Elyas Christopher Johnson - September 24th, 2010

The Birth of Elyas Christopher Johnson

This post is long over due, but I finally have a free moment and was able to write it.

Baby Elyas Christopher Johnson was born Friday, September 24th, 2010 at 4:37 PM. He weighed 8lbs 3oz and was 20 1/4" long.

Friday morning I decided not to wake up at 6AM like I normally do; instead I slept in until about 10:30AM. I woke to go to the bathroom and when I was done I started to get up when I oddly started streaming again (this was about 10:45AM). I thought this was weird, and considered that this possibly was my water breaking. I got up to tell Chris that I thought my water may have broken, but he was like "mmmmhmmm" because we had a few false alarms already. I went and started the laundry and became sure that my water had in fact broken because I felt myself leaking, and confirmed that it was real this time with Chris. Then I continued doing the laundry and experienced my first real contraction.

Chris started getting ready and I went and took a shower. Now I know you are probably thinking "what the heck?" right? yeah, well we were new to this and we had been informed to stay home even after the water has broken and to wait there until the contractions are consistently 5 minutes apart for an hour. We really thought it was going to be a while before we needed to go in, because everyone kept telling us that their labor had been about 20+ hours. I began experiencing stronger and more frequent contractions while in the shower. They began to get closer and closer in a short period of time and I panicked a little when I couldn't immediately get a hold of Chris. When he came upstairs, he found me crying at the end of the bed trying to breath. I told him the contractions were more severe and very close together. I told him to call the midwife and that we needed to go soon.

We checked into the hospital at about 12:11PM. By the time we got there my contractions were only 2 minutes apart. They checked my cervix and I was still 3cm dilated (same as I had been on Wednesday), however, My midwife Nan came in not too long after and said that I was already 6cm dilated. At that point the contractions were blended into each other, and I was thinking "where are these breathing breaks everyone kept talking about?" because there were NO Breaks at all in between.

Chris was wonderful, I couldn't have asked for a better coach. He stood by my side the whole time, apart from the time he had to go park the car and buy me flowers. He stood by me and held my forehead and hand during each contraction. Every position was uncomfortable except for sitting in the glider and rocking; I did most of my labor in it. The idea of the Jacuzzi bath sounded good, but they wouldn't let me get in it until the baby was reading perfect on the charts. Nan helped ground me by telling me that I could do it and that I was strong, because I was birthing completely natural and was feeling a lot of pain. This calmed me down and so I began repeating this affirmation to myself over and over as I contracted. It helped ease the pain and kept me calm.

The next time Nan checked me my cervix was at 8 almost 9cm dilated. Oddly, this is when they decided to let me in the jacuzzi tub. As soon as I got in I wanted back out. They asked me what was wrong, as I began squirming back and forth. I knew that it was time to push. I couldn't get out, and began to panic a little. That's when Chris bent over and scooped me up out of the tub. I wanted back in the glider, but they said that that time was over and that it was time to get on the table for the rest of the birth. When they checked me my cervix was completely gone and I was past ready to push.

Nan got all dressed in scrubs and they wheeled a table with clamps and other medical equipment into the room. The lighting changed and everything became so surreal. I felt ready to push, but I was waiting for someone to say "push!" like they do in the movies. My midwife Nan told me that whenever I was ready to start pushing to go right ahead, but I was still hesitant like I needed someone to say, "ready and GO!". So finally I just started pushing.
Everyone was talking to me, giving me encouragement. They all counted for me and kept me pushing. It was hard and it hurt. They wheeled a mirror in for me so that I could see the baby's head, and made me feel the head with my hand. After 10 minutes of pushing Elyas Christopher Johnson was born at 4:37PM. He weighed 8lbs 3oz, and was 20 1/4" long. They put him directly on my chest so that we could have some immediate skin to skin contact and bond.
Elyas was beautiful. No bruising, no birthmarks, there was nothing wrong, he was absolutely perfect. The nurses all said that he was so beautiful, the most beautiful baby they had seen, and that he didn't even look like a newborn because they said that normally newborns are wrinkly and squished and a little on the ugly side. I can't believe he's mine. He is so beautiful. I love him so much.

My mom and dad arrived soon after he was born. Mom was sad she missed his birth, but was excited to see Elyas. Chris said he cried tears of joy a little bit when Elyas was born, but I didn't cry until I saw my parents reaction to Elyas. Chris's Aunts Jan and Chris and his mom Gail and Mark came to see Elyas too, along with my sister-in-law Karrie and my brother Bryan and my nieces Victoria and Dominique.

The hospital treated us really good. The nurses were all nice and I felt really taken care of, it made me want to stay a few days longer. I was shown how to breastfeed, weird right? You'd think that would come naturally, but not really. He doesn't open his mouth wide enough, doesn't latch well, among other obstacles.

When they checked Elyas they said that he had high counts of Bilirubin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilirubin), which was making him a little yellow, and that breastfeeding and pooping would help get rid of that. They said that if levels got too high it could cause permanent brain damage.

I feel so happy and blessed that I have a perfect, healthy little baby boy. He is the newest love of my life and the perfect addition to my new family. Chris and I love him so much. Welcome to the family Elyas.