right before he came out, as I could feel some pain. It was okay though because they were pushing on my stomach like crazy, which I remember hurting so bad with Lucy, but I didn't feel it this time so that was good. The hospital stay was really wonderful. I had my mom and Scott there to keep my company and Scott's mom was watching Lucy and she brought Lucy to the hospital everyday. I had lots of visitors and it was happy time, although I missed Lucy like crazy. It was funny though because Lucy reacted differently to Eli than I expected. The first day she was kind of indifferent to Eli, I think it was because there was so much going on. The second day she responded better and wanted to hold him. We put Eli in her lap and she promptly sneezed in his face, a moment never to be forgotten! We are in love with this baby boy and are so blessed to have him in our little family!