Eli's here, and we couldn't be happier!

I finally went into labor. Here are the details, as I remember them...

On Thursday July 24th I woke up feeling contractions about 9 minutes apart. I got really excited thinking today is the day. YIPPEEE!! I was also a little sad because my doctor was out of town and he wouldn't be back until Friday. I really wanted him to be there, but if Eli was ready to come there was nothing I was going to be able to do to stop him. Well needless to say the contractions stopped and I was a little sad. Jacob's parents called and invited us over to their house for lunch. I started to get dressed and while I was getting dressed I noticed that my contractions came back and now were 6 minutes apart. I told Jacob, but told him not to tell any one else for fear that they would stop if I started telling anyone. I wish I could tell you Jacob was able to keep it in but with in 5 minutes of being there Jacob spilled the beans. Linda and Cecil were very excited to hear the news and could not wait to hear what I found out at my doctor's appointment at 1:50. Linda gave Jacob a hair cut, and I called my mom and sister to give them an update on what was going on. We even played a little joke on them and told them Linda had checked me and I was 5 centimeters dilated. We thought we were so clever, but they didn't fall for it. Then we were off for the doctor.

We arrived at the appointment and my contraction still hadn't stopped, but they also were 6 minutes apart and not painful. As I was getting weighed Jacob said, "Stacy Doctor Huish is here." I looked at the nurse and she informed me that he had gotten back that day!! This is when I got really excited Eli could come today and everything would be great!!! After being checked I was informed I was 90% effaced and 3 1/2 centimeters dilated. We decided to strip my membranes and see if that would help speed things up. I was told that stripping your membranes was really painful, but I was pleased that it wasn't that bad so I was really glad I did it.

As soon as we left the office my contractions started getting pretty intense and were 3 minutes apart. We decided it was time to meet up with my Mom and Stephanie as I was pretty sure our baby boy was going to be born that day. We met up with them at my parent's house. All the kids were there and they were going crazy with excitement. They couldn't wait for the baby to come. We decided all the kids around was a little too much so we left for Wal-Mart to walk around and buy a stop watch. My contractions continued to stay 3 minutes apart and were getting more and more intense. We then decided we should go get my hospital bag. We drove to my house got the bag and headed for the hospital. I was worried I was heading to the hospital a bit early but on the way there I had 2 really painful contractions and I was really glad I was on my way there.

Once we got to the hospital we finished registering. I had already pre-registered so it was nice that it went so smoothly. It went smoothly until the lady informed me there were no beds and I would have to wait a second. So I got to walk around the waiting room with all these people having pretty bad contractions. Just when I thought I couldn't take it any more they took me back to a bed in triage. The nurse I got was named Kennly and she started setting me up to all the machines after she set me up I told her I was very thirsty. Once I said this Kennly was concerned that I was dehydrated and that is why I was having such bad contractions. She didn't want to give me an IV because I was dilated to a 4 1/2 and she was afraid it would stop the contractions. So for the next hour Jacob and I just fought through the contractions hoping I would dilate more and they would keep me. I must say this part was the most frustrating because my nurse was not very informative and she made me feel like I had done something wrong. Jacob did a great job calming me down and reassuring me Eli was fine. After an hour we got another nurse and she was a lot more helpful with more encouraging information. I wanted to walk around to try and speed things up so that is what I did for the next hour. My mom and Jacob took turns walking around with me. The next time she checked me I was dilated to a 6 and I decided I was ready for my epidural. They called doctor Huish and he said that would be fine, and I was officially admitted to the hospital.

Now came the bad news. They were in the middle of switching shifts and they didn't have a bed or a nurse for me AGAIN. They informed us I would have to wait and then they would take me over to Labor and Delivery. After about 30 more minutes of painful intense contractions I asked Jacob to go find out how much longer it would be. They said it would still be a while but my current nurse decided to start the IV so that I could get my epidural more quickly. More bad news... I was so dehydrated that my veins were so small they couldn't get the IV in. This has NEVER happened to me before. They finally got a tiny bit in but I had to hold my arm up so that it would drip. After that was over I got to meet my new nurse her name was Michelle and I was so happy to see her. Once I got to my room I met a lady named Candy and she was going to give me my epidural. Lets just say that I LOVE Candy. After about 5 minutes I can honestly say I didn't care about a thing. Everyone said it can be painful to receive the needle for the epidural but I found it painless. After Candy left Michelle checked me and I was dilated to a 7. I was proud of myself for lasting so long with no pain killers.

