She's here!

Introducing Ellie Mae Snyder

born on August 5th, 2011 at 2:17 p.m.

How was labor?  Well let's start at the beginning.  We were originally scheduled to be induced on Wednseday the 3rd.  We were up and ready at 6 a.m and we were instructed to call the hospital to make sure that everything was still on for our induction.  Sad to say they told us that since so many woman came in the previous night, all the rooms were occupied and that we would be put on standby.  Have you ever heard of being put on standby by the hospital?  I hadn't.  So we waited almost the entire day.  It was awful.  We were very anxious, excited and disappointed all at the same time.  The phone call came around noon telling us that we would not be able to come up to the hospital that day and that we were being rescheduled to come in Friday morning.  So what do you do but wait?  It seemed like forever and was terrible.  I had to do everything to keep myself busy and keep my mind off of everything I was feeling.

So we went school shopping and out to eat with the boys.  Just the boys and I. It was so much fun to just be with them and spend fun quality time with them.  I sure adore them!

Well Friday morning rolled around.  We called in to make sure it was still scheduled and to see if I was still ok to come in.  We got the ok and headed down to the hospital.  We were so excited.  My mom came over and watched the boys.

We reached the hospital at 7 a.m.  To make this long story really short, because I am sure it will bore you to death.  We got right in to the labor and delivery room.  We had great nurses and everything was going really well.  They checked to see if I was dialated more than a 3 and sad to say I was not.  I hadn't even progressed over the last couple of days.  Baby was still up there quite abit.  So we started walking the hallway.  We walked and walked for about an hour just going in circles.  It was terrible. Good thing my husband has a fun personality because he made it fun.  After about an hour I started to feel light-headed so we went back to the room and the nurses suggested I use the bouncy ball.  Ever see those huge inflated bouncy balls that kids play on? Well they use those to help bring the baby down into position.  Gravity is an amazing thing.

My doctor came in on his lunch break around noon to see how things were going.  I had only progressed to a 4 and things were moving pretty slowly.  I only felt contractions now and then but nothing hard or painful. The doctor decided to break my water to see if that would move things along.  I told him that everytime my water would break, my babies are always born about an hour afterwards.  So they put the epidural close by so when it was getting intense she would would be available on demand.  Well they started to come fast and hard.  It was starting to get painful.  I called in for an epidural and so this older woman who looked like a hippie walked in and started to give me my epidural.  Went well, felt really no pain from the procedure.  She told me to wait about 10-15 minutes for it to kick in.  Well time passed and I could still feel everything.  It was very uncomfortable and I was hurting pretty bad.  I think Lance could see it in my eyes. I was starting to claw him and press my finger nails into his arms pretty good. So the nurse called the doctor back in to see if they could give me a stronger dose of med. to see if that would help.  Still didn't feel anything happening.  At this time the contractions were right on top of each other and I was literally screaming.  It hurt that bad.  No mind you I have never really felt pain with any of my labors so this was completely new to me.  I didn't like it at all!!!

So the doctor came back in to see if there was time to redue the epidural.  I was so desperate for anything that we decided to go for it.  So I bent over the side of the bed just exhausted, still digging into Lance and screaming.  While I was bent over the contractions were the most intense they had ever been.The pain was so intense that I was starting to pass out.  I couldn't hold my head up and I was so tired.  Lance said he had never seen me like that before. 

 I could literally feel the baby's head starting to crown. The nurse told me to lay on my side and they would check to see if she was coming.  Sure enough there was her head.  The doctor had just finished with the epidural and it started to kick in. My legs went numb instantly and after about 20 minutes of pushing Ellie Mae Snyder was born.  She was born at 2:17 p.m weighing 8 lbs. 15 oz. and 22 1/2 inches long.

She was by far the longest baby I have ever had. She was smaller than we thought she would be.

But she was worth all the pain!

Here she is! Here and I right after she came out.

We love her so much.  We are home now and just trying to adjust to life with 4 children.  I feel abit overwhelmed but we will just take one day at a time.