Eloise Ruth Phipps

We are SO happy to announce the arrival of our sweet little daughter, Eloise. Since her birth was such a different experience for me, I want to write out the whole story for our family to remember. But here's the short version first:

Eloise Ruth Phipps
Born December 10th at 5:47 pm
8 lbs. 10 oz.
21 inches long

And here's what happened:

I'm so glad I decided to wait on the induction and give my body a few more days to kick into gear. Thursday night, we went out to dinner with David's brother, Tyson and his wife Amber and Kevin and Vicki. I noticed that I was having a few more Braxton Hicks than usual, but not enough to think that anything was starting. We saw Santa Claus downtown and as soon as the girls were in bed, I went to my friend Paige's house for another awesome foot massage. Paige has studied reflexology and she rubbed all the parts of my foot that's supposed to release oxytocin in my body and get labor started. My braxton hicks contractions continued throughout the entire massage at about 5-6 min apart, so I started getting my hopes up. I came home late and of course had to sweep my floors and "nest" a bit just in case she did come. The contractions continued, although they weren't painful at all, until I went to bed around midnight.

At about 3 am I woke up to the same contractions, only a little stronger. I started timing them and they varied from 4-6 minutes apart. By now I was getting really excited! I fell back asleep and woke up around 5am to REAL contractions that were definitely more painful, but a little farther apart. I rolled over and said to Dave, "Thunder cats are go! I have real contractions." His reply was a long drawn out belch which he followed with "I feel really nauseous and need to sleep longer." What?? We both laughed and tried to sleep a little longer.

Conveniently, we already had a doctor's appointment that morning at 8:45, so we went in and had my doctor take a look. I was dilated to a 5 or 6 and fully thinned out. That was the best news! I was so excited to finally be in labor, I was loving my contractions (well, I didn't mind them anyway...) My doctor's office is literally three doors down from the maternity ward in the hospital, so we walked over and got settled into their natural birthing room.

For my first two deliveries, it was just David and me. For this labor I invited my friend Paige, a hypnobirthing pro, and my mom. I honestly do not know how I could have delivered this baby naturally without my three heros--Dave, Paige and my mom. They were AMAZING. Paige came around noon and my mom came in from Cedar around 2pm. That was when my "surges" (contractions) moved to the next level and I really had to apply all the visualizations and relaxation methods I've been practicing. It was such an incredible feeling to be able to take each surge and work with it, instead of being afraid of it and fighting it. I was able to totally relax my body during each surge while they came and went for hours. At one point I was even able to drift off into sleep.

I'm so grateful for the techniques I learned from hypnobirthing because they totally worked HOWEVER I also believe I could not have been so relaxed without my three helpers massaging me and applying pressure in just the right spots on my back and feet. They were like angels surrounding me with as much positive reinforcement and support as possible.

Trying out the birthing ball to get things moving along.

The last hour I spent mostly in bed on my side. I actually delivered Ellie just like this on my left side. Once my water broke and the baby was moving down, there was NO WAY I could move and reposition myself, so it worked out nicely.

Poor David didn't get much sleep the night before (well neither did I, but he wasn't as stoked about my contractions as I was), so when I was starting to doze off between surges, my mom gave David a nice back massage. That seemed to recharge his batteries.

They were watching my surges on this screen the entire time, congratulating me when they were especially intense. Our nurses were so considerate of our birth plan and preferences; they made sure to keep the room peaceful and quiet and not ask about pain levels or suggest pitocin to push things along. I wasn't even aware of how much time had passed, which was a blessing.

Around 5:30 pm, the surges became much more intense and closer together, so we knew she was coming soon. One of the most amazing things about having her naturally was how in tune I was to what my body was doing. I actually felt her move down and during the next surge my water broke. It was an incredible feeling. And then the "transition" stage kicked in when my body started pushing her down and out. I don't know that I can put that part of the delivery into words. The nurses came in and announced that the on-call doctor was still 20 min away (my doctor was out of town) and that they would call in a resident. Well, there were only about two or three more pushes to go, so Ellie was delivered by an incredible nurse who just jumped in and did what was required.

Actually delivering Ellie was an inexplicable experience. All I have to say is that once she came out and was placed on my chest and the entire delivery was over, I felt that hard-won exhaustion and relief--similar to how I felt after my marathon.
So glad I did it, no way I could repeat it any time soon, but totally worth the pain and hard work feeling. And what a precious prize we got at the end!

8 lbs 10 oz was a little bigger than I was expecting. I brought a bunch of my preemie outfits which of course, don't fit.

After they put Ellie on my chest for a while they brought her over for a quick intake of extra oxygen to help her breath clearly and take her weight. That gave me a minute to finish "delivering" everything else there is to deliver (I'm trying to be PC about this) and then they brought her back to nurse and bond with me for the next hour.
What an amazing feeling to finally see and hold and talk to this baby!

Can you believe her hair? Notice the blond tips.

I can't believe we're a family of five now!

So Ellie is Ms. popular pants in the nursery here at the hospital. I had them take her to the nursery for a few hours between feedings so I could sleep and when the nurse brought her back she said that she held her a lot while she was in there. I asked if she was fussy and she said, "No, she's just so dang cute I wanted to hold her!" They all love her blond tips.

Even the technician who did her hearing test brought in ten more bows for her hair.

Welcome sweet Eloise!

(stay tuned for pics of Ellie with her big sisters!)