Now the waiting game started. The epidural slowed me down so I had a hard time dilating so they decided to give me patocine to help me out. My mom kept saying if she would get her water broken I am sure that would do the trick, but doctor Huish wasn't there so we found out that wasn't an option until he showed up. Once doctor Huish got there I was dilated to an 8 and they thought my water had already broken. I had no clue this happened (lets remember I honestly couldn't feel a thing or really move for that matter) An hour later Michelle decided it was time for me to start pushing.

I had to admit this part was so confusing for me. I wasn't sure how I was doing or if I was pushing correctly. My mom, sister and Jacob were so helpful at this point. I kept thinking I wasn't doing anything right but they said I was doing great. They were such wonderful coaches and helped me through the next HOUR of pushing. Yup that's right I said an hour. During one of my pushes I heard the nurse tell and show Jacob Eli's dark hair. When I heard this I instantly started smiling. A few minutes later I heard the nurse say I think it is curly. Again I really started smiling. This made me so happy because while I was pregnant I kept telling Jacob I hope he has dark curly hair! Once doctor Huish came back I pushed 2 more times and my little guy was here. It was amazing! The second I saw him I was overwhelmed with emotion. They placed him on my chest and I couldn't believe it was my baby was finally in my arms.

So after all that Eli ended up being born on July 25, 2008 at 1:53 a.m. They told us he weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. I kept saying he looks too chunky to be only 7 lbs. Even the nurse thought he looked bigger then 7 lbs. Later on we found out we were misinformed on Eli's weight and he was a whopping 8 lbs 7 oz!! What a happy healthy boy!!!

Things I want to remember...

1. My nurse Michelle was so nice she helped me so much. It was neat because she actually knew Ben (Jacob's brother in law) Between all her hard work and doctor's Huish's patience I have been able to recover from delivery nearly painless. Except that for a few days I seriously thought a horse had been kicking my tail bone. It seriously brings a whole new definition to getting your butt kicked!



2. Debbie's birthday is on the 24th and my dad's is on the 25th. Everyone was placing bets to see who would share their birthday with Eli. In the end my dad won and it was such a tender moment when my dad first saw him. My dad said it was the best birthday present ever and was crying!




3. I want to remember the spirit that was in the room while I was pushing. In the movies there is a lot of screaming and panic and running around. It was NEVER like that for me. Even before the Epidural we were calm and ready for our sweet angel. Once he was officially out and everyone joined us in the room there wasn't a dry eye in the room. What a tender moment this was.



4. I want to remember how wonderful Jacob was. He often made me nervous because he has such a hard time seeing me in pain. He even told me he was going to leave the room when I got my membranes striped because he couldn't take watching me in pain. I said if you can't take that how can you handle labor? I should have never doubted him. He was absolutely amazing and during some difficult times he really pushed me through.



5. Other then my husband my sister Stephanie is my best friend. Having her right there helping and encouraging me the entire time was so great. She is such a strong person and next to her I am a wuss, but she never once let me feel that way. She was so encouraging.



6. My sweet mother was awesome. She had just had a surgery earlier in the week and wasn't feeling 100% but she was there. She really knows how to comfort her little girl. Just her words and soft touch really helped me.

It seems so unreal that he is here. I feel so blessed by all the love and support we have received leading up to and since Eli's arrival. We have had so many people who love and care for us stop by. I joke that we have a revolving door right now, but it is nice to know so many people already love our sweet baby. I am so thankful to be a mom and have such a wonderful start to our little family.

Eli's Coming!

Sometimes it seems like just yesterday Jacob and I decided to start our family, but to be more honest it seems more like forever ago! We have been so ready and excited for this new addition for quite some time that I can't believe the moment is almost here. So it's 9 months later and this is where we are...

1. I think we have bought everything we need for Eli's arrival. I am sure there are going to be some late night runs to the store for things here and there, but most of these runs will be done by Jacob. I have tried my hardest to get everything ready now before his arrival.


2. We have finished all of our classes and finished reading all the books we wanted to before he gets here. I am sure we will be reading a few chapters again when we are stressed or concerned, but at least we have them done before he is crying in our arms!


3. Our hospital bag is packed. Jacob was so funny about this hospital bag he wanted it packed even before Eli's room was finished. He was so worried we were not going to have anything ready and the hospital bag is where he thought we needed to start.


4. We finally have his room 90% done. I say 90% because the rest of the room we can not finish until we have our little guy in our arms. Jacob and I are both very pleased with how the room turned out and we think Eli will be very happy in there.

Here are some pictures of the room....

Here is the rocking chair area. Jacob comes into the room often and just sits there thinking. I think both of us have done that a few times.

