Elliott's Birth Day

Since I shared the story of the day Abbey was born on her last birthday, I will tell you all about Elliott's birth day as well. (Fortunately this story is not as dramatic as Abbey's!)
I was so very blessed to have a normal, easy pregnancy both times. When I was 20 weeks pregnant with Elliott, I was told I had a complete placenta previa, so I would have to have a c-section, I could end up on bed rest, etc. But it resolved on its own and by 32 weeks, they said I did not have to plan a c-section. Yeah!

On the afternoon of May 8, 2007, I walked Abbey to the playground and was having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions (or so I thought). They weren't painful but even after resting and eating dinner they didn't stop, so I decided to make the 2 minute drive (really) to get checked out. As I was walking out the door EVERY smoke alarm in our house started going off. It was scary! Chad and I ran around making sure there was no fire or smoke anywhere, then he told me to leave and he would call maintenance. I came home an hour or so later, after being told I was only dilated to 1.5 cm, to find Chad, Abbey and Chico sitting in the front yard and the smoke alarms still going off! What was taking so long? Well, one of the "fun" things about living on a military base is that when there is a training exercise, everyone is affected. Apparently when they are practicing for chemical warfare your smoke alarms are not high priority. Eventually two workers came and turned them off so we were able to go to bed. I woke up after midnight to steady contractions but waited a while to wake up Chad. We started getting ready to go and called my good friend, Anne, to come over and stay with Abbey. I was so nervous and excited walking into the hospital at 2 AM, but the OB nurses weren't that excited to see me. Since I was only at 3 cm, they wanted me to go home and take a sleeping pill and come back. Um, no. Instead Chad and I headed downstairs to walk around. Remember the training exercise that was going on? Yes, it was happening at the hospital too- there were airmen in full chem-gear lying on the floor (playing dead? sleeping?) and strange announcements like "MOPP code black!" over the intercom, while I was hobbling down the hall squeezing the life out of Chad's arm every few minutes. A true military wife experience. I didn't even last an hour walking, and when I went back up they were surprised to find I was at 6 cm, and called the doc. I had met all of the obstetricians during my pregnancy and was surprised to see a VERY young and unfamiliar family practice doc in my room claiming he was there to deliver my baby. But then the nurse anesthetist showed up and gave me a fabulous "light spinal anesthesia" and I no longer cared how old Dr. Otero was. (I had an epidural with Abbey and much preferred the spinal since I could still feel contractions.) I was able to rest a while after that and started pushing around 7:15 AM. Our beautiful, healthy little girl with a head full of brown hair was born at 7:47 AM on a sunny morning, measuring in at 7 pounds and 19 inches. But what, oh what, was her name? According to Abbey, it was Butter Honey, but I wasn't so sure- we finally settled on Elliott Delaney the next day.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

That afternoon, I learned what it means to be a mother of more than one child. Chad brought Abbey to see us and she was so sweet and excited. Then when we had to say good-bye and Abbey just lost it- she had never been away from mommy overnight in her whole life and now Mommy was staying at the hospital with that Baby? I'm not sure which one of us was crying harder when she left- me or her. But we all survived and brought Elliott home two days later.

The past year has been a blur- thank goodness for the digital camera! I can't believe I thought the second baby would be easier! It has been really hard at times, trying to give them both what they need. The main thing I have learned is to try and take things one day/hour/nap/poopy diaper/potty-training accident/tantrum/sleepless night at a time. Even on the toughest days, I can't imagine our family without Elliott now and I can't wait to watch her grow up some more.