More Lizzy...

First of all, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers over the past few days! We appreciate it all more than you could know. I wish that I had better pictures to show right now, but the lighting at the hospital wasn't very good and I just don't have the energy to take any others--but you KNOW that will happen in good time!

So basically here's the story: I woke up early Sunday morning and felt a really bizarre "pop" noise, that I was pretty sure was my water breaking.I tried to wake up Justin, which was a feat in itself. Once I did finally wake him up, I asked him to put a load of dishes in the dishwasher, and told him that I wanted to take a shower and blow dry my hair. I think Justin thought that I had lost my mind, but just went along with it. I was in the shower when contractions became coming fast and furious--about 3 minutes from the start of one to the start of the other. I quickly realized that I would NOT have time to do my hair, and we booked it to the hospital.

We arrived shortly after 5am, and I was dilated to 4cm. I requested the epidural ASAP--I seriously had never felt pain like that in my life! It took about 1.5 hours for the anesthesiologist to come, and I literally thought that I was going to die. I couldn't for the life of me remember how to breathe. The epidural was absolutely fantastic--I have the utmost admiration for those who deliver naturally, but this experience solidified for me that I have absolutely no desire to be one of those people! The epidural was great because I could still feel all the pressure, but not pain.

Once they gave me the epidural, I was pretty sure that I was almost ready to push. I don't think the nurses really believed me because it took quite awhile for them to check me again. But once they finally did (maybe around 8am?), the nurse was pretty surprised to learn that I was fully dilated. After that, we did some practice pushes, and then pushed for somewhere between one and two hours. And then at 10:25am, when I literally didn't think that I could push any more, she was born. And it was incredible. Hearing her cry and seeing the look on Justin's face were literally the best moments of my life so far.

Funny little tangent here--Justin's best friend and soon-to-be-brother-in-law (Stump)'s birthday was yesterday. He was born at about 11:25 am, and the doctor that delivered Stump was the same doctor that delivered Elizabeth yesterday (it was the on call doctor, not our OB). And the on call doctor actually remembered Stump, because he was the biggest baby that doctor has ever delivered--he weighed like 12 pounds!

Anyway, the first night was a little rough due to some feeding issues, and me being in lots of pain due to several different tears and the fact that I seriously puffed up from the IV fluids. But we're hoping that tonight will go a little more smoothly. And I'm off to nap!

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers--they mean so much to us!