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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Ella is here!!



Photo collage made by The Portrait Studio at Oceana

Ella Grace Spencer arrived on July 4th 2013 at 11:36 PM (EST).  
She was 7 pounds 13 ounces and 19.5 inches.

Our Birth Story
We originally went to the hospital the night of July 3rd because Julie was having contractions 3-5 minutes apart for 2.5 hours.  When we got to the hospital, they hooked her up to a monitor which was only supposed to be for 20 minutes; it ended up being 3 hours!  Julie's contractions were starting to slow down so we were discharged and sent home at 1 AM.  The floor was also packed with other mothers which was another unfortunate reason we were sent home.  We were told to monitor the contractions and if they intensified or got closer together to come back in.

July 4th we all spent the day in bed watching movies to just relax and rest, especially since Julie was still having pretty strong contractions.  This day was like a kitty's dream come true! ;)  As the contractions stayed the same and got a little worse every now and then, we kept trying to relax and wait until they were worse and closer together like instructed.  Around 4pm the charge nurse called and asked if we wanted to come in early since we had been in the night before and we were still on the books for an induction on July 5th; Julie emphatically said YES.  As we started to get ready to the hospital, which is 20 minutes away without traffic, Julie's contractions definitely got worse and she was having troubles getting downstairs to get in the car.  As we got in the car, a flip switched and the contractions were NOT enjoyable.  The first thing Julie said when we got in the car was "don't get pulled over."  After that, her eyes were closed and focusing on breathing through the contractions while we tried to get to the hospital and hope for little traffic and no congestion in the tunnel.  Thankfully, traffic and the tunnel were not bad.  By the time we got to the hospital, Julie knew she wasn't going to be able to walk so we had to get a wheel chair to get her up to the 4th floor.  

Up at Labor and Delivery, we were quickly brought back and had about 8 different nurses trying to help us get settled and see what was going on.  When they checked Julie they said she was fully dilated and fully effaced; her water still had not broken.  One nurse even came in and asked Julie if she had wanted a natural birth and some how Julie managed to say "NO!"  At this point, they were rushing her to an actual labor and delivery room because they thought Ella would be there within the hour, uh oh!  We both begged the doctors and nurses to get Julie something for the pain because it was not looking good.  Eventually, an anesthesiologist came in with 3 different options for Julie, 1. nothing 2. spinal block which would last about 1.5 hours but take the pain away or 3. wait 30-45 minutes for lab work to come back to see if we could have an epidural and then wait at least 30 minutes for it to kick in.  Julie selected option number 2 which was the best out of the 3 considering the amount of time we were believed to have.  Now, keep in mind, we had checked in at 5:10pm.  Once Julie got the spinal block, it was night and day for her!  (She was updating people on Facebook and playing games against family on her phone!) What a difference it made!!  We were both VERY happy to have found relief to make it a little easier and now it was a matter of waiting to see what would happen and if Ella would arrive before the block wore off.  The block started to wear off and we asked about getting it again but they said they were just about to do a C section on another patient so they might be able to do an epidural now that we had more time.  Hurray! Julie gets here epidural after all!  One thing we can't remember is whether they broke her water before or after the block and epidural. Either way, epidural was a go around 8:15 and now we waited and labored down to let gravity do its thing. We had the iPad with us and had Pandora playing which made us the hit of labor and delivery. Everyone that came in loved our mix and kept coming in for more. At one point, the nurse and us were all singing along and bopping our heads to the music while we waited. It wasn't until 10 or 10:30 that we were getting ready to push. They asked Julie if she was ready and each time she said "I don't think I have a choice!"

Julie did a great job pushing and with some assistance of forceps, Ella arrived at 11:36 PM!

Ella was taken care of by the team of pediatricians and was given the all clear. Her first bath was done by Curtis with the help of one of the corpsman. He did a GREAT job!! We got to hold Ella for about an hour and then she got her shots and took them like a pro, no crying! 

After a couple hours we were transferred to the Mother Baby Ward were we stayed until Sunday, July 7th. We had a great set of nurses taking care of all of us but Nurse Beth was our favorite!!!!

Here is our chubby cheeked little girl after she was born...
July 4, 2013
 Ready to go home...
July 7, 2013

We have already had Karen & Lynette (Curtis' step mom and sister) and Mike & Toni (Julie's dad and his girlfriend) out to visit and help us out.  Uncle Jim has also been able to stop by for a couple days before going out on deployment to meet Miss Ella.  We are VERY thankful for all that they have done and the time we got to spend with them.  We wish everyone was able to stay longer but unfortunately the rest of the real world calls :-\  We will continue to update the blog the best we can but for now, we hope you enjoy Ella's birth story!!


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