Here is his crib. The skirt fabric is what I basically based the colors for the room around. I was in Mesa Sales and saw it and just knew this was for my little man. No the picture frame above the crib is not staying like that. There is a mat that holds pictures and we are going to add things like his foot print, 1st family pictures, blessing certificate and things like that in it.

Here is a close up of the bumper and the skirt. I think they are so pretty together. My cousin Veronica does some interior design and she helped me with the room. I know my cousin Jenny and Aunt Carma helped a lot with the sewing too! Which I love because most the stuff in his room was made by a family member.

Here is a close up of the quilt. It has a piece of each fabric used in the room.

This a a close up of the blanket. I love the details they added. My Aunt Carma hand stitched a lot of the pieces too. I feel like this was a labor of love which makes me love it even more!

Here is a close up of the rocking chair. I love the flur de lis and Jacob approved it because he says it is the boy scout symbol...I guess we both win!

Here is the changing table and storage area. We are going to add a big canvas picture of Eli in the center where the abacus is, once he is born. I will post it once I have it done. For obvious reasons it is not done yet! Debbie helped put together the arrangement in the corner. She is very talented with things like that. In the picture frame is a picture of Jacob and I.

This is on the wall when you enter the room. It actually turned out to be one of my favorites. As most of you know I love quotes and I was lucky enough to find two of my favorites. The blue one reads "Never, never, never give up" by Winston Churchill. The green one says "Work like you don't need money. Love like you have never been hurt. Sing like no one is listening. Dance, Dance, Dance like no one is watching" We originally wanted a frog on the shelf, but since I haven't found the perfect one the rabbit can stay for a while.

This is a name board my cousin Sarah made for Eli's baby shower. She is very crafty and the colors went wonderfully with the room.

Things I want to remember....

• The night I went and bought everything for Eli's room Jacob got very excited waiting for me to return home. Once I got home he was sad to find out that the stroller was in my sister's car. Since he wanted to put it together that night we drove to her house to pick it up. While he was putting it together I was doing little touches on little Eli's room. All the sudden I see Jacob out of the corner of my eye starting to push the stroller around. I thought he was just making sure he put it together properly but then I noticed he kept pushing it down the hall. I started following him and I watched him walk around the house pushing it. He even walks by mirrors to see what he loooks like when pushing it. Everyday I find the stroller in a different room because our sweet little daddy is pushing it around the house!

• Once I turned 36 weeks you go in for weekly appointments. The doctor checks to see how you are progressing towards delivery. Well, while I was being checked the doctor pointed out where all of Eli's body parts were starting with his feet (which are nicely placed by my ribs) all the way down to his head (down in my hips) While I was receiving my internal exam Jacob heard the doctor say there is the head. After the doctor left Jacob looked at me and said was he talking about Eli's head? Was he touching our babies head? Jacob's face showed totally terror and surprise. It was too cute!


• I have officially turned into the family Buddha everyone comes up and rubs my tummy and sometimes shakes it a little. Maybe they think it works like a piggy bank and if you shake it Eli will just come right out!


• My mother's new thing is to walk up to my tummy get really close and say "Eli this is your Mamo. I can't wait to see you. I love you." She told Jacob she does this so Eli will know her voice when he comes out. Well Jacob being the little comedian that he is thought it would be funny to say the same things to my tummy but in a really deep voice. It reminds me of Darth Vader saying "Luke I am your father.", but he is saying "Eli this is your Mamo." He does this, he says, to play a prank on Mamo, so when Eli comes out he will wonder why mamo has such a high voice rather than the low voice he has heard. This still makes me laugh to think about.


• I want to remember how impatient I have become about waiting for my little man. The past few days I have stressed that he must come out. I have tried everything walking 5 miles nightly with whoever I can get to walk with me. I have gotten pedicures ( I guess the pressure points can put you in labor)and eaten spicy foods. I have even tried Bleacher laps. You should have seen the looks I got when people saw a 9 month pregnant woman running up and down bleachers and around the track. I am sure they thought I was insane. Needless to say none of those worked because he is obviously still in my tummy. I have decided he will only come out when he is ready, which I think he has gotten to comfortable and isn't planning on coming out any time soon.


• Eli has received a new nickname from me...the Possum. I call him this because I picture him with his long Brewer toes (Brewer is my mother's side of the family) wrapped around my ribs sleeping comfortably upside down inside me, way to happy and comfy. I am sure he looks something like this... (When Jacob saw this picture he said, "I hope not!")
  
