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In July of 2006, Daniel and I decided that we were ready to expand our family. We had recently bought a three bedroom house and Delanie had just celebrated her second birthday and was well on her way to being completely potty-trained. These were things that we considered to be necessary prerequisites before we would try for another baby. I went off of my birth control at that time and was preparing myself for a possibly long road of trying to conceive. Delanie was a wonderful mishap, so I really had no idea how fertile my body was when I was actually making a conscious effort to get pregnant. I was carefully keeping track of both my cycle and my "activity", hoping to be able to pinpoint conception. It only took about four months of trying for me to successfully get pregnant. I had an inkling in early to mid December that I might be pregnant, but we officially found out on December 22nd that we would be adding a new member to our family. My estimated due date was August 20th of 2007 and our estimated date of conception was November 27th, which fell perfectly in line with my "cycle and activity" calendar.
My pregnancy was generally very smooth. I had some nausea for the first month or so, primarily if I had failed to eat or right after I took my prenatal vitamins, but I had very little morning sickness. This was a pleasant surprise after the misery I endured with Delanie. I was also experiencing some alarmingly low blood pressure, which wasn't much of a surprise to me, since my blood pressure is rather low normally. It was advised that I limit my activity, because I dealing with severe headaches and lightheadedness that resulted from my low blood pressure. It was hard to do so when I had Delanie to run around after and a house to take care of, but luckily Daniel and the rest of the family was more than happy to help out.
In late March of 2007, we found out that we were expecting another little girl. We argued for what felt like forever over our new little princess's name. Daniel insisted that since I chose Delanie's first name, it was his turn to choose. He gave me three names to pick from and out of those, I chose Elysa (pronounced Ee-lee-sa). I am still unsure where the name came from, but Daniel really liked it, so I suppose that's all that matters. Since Daniel chose Delanie's middle name, it was my turn to choose Elysa's middle name. For that, I decided on Paige. It was just a name that I had liked for a long time and I thought that it flowed nicely with Elysa. I also decided that she would go by Ellie, for short. It would be a nickname that we'd introduce once she got used to her actual name.
In July of 2007, I was hospitalized for a short time because I was struggling to breathe. I have asthma and it tends to get more severe during pregnancy. I had to undergo some breathing treatments and I was given a special inhaler to take home. I was able to control it for the remainder of the pregnancy.
I had decided early on that I didn't want to go far overdue like I did with Delanie, mostly because of the meconium issues that we had with her. As much as I didn't want to, I asked to be induced and was taken into the hospital on my due date, August 20th. After the quick labor and delivery that I experienced with Delanie, I was expecting an even easier go of things this time around, especially since I was already 3 cm dilated. However, I was painfully wrong. I should have known better since it was storming that day, and Daniel said that only evil babies are born during storms. I laughed it off at the time, but at the end of the day, I was starting to rethink myself.
I was given Pitocin around 8:00 in the morning and made little progression throughout most of the day. I was offered IV pain medication until I was able to get my epidural, but I declined. My epidural was administered around 5:30. I felt some much needed relief for about an hour, but then the pain started to resurface. The anesthesiologist came back in to give me more medication through my epidural catheter, but again, it was ineffective. I was quite numb on my left leg and hip, but that was it. At that point, I was exhausted. My OB came in around 8:00 to break my water and at that time, Elysa brought her hand around the side of her head and grabbed the doctor's finger. He gently pinched her hand to get her to bring it back in, but that was our comedic moment of the day. Our one, lonely comedic moment.
After that, my doctor had to go to the other hospital that he attends, which was about 10-15 minutes away. He figured that I still had quite a bit of laboring ahead of me, so he wasn't too concerned. I alerted my nurses, however, that with Delanie, I progressed rather quickly after my water broke. I thought the same might be possible this time. I started feeling very strong contractions soon after and I just started sobbing. I was in an indescribable amount of pain, I was beyond exhausted, and I was frustrated with having been stuck in an uncomfortable hospital bed all day long. I just wanted things to be over. Little did I know, I was transitioning at this point, which easily explained the pain and emotion that I was experiencing.
