Oliver Madden Ellis was born Thursday, March 24 at 7:20pm. He weighed 8lb 14oz and is 21 inches long. We had another healthy homebirth and we are both just fine. Birth still hurts and is still a lot of hard work. Surprise! And of course you need pictures. 😍
We had quite a stressful time of it this time. I was due March 16th. I'd had contractions on and off, every day, for about the last two months. I thought for sure he'd be early. However, my due date came and went without any baby. I woke up to different contractions Wednesday, the 23rd and had other signs of impending labor so I let my midwife know to be ready. Wednesday came and went. Thursday morning my contractions kept coming and were fairly close together. My midwife came and checked and went home again. My labors have been so long and slow typically, and she lives pretty close, so we told her I'd let her know when things felt more serious. I think I was around 7cm dilated when she left. I laid down to try to get some rest, had a strong contraction, and felt my water break...that was around 2pm I think. (Times gets hazy) She came back then and that's when things started hurting worse. (I'm a birthing anomaly...I dilate most of the way without labor hurting too badly) I kept on like that for a couple hours...really strong contractions that hurt pretty good.
Jacob's family was keeping Aaron and Chloe this whole time. Sometime (4 or 5pm-ish) Jacob's dad came over and said that Chloe had fallen and cut her tongue. He said it was pretty bad so Jacob and his mom left to go look at it. (Two houses away) They came back and said it was bad and she would have to go to the ER. A parent has to be present. Jacob would have to take her. They told me they could try to write a paper and have Jacob sign it saying that his parents could take her but there were no guarantees that would be sufficient. I told them he'd have to go. I was a horrible mess emotionally (i.e. I was crying a lot) this whole time. On top of this labor that was getting pretty doggone serious, my baby was hurt (I was already worried about her being away from me so long, without accidents) and my husband was going to have to leave. My midwife checked again and I was 8cm. She told them he should try to go somewhere close by so he wouldn't be gone long. They called the closest ER and explained the situation and I guess there was a long wait there, because they couldn't go to that one. They had to drive 45 min away to another ER. When they got there, they told them they couldn't do anything about it and they would have to go to Lexington. Two hours away. I didn't know all of this throughout labor as my information was being filtered, to try to make things as easy as possible. Emotionally, this was horrible for me. Jacob is always there for me and has delivered our babies. He gets me through this. And he wasn't here. His "I'm so proud of you" when it's all over makes it better.
Oliver was born at 7:20. I didn't know until after I delivered that they sent Chloe to Lexington. At that time, they thought they'd be putting her to sleep and stitching her tongue. Turns out, after 3 hours waiting in the hallway with her crying, they sent her home and said she'd heal just fine. She has a numbing medicine and she's on Tylenol and Motrin for pain. I think the worst thing is she can't suck her thumb. She had just pulled up on a table, and I think she clipped a bench with her chin when she sat down, biting down on her tongue. It's all the way across her tongue, about halfway back. A freak accident.
Jacob didn't get back home to me until around 2am. I'm glad he was with her, but I needed him so bad too. It was a horrible situation with the worst timing possible. I did have my mom and my mother in law, and everyone did a great job helping me get this little guy here. But sometimes you just really need your husband. It really wasn't easy. But Oliver's here now, we're slowly adjusting (with a lot of help!) everyone is healthy(ish!) and it'll be ok.