• The other night Jacob and I walked from our house to my parents house. When we got there my brother was in the driveway. He pointed at me laughing and said you look like Ichabod Crane, but with a pumpkin under your shirt. This made me really start laughing.
• Eli has an anthem song it is by 3 Dog Night and it is called Eli is Coming. Every night I hear it in my head...

I have loved being pregnant and hated it at the same time. It truly is a challenge, but with one amazing reward. I feel so blessed to even be given the opportunity to carry a child and be a mother. I am so thankful for a loving husband and a healthy pregnancy so far. We are truly blessed!! Hopefully my next post will be pictures of our sweet Elijah Jennings Ash.

Home made and yummy!

About a year ago Jacob and I were starting to get comfortable with the idea of starting our family. There were a lot of things I wanted to learn to do before our baby came, so I decided to quit my job at Brewer-Caldwell. The main thing I wanted to accomplish was become like my Grandma Brewer as much a possible. In order to do this I wanted to learn how to make all the yummy comfort food she was so good at making. I know that making these items does not fully turn me into my Grandma Brewer, but I do feel like it would be a fabulous start. The list of homemade items included homemade bread, Jam, Salsa and Squash Pie. I know a Squash Pie sounds gross but trust me it was the most delicious pie EVER!!!

Due to the Tomato problem my Aunt Linda brought us a lot of Tomatoes they were giving out for free up north because they couldn't sell them in the stores due to the salmonella scare.. Well since we got so much for free. We decided to make homemade Salsa and while we were at it make jam as well. My Aunt Deana came to my parents house and Deana, Debbie, Aly, Mamo and I got busy. We ended up making 49 1/2 pints of Salsa!

It was fun sealing the jars and waiting for the little pops they made once truly sealed. It was like our little reward for all of our hard work.

We also made 9 pints of homemade Jam.

Now all I have left to learn to cook is the squash pie. The only problem is I am not sure anyone knows how she made it. (She didn't measure when she cooked) Either way I had so much fun this week with our little activity and now that I know how to make each of these (including bread....I learned to make that a few months ago) I feel like I can move on to other things my grandma did. Who knows maybe I will be a really good quilter someday!

Another Weekend....just not the most resent

Ok ok so I feel like I have been updating my blog a lot lately, but the funny thing is I am about a week behind my real life! So I guess I will just keep trying harder to keep up on current events in our house, but in the mean time here is what I did LAST weekend.

My friend Stacia from high school was in town from California so a bunch of friends got together for dinner. We ate at BJ's at Chandler Fashion Square. I can honestly say I had way too much fun. It was funny because 3 of us are pregnant and one of us just had a baby (well almost a year ago) so we had too much in common and so much to talk about. We just talked forever about the most random wild and fun things. Plus there was a lot of food and A LOT of bathroom breaks. I don't think our waitress liked us very much because we stayed for a long time and we took a long time ordering. (hello we are pregnant we have to know everything on the menu before we can make our choice) One choice we all agreed on was a giant Pizookie(sp?) (basically a giant Pizza cookie) I am not kidding this thing was huge....AND SO YUMMY!

It was so nice to see everyone and since we had so much fun we will be doing it again very soon!!

On Saturday Jacob and I went to the movies with my parents. We saw Get Smart. It was actually very funny and we enjoyed it a lot. One funny thing that happened while we were at the movies was...Jacob has this rule that he can not start eating or drinking ANYTHING until the movies starts. Well I am totally opposite and as soon as I get it I eat start eating it. We had a coupon for a free popcorn so it was smaller than usual and so obviously Jacob was worried we had too little. I start eating the popcorn and I can tell he is making it hard for me to share with him. I have to basically reach across his body and down to get it. I swear he kept moving it further and further away. I can also tell he is started to get frustrated that I keep going to the popcorn. I know this is bothering him more then usual because I NEVER eat popcorn and this one time I wanted some. Anyways we laughed about this later once her realize there was plenty of popcorn for the both of us. I think the best part about this story is Jacob's impersonation of me eating the popcorn.

After the movie Jacob had a Uncle in town visiting so we stopped by and talked to his Uncle Kelly and his family. This was my first time meeting this uncle and so it was nice to get to know more of Jacob's family. After our little visit we went out for our date. We have never eaten at Boston's before so we thought we would try it. It was casino night or something like that. Basically this means if you roll the magic number on their dice your meal is FREE!! Well, Jacob was so confident we were going to roll it he said order whatever you want because it is going to be free. I tried to order a shake, but they didn't have one. (who doesn't have shakes?) Well finally the bill comes out and the pair of dice. He has to roll a 3......but unfortunately he rolled a 5 (sad face). Good thing I didn't get my shake! Either way it was a fun night out with my hubby! Maybe next time hun.