Welcome Elin Alise

Mike, Thomas and I are overjoyed to announce the birth of our daughter/sister into our family.  Following in the footsteps of her brother, she made her arrival interesting enough. 

After deciding to keep her little self comfy in my belly Monday morning came and we were off to the hospital at 8 a.m. for an induction.  I had been having regular contractions everyday leading up to Monday, but nothing ever progressed no matter how hard I wished it to!  I also had a horrible cold since Thursday that was sure to make my labor that much more fun! 

After getting checked in they started Pitocin at 10 a.m.  I was a sick mess and was granted my own bottle of hand sanitizer after apologizing up and down to my nurse because I didn’t want her to get sick.  I was certain that Elin was going to make her arrival quick and easy--painless too !   My doctor came in and broke my water at 1 and that too made me think we were going to get things going a little quicker.  2 hours after that (Pitocin for 5 hours) I was still waiting on intense contractions, I realized it was going to be a little bit more of a process.  After walking the halls with my wonderful sidekick, who at this point was also bored/anxious/excited, I got into the tub and things started to move a little quicker. 

At 8:30 p.m. I decided that I needed to get another epidural, I was just not making the progress I needed to and was hitting a pretty uncomfortable level.  This is where my story got interesting.  The first epidural gave me crazy electricity popping sensations so that needle was pulled.  The second needle they put in came back with a “wet tap" which meant it needed to be redone.  The third epidural was a success.  The doctor then came in at 10:30 and I was 5 c.m.  blah, so much time and by this time I was again an emotional mess.  This would forever be the longest time I had been away from Thomas and our first night away from one another.   To top it off he was sick.  He was with his grandparents and Mike did a great job of calming me down so that we could try to rest and “get some sleep.”  That was short lived at 11:30 I started to tell my nurse that I had a lot of uncomfortable pressure and she then informed me that it was time to push, but that the baby was still pretty high.  I kept telling everyone that my daughter wouldn't forgive me if she missed a diamond birthstone by a few minutes so it was go time.  In 2 pushes the doctor was called in for delivery and both Mike and I were in disbelief.  1 more push and I was told to not push any more, 2 contractions and Elin was on my chest at 11:51 p.m,  and 12 minutes had passed.  (so different from 3.5 hours with Thomas).  She was 7 lbs 8 oz and 19.5 inches long of perfect baby girl heaven.  Both Mike and I couldn’t get over how quickly she arrived and how much she looked like her big brother. 

We named her Elin after going through lists and lists of names that I liked and Mike would veto.  It was Elin Nordegren was Tiger Woods’ wife and that is when I originally heard the name.  Mike and I also liked it because it has Scandinavian origins and it isn’t too common.   Her middle name is Alise after my cousin Josie who passed away.  Elin is the first baby girl in our family since Josie passed away and we are honored that her parents allowed us to share their middle names.  Josie’s memory can now live on in our baby girl who will always be told about how amazing and special Josie’s life was. 

There has never been 2 moments in my life that has thus far compared to Thomas and Elin being placed on my chest.  That moment will forever be frozen in my mind and I wish I could bottle it up and relive it over and over.  For me it is a combination of witnessing the miracle of life that Mike and I created, meeting the little being that for the last 39 weeks that has been growing inside me and we have been nurturing.  It also continues the dreaming that we have been doing about what and who “they” are and being so hopeful for what their/our future holds.   What a true miracle and blessing.  I thank God everyday that I have been able to find a wonderful husband and father of my children to share this life and these moments with.

After being moved off the labor and delivery floor we enjoyed some more snuggles before Mike headed home to get some sleep and help Thomas out.  Thomas was a trooper and so were my parents.  Not one of us ever thought that we wouldn’t be introducing him to his sister before dinner, let a lone before he went to bed.   Neither Mike or I was comfortable with him waking up without either of us there and new he was going to need some Daddy TLC.   Grandpa and Grandma also needed a little break after being the masters of distraction during the day and consoling a sick and sad little nugget at bedtime.

The next morning Elin and I were up early.  I was eager to see everyone and introduce Thomas and Elin to one another.  My parents came up first so that they could help me and meet Elin.  Then Thomas and Mike came back up.  Thomas wasn’t too sure of his sister to begin and he was not so happy with me.  It was everything I had feared about adding a second baby and I was pretty worried.  After a little bit of time Thomas started warming up to his sister and really liked the new toys she brought him.  After he went home with Mike and grandpa to nap and woke up still exhausted and sick we all decided that we needed to get everyone home and on the mend.  Thomas was started on antibiotics to try and help him kick his cold and try to protect Elin from catching his cold as well.   We were discharged about 9 p.m. and we headed home. 

Stella, Itzy and Tucker were patiently awaiting us at home and were so interested in Elin.   It was home and into bed for all of us we were exhausted and all in need of some sleep.  Our family of 4 all snuggled into bed with the pets all in their “spots” too.  It felt so amazingly and overwhelmingly perfect.  It was night number one as our new family and the start of our lives together.  Aside from the colds and spinal headache life couldn’t have been better!