And She's Here!

As you all know... Eliaya made her debut Friday March 30th at 9:41am! She was 7lbs even and 18.25 inches long (where did the short gene come from?!?). She's absolutely perfect. Of course, I'm a bit biased, but we've voted her the cutest baby ever :)

Alright, so here's the play by play, minus unnecessary details. Well, we started in "prodromal" labor Monday. Contractions would come every 5 minutes or so for hours and hours. When we were on the verge of saying 'yes, this is it', the contractions would go away. They were strong enough to keep me awake at night, but not enough to be the real deal!

Went to work Tuesday and Wednesday, determined to walk her out. Contractions came on and off, but again not the real deal. Doctor's appointment Wednesday was encouraging, we went from 1cm to 3! It was that mental victory I needed to know that I wasn't hurting for nothing. Wednesday night, contractions spaced out... tried to sleep.

Thursday was my day off, so Jarrod went to school and I tried to rest / take my mind off contractions as much as possible. What did I really end up doing? Cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, laundry... Come lunchtime, I was certain this was the real deal. Contractions were every 5 minutes and strong enough to stop me in my tracks. Excited!

Okay... so fast forward. 10pm Thursday night, Jarrod is helping me through each contraction (thank you Jericho, watching 3 episodes was the perfect distraction) and we started making goals for how long we stayed home. At 1:30am, I was ready. We packed up, called in to labor and delivery, and headed to the car. Ooo.... that was the roughest car ride ever! Poor Jarrod, I would tell him to hurry, then we'd hit a bump and I'd yell "slow down!". He did so well coping with my craziness.

We checked in, got all the paperwork done between contractions and found out I was 7cm! Alright! Thinking it was the homestretch, I walked around. Then the long road started.... we made it to 8-9cm and stalled. My water hadn't broken, the contractions were strong and every 2-3 minutes. Mentally, I was losing it. Jarrod was the best coach: rubbing my back and helping me focus through one contraction as at time. When I was at the end of my rope (not having slept in a few days was definitely a stumbling block to coping with the pain... ) my wonderful nurse suggested some pain meds. We agreed to a half dose and while it didn't take the pain away, it dulled it enough to give me a mental break and regroup. Just as it was wearing off, I had a WHOLE NEW understanding of the phrase "I gotta push!" I'm sure I looked like a crazy women scaling back into bed and panting. Next thing I knew, there was a gush of fluid and Eliaya was just shy of crowing.

30-35 minutes later, Eliaya Carol Reed was born. Praise the Lord! What a miracle. Despite the exhaustion, a flood of emotions welled up in me. She was beautiful. She cried and instantly began to suck on her fingers. Jarrod cut the cord (he didn't faint!). And so we began our life as three.......

Thank you all so much for praying for us. Even at 3am. We covet your prayers as we learn how to be parents and strive to teach Eliaya the ways of the Lord. He is good. I'm so glad He brought Eliaya out in time to celebrate Easter together. To think that my God went to such lengths to pay my debt. To bring me into His family. How awesome!

Love,
the Reeds