Elijah Mitchell Rex

It is hard to believe that Elijah is already 2 weeks old. Here is our story:
Our precious little one was born on 16 Nov @ 1610. He weighed 7lbs 5.4oz and was perfectly healthy. On 15 Nov I was in labor all day long. At around 1800 I wanted to go for a walk so my father-in-law and I went out for a stroll and sure enough my contractions started getting very intense. They were about 15 minutes apart and getting longer and stronger. My mom was to come in at 2000 to El Paso. I really wanted to go b/c I knew I would go crazy sitting at home and waiting. No sooner did we get on our way that the contractions started getting closer together and lasting between 1-1.5 minutes each. We picked up my mom and by the time we got back to Alamo the contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and REALLY starting to hurt. We decided to stop home to grab our bags and head right to the hospital. Of course on the way I was having a super contraction and Mitch stepped on the gas a bit and ended up getting pulled over. My father-in-law, who was following behind us yelled out, "She is very pregnant and in labor." Thankfully he let us go.
We got to the hospital and I was sure I would be 4-5 cm dilated w/ how much pain and discomfort I was in. When the nurse told me I was only 1-2 I started crying just out of frustration. Because I was having some serious labor they let me stay and finally admitted me when I reached 3 cm. I did my best to breathe through the contractions. I had a lot of support from my amazing hubby. He was so sweet and helpful. I tried the shower and labor ball as well. After hours and hours I was exhausted!!! At one point I was dilated to 8-9 cm but Eli wasn't descending. He was still +4. I tried the labor ball again to see if that would help him move down. We didn't have any luck w/ that so I decided to get an epidural so I could at least get some rest before I had to push. When the baby was at +2 they gave me some pitosin to again help things along w/out making me push right yet. Things were going along well when suddenly baby Eli's heart rate dropped below 100 bpm. Suddenly the mid-wife and nurses rushed in and said we couldn't wait any longer, he had to come out now. This was scary, but I just prayed and stayed calm. They got ready and soon I was in position and pushing. Mitch was waiting all gowned up and sterilized ready to catch the baby on his way out. Every once in a while he would mouth that he loved me and gave me thumbs up :-). We did need a little help w/ the vacuum but all in all I only pushed for an hour.
When Eli came out Mitch's face was absolutely priceless. I can still picture his face and it makes my heart melt. Eli's lungs were definitely working b/c he came out screaming :-). Unfortunately the umbilical cord was so short that they couldn't even lift him up for me to see. The mid-wife said it was the shortest cord she had ever seen. When Mitch cut the cord and they placed Eli on my chest it was such a wonderful moment as a new mom. I couldn't believe how perfect and beautiful he was!
All in all, I was in labor for 29 hours w/ 22 hours of really hard labor. 100% worth it!!!
We sure did have a lot to be thankful for this year. Thank you Lord for our precious little one and for all of our friends and family that love and support us.