Daniel called for a nurse to come in and check me around 9:30. Just as I expected, I was 8 cm dilated and completely effaced. This was a HUGE jump from the measly 3-4 cm that I had been sitting at all day long. The nurse smiled, since she's the one I informed about my history of quick progression after my water breaks. At that time, she paged my OB, because he was still at the other hospital and she knew it wouldn't be much longer. About 15 minutes later, I was feeling an incredible amount of pressure and all I wanted to do was push. The nurse came back in to check me and I was complete. My doctor was on his way back from the other hospital, so I was told to try not to push until he arrived. I was literally holding her in, which was probably the most ridiculous part of the day. I wanted to push, I needed to push, and I really thought she was just going to start sliding out on her own if my doctor didn't get there soon.
At that time, a resident was asked to come into my room, in case I was no longer able to keep her inside. Just as I thought I was going to burst, my doctor comes running through the doors, throwing on his scrubs. I started to push around 10:05 and less than 15 minutes later, she was out. Elysa Paige Brewer was born on August 20th, 2007 at 10:17 PM. She weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces (almost a pound more than Delanie) and was 19 inches long (an inch and a half shorter than Delanie).
Elysa was in perfect health. I had a small tear and lost a lot of blood, but aside from that, I was doing well. Elysa nursed like a champ right away, which was a huge relief to me. The remainder of my hospital stay was less than ideal and I was just ready to go home. I was dehydrated for a while after I delivered and my iron count was low, so I was very tired and pale. But having my little one in my arms was enough to make me forget about everything else.
After Elysa's birth, I decided that if Daniel and I were to have another baby, I would not deliver in a hospital. I would pursue care from a midwife and deliver in a birthing center, preferably in a birthing tub. Since I had an ineffective epidural this time around, I knew what a natural birth was supposed to feel like. I also knew that a natural experience in a birthing center would be a million times better than being stuck in an uncomfortable hospital bed all day with a painful IV in my arm.
I've also dealt with some pretty severe problems since this birth experience. There are several places on my left side, hip, and thigh that now have little or no sensation whatsoever. I'm fairly certain that the epidural is the cause of this, but I'll never be completely sure. I've also been suffering from more sciatic pain that I have ever experienced. I've had problems with sciatica for several years, but never anything this bad. My hope is that these problems improve over time, but I'm honestly not sure that they ever will.
On a more positive note, I got a beautiful daughter out of the experience. I was always told that you never have two children alike and that couldn't be any more true. Delanie was a calm, independent baby from the beginning. Elysa was, and still is, much more needy. Delanie was content letting just anyone hold her, while Elysa is hesitant around anyone who isn't her Mommy. Elysa is a Mommy's girl on a level that I never thought was possible. To her, the sun radiates from me. To an extent, I love the fact that she's so attached to me. However, it would be nice to get a break every now and then. She's also very stubborn and strong-willed. And curious and mischievous, lol. She's pretty fearless when it comes to exploring and is known to get various bumps and bruises without so much as a whimper. I've realized that she's the one who is going to give me gray hair, ha ha.
So far, Elysa's world revolves around climbing on everything, getting into things she shouldn't, following Mommy around like a shadow, playing with her big sister, chasing Oliver around the house, playing outside, dressing up, playing with her dolls, and swimming. She also loves music and singing and she really enjoys "reading" and being read to. Her favorites are any of the Berenstain Bears or Little Critter titles, as well as fairy tales. She loves to watch Max and Ruby, Yo Gabba Gabba, Wow Wow Wubbzy, The Berenstain Bears, The Powerpuff Girls, and any of the Disney princess movies. Like her sister, she's still attached to her "B", her special blanket. I love her to pieces. Overall, she's an absolute joy and has brought so much into our family.