Elsie Marie Brady

ELSIE MARIE BRADY

October 19, 2012

6 lb 3 oz 18 in

2:21 pm



Well a LOT has happened in the past week. One of the most important events, though, is that our sweet little Elsie was born! She is just to tiney and precious and we love her like crazy! I had planned to do this birth natural and unmedicated. I had to be induced, which I am SUPER anti-induction, unless completely necessary, but I think mine can constitute as that. So I didn't go into labor on my own, but I delivered her completely natural and unmedicated. To make a long story short, Jordan got a job as an assistant coach in the NBA D-League (the same league he has been playing in the last 4 years) with the Iowa Energy. He got the call on Wednesday evening saying he got it, but that he has to be there Monday (the 22nd) and can't come back. So....if I wanted Jordan there for her birth, I needed to get induced. I went to see my midwife on Thursday and we told her all of this and she said that the hospital won't take any inductions before 39 weeks unless there is a medical reason (I was only 38 weeks that day). So, we tried to come up with a reason and she did an ultrasound and they like your fluids to be above 5 and mine was a 5.5 or something like that. So she said we could say I have low fluid and needed to be induced. We decided on Friday and it was set. My midwife couldn't be at the hospital until after 12 so they started me on pitocin and just kept me on the very lowest dose. When I got to the hospital I was dialated to a 4, so I was already progressing on my own. Because I have very quick labors my midwife didn't want them to break my water until she got there so that there wouldn't be a chance of her missing the birth. As soon as my midwife got there at 12:45, she checked me and I was at a 7, almost an 8. She broke my water during the exam and things went quickly from there. Contractions started picking up from there and by 2:10 I was ready to push. 3 contractions later and she was out at 2:21 pm.

In comparison to Wyatt's birth, I was definitely more prepared for a natural childbirth. The last 4 years I have been saying that I'm pretty sure Wyatt's birth was pretty natural, even though I got an epidural, but I wasn't sure. I didn't know if the way things happened with my epidural was the norm in Europe or not, but I wanted to do one on my own to compare. After having had Elsie natural, I would be totally confident in saying that Wyatt's birth was all natural too! With Elsie, the labor and contractions were not bad until about my last 5 contractions before I started to push. Those were extremely painful, but I could definitely tell that she was almost here and it would be done soon. When it was time to push, all my memories from Wyatt's birth came back, and again, pushing was definitely the most painful part. Fortunately she was 2 weeks early so she was nice and small. Even though I was more prepared, and it was still painful, I am so happy and proud of myself for being able to do it all unmedicated. It was definitely a really neat experience and I felt so much different after having her than I did with an epidural after Chamberlain. Plus she was so awake for such a long time. So, obviously I wanted to have Jordan with me to help me throughout my labor and I'm so glad we were able to have him there.

We named her Elsie Marie Brady. We have kept middle names family names for our kids. We were having a really hard time agreeing on a first name for her so we were talking about middle names. We were thinking of our grandmother's names and the one I liked best was Elsie, which is Jordan's grandma's name. So I asked him about it and he said he liked it. Then about a day or 2 later, he decided that was going to be her first name. I liked it a lot but wasn't totally set on it untill she was born. Her middle name is Marie, which is my middle name. Anyway, enough talking and on to the pictures of my little sweet pea...

Last picture before going to the hospital

Using the birth ball

Here she is!

 

6 lbs 3 oz...so small but I'm glad :) She was 18 in too



Holding her for the first time after getting cleaned off



She is so precious! And so awake!



Mommy, Daddy and Elsie



Jordan getting ready to give her the first bath

She doesn't mind it yet...

She actually did pretty good. There were times she screamed but overall she was pretty calm

The boys had spent the night and day over at Jordan's aunt and uncle's house. So that evening he went and picked them up and brought them back to the hospital so they could meet their new baby sister! They were so excited and have just been loving on her ever since! They got up to the hospital at about 8 that night so I'm glad they were in their jammies.

Chamberlain loves her and seriously kisses her every time he sees her, multiple time!

Wyatt sure loves her too! I think she looks most like Wyatt, but at the same time she looks different then my boys.

Our first family picture as a family of 5! WOW!

She is so precious!

I love the bow on her little hat!

He loves her! He was so sad he had to leave to quickly.

All ready to go home

Sweet little Elsie today