Elena's Birth

   At 3 am on August 14, 2010, I felt my first contraction, and at 3:25 my water broke.  My mom had driven up from Colorado a couple days earlier to be here for the birth.  We had a blast together getting ready for the baby.  We went on long walks, that did nothing, in my opinion.

One of our walks on the Rimrocks.  That is the hospital on the left that I gave birth in-I'm huge!

    We got to the hospital at around 4 in the morning, and the process began.  I had been 4 centimeters all week, so by the time I was in labor I was 5/6 centimeters and in full and active labor.  It happened fast and furious and I just wanted to get those drugs.  It annoyed me that they ask a billion stupid questions-like -Is your address ....?  Yes! I preregistered so I could get the drugs right away!!!!  So they didn't give me meds for 4 hours and it was an experience that I could never explain.  Since I am a gimpy person and have had over a dozen surgeries, I am very good at internalizing pain, and that is what I did.  It's an inside joke between Mike and I now because I was hilarious during labor.  The nurse kept saying to relax my bottom etc, so when I was in a contraction I would close my eyes and whisper aloud, "Relax, relax, relax!"  Or the nurse would be telling me something during a contraction and I would go, "okay, okay, okay!"  I guess my mom and Mike were laughing because I did it over and over again on each contraction.  Then the nurse told me to stand up and sway and bend over the bed.  I don't even want to know what that image was like.  My pregnant butt exposed, and swaying saying, "relax, relax, relax!"  It got me through though and the drugs finally came at 7:30 am.  I don't know how people do it without drugs because after the meds I had the most relaxing and fun labor I could even imagine.  I took naps, watched HGTV, and hung out with friends.

At 1 pm, I was ready to start! I got really emotional because it didn't seem real that in a little bit I would be a mom for the rest of my life!  The nurse said that it usually takes about an hour or more for the first baby, so I was pumped!  I got my team together and did a cheer and we were off.  Thankfully my bestie Laura took all the pictures, so my mom and Mike could participate in the pushing.  I geared up for hours of pushing, so she told me to practice one round.  I pushed once and she told me to stop pushing, that the baby was coming right now! She rushed to get the doc, who also didn't think I was really ready until he made me do another practice push.  I started really pushing at 1:15 and she was out at 1:36-5 rounds of pushes and she was here.  I love the pictures because you can see the short time lapse between no baby and baby.  The doctor let Mike deliver her, which was amazing! We didn't know the gender beforehand, so that was another surprise.

She was perfect! She latched right on and didn't have any problem with breast feeding.  Now on the name.  We knew the middle name for certain because it was for Mike's amazing aunt Jean.  We had 3 contenders-Elena, Lyla and Camille.  I was alone in the room with her in the incubator and I called her by all three and the only one that made sense was Elena.  We were always set on the traditional spelling of her name, even though it's pronounced A-lay-na.  I was concerned about this for a bit, but Mike wouldn't have it any other way-so Elena Jean Beaulieu 6 lbs 6 oz, and 19 and a quarter long was born into this world and I am a mommy forever! It was an amazing experience and wouldn't have done it any other way.