thomas tikis: Welcoming Eliza Mae

It was just another Tuesday being pregnant… at least I thought so. I felt pretty rotten. So I decided that since this baby wasn’t coming, I was going to get all nice and ready and take B out for a day shopping. We had a nice afternoon. We bought some things for the baby, some activities for the girls when Eliza came and some thank you cards that I knew I would need. I was slow moving and dealing with some crampy pains but nothing serious.

My evening went as normal – take Abi to music class, pick Abi up, come home and do music homework, wait for dinner group to deliver, eat, put the girls to bed (which was wonderful) and have an evening to myself to recoup from being mom. All day Monday and Tuesday during this schedule, I worked on my to do list which was pretty long. I had everything done on the list from raking my front lawn full of leaves, to the laundry, to cleaning the bathrooms, but I hadn’t done the ironing. So I decided to pull it out and watch a show while I ironed. This was at 7pm. About one shirt into ironing, I contracted. Not too bad but I clocked in anyway (apps on phones are amazing). Twenty minutes later another and stronger. And another twenty more minutes down. This one was enough that I had to stop and breath through the pain. At 8:17pm I called Dan and told him they were so strong I couldn’t do anything during them… a sure sign of labor, but said to wait because they were 20 apart and so I would call him again later.

I got off the phone with him and kept putting the ironing away… yes, I finished all 8 shirts and put the stuff away! To do list done!!! I didn’t know what to do for my next step, so I knelt in prayer and prayed for the guidance on what to do. I felt another contraction but this time I had one nine minutes apart. That was my answer. It was as if someone was pushing me to get moving… this baby was coming. I called Dan back and told him he had better come home and he said he had felt prompted to leave after the first phone call. Pretty amazing how the spirit works – and I am so thankful we were both in tune. So I pulled out my bag and finished packing it, but also packed Dan a bag (all during 9 minute apart contractions). Have you ever tried to move during a contraction? It was almost humorous, but I was in a rush.

I called our neighbors to come over when Dan got home to watch the girls until Grandma came. Dan came home and was as calm as ever (although I wonder if he was panicking a bit). We packed the car up, told the girls we were leaving and headed off to the hospital.

We arrived at 9:39pm and checked in.

The next thing we asked for was an epidural. Sarah (the best nurse ever) checked me and I was a 5 so that was enough to be admitted. It was just perfect timing because we had a five minute opening before the anesthesiologist had to be in a c-section for an hour and a half. Perfect timing and blessed again! Rick came in to give me the epidural and he was just great too – that was at 10pm exactly. I am so grateful for the team to help calm my nerves and get me feeling comfortable – Sarah the RN – Leslee – Rick – Dan – and the Holy Ghost. The spiritual strength I felt was incredible.

That epidural was heaven! I suddenly was chill and almost in shock that I was having a baby. In the meantime, dan got me some ice (a severe craving of this pregnancy – even with my levels being good)…

He said that he stopped pushing the ice dispenser button but ice kept coming – until he realized that it was automatic. So not only was he pushing a button for no reason, the ice was still coming out all over the floor. It was a good laugh. We used a lot of humor the whole time and that was so enjoyable.

Dr. Aagaurd came and checked in with me at about 10:15pm. I told him I wanted an 11:11 baby and he said that would be great but fast. Then Dan went to get some food downstairs --- it is a good thing he didn’t take too long. He got back at 11:15, still with no baby.

Sarah checked me and said I was only a 6, so Dr. Aagard suggested we do a low dose of Pitocin which I was alright with since I wasn’t feeling any pain. At 11:30pm I suddenly looked at Dan and said, “That’s a baby.” Sarah started saying, “ok, we’ll check you again.” But I knew that feeling from when Brookie was born. By the next contraction I was starting to panic because she was coming!

Some pushes later and feeling everything on my right side since the epidural only worked on the left this time, Eliza Mae was born. 11:48pm – just shy of midnight like all of my babies. She grabbed hold of Dr. Aagard and wouldn’t let him go so he couldn’t give her to me! But once he did… oh she was gorgeous! Her little whimper was just so wonderful too!