Very last pregnancy photo! 41 weeks!

He's finally here! But not without some drama...

Eli's birth didn't go exactly as planned and involved some rather frightening moments for us, but thankfully everything turned out fine and he is a happy healthy boy.

We arrived at the hospital Thursday evening, December 3rd to begin labor induction. I was 41 weeks at the time. I was given medicine to soften my cervix, and told to just go to sleep and everything would get started in the morning. My body began contractions on its own though, and Eli didn't handle it very well. Several times during the night his heartrate dropped and nurses all rushed in the room to move me around and try to get him stabilized. After about midnight I was no longer allowed to get out of bed because each time I did, his heart rate dropped. Needless to say, I didn't get much rest that night.

By 6am, the doctor came in a broke my water. It was full of meconium, so they knew that Eli was in some distress. They didn't start the pitocin at that time because I was already regularly contracting and they wanted to see how that went. They did eventually start the pitocin and contractions got much stronger and closer together. It was frustrating because they wouldn't let me get up and I had to labor laying in whatever position they put me in.

Several more times during the morning and early afternoon, Eli's heart rate dropped way off the chart and finally a little before 2pm, the Dr decided that I needed an immediate c-section. I had only progressed to 2 1/2 to 3 cm at this time and Eli was still extremely high in my uterus.

I was given a shot to stop the contractions because Eli was struggling so much, and they ran me down the hall to the operating room. I was being pumped full of all sorts of fluids and they made me so cold that I couldn't stop shaking. By 2:23, Eli was born, screaming at the top of his lungs. He was completely healthy and pink.

Just a couple minutes old.

First family photo.

He is such a sweet baby.