Well our little girl has finally made her grand entrance into the world. We are so happy that she is here and we are both home and doing great! So here is the story of her birth...
On Tuesday 9/7/10 I went to work feeling pretty good, but just had this underlying feeling that I either wouldn't make it through a full day of work or labor would be shortly after. Well I made it through the day and home, ate dinner and just decided to watch a little TV. Contractions were coming about every 6-7 minutes but they weren't painful so we figured we would just wait and see if they got any closer. Around 9:00 I decided to take a shower as it seemed that the contractions were starting to get under 5 minutes apart (they tell you to go to the hospital when they are under 5 minutes for 1-2 hours and are at least 60 seconds in length). I got showered and we waited just a little longer, but decided to head to the hospital around 10:00. I was checked out but things didn't seem to be progressing so the doctor had me walk around the hospital for an hour and a half before being checked again. Do you happen to know how boring walking around a hospital for an hour and a half at 11:00 at night? Yea very boring! About 12:15 the nurse checked me again and still there was no progress so we had the option to either go home and wait it out or to hang out at the hospital. We definitely chose to go home and wait (we only live 5 minutes away so we figured we would make it if anything happened).
We got home about 1:15 am on 9/8/10 and I decided to let Keith have the bed and I would just lay on the couch and wait. I was still having contractions about every 3-4 minutes but they were still manageable so I figured I would get a little sleep. Boy was I wrong. As soon as I closed my eyes I felt a small pop (like she had gotten stuck on my hip bone) and then my water broke. It was 1:40 am and back to the hospital we went! I was checked to confirm it was indeed my water (which it definitely was). So again we waited. I finally decided around 4 am to let the nurse give me a little pain medicine (I wasn't far enough along to get the epi yet) so I could get a little sleep but that seemed to have stopped everything completely.
At 7:00 am it was time for shift change and my new nurse, Wendy, came in and let me know that she had talked to Dr. Flanagan and he had decided to go ahead and start Pitocin (I was supposed to be induced anyway on Friday the 10th) and that he would be in around 9 or so to check me. The Pitocin was started around 8:00 am. At 9:00 Dr. Flanagan came in and checked me and I was at 2 cm so still a long way to go. He let me know that he had placed the order for the epi so as soon as I either wanted it or reached a 4 I could get it.
Unfortunately the next 3 1/2 hours were not as easy as the previous 8 had been. The contractions were hard and lasted a while and I didn't seem to progress very fast. At 11 am I had the nurse check me again and we had made it to a 3 which meant that I still wasn't far enough along to get the epi. She offered me other pain medicine but we decided to try and make it at least another 30 minutes before taking that option. Well after 30 minutes I still hadn't made it to a 4 so I decided to go ahead and take the pain medicine she was offering hoping I could get a little rest. The next hour was a blur. At 12:30 I finally made it to a 4 and the epi was ordered. I was able to get the epi about 12:50 and at 1:10 I was checked again and told I had progressed all the way to a 9 within those 40 minutes and we would be pushing soon. I took advantage of the wonderful pain relief and got a little rest while we waited for the official word to push. Let me just say that the epi was a god sent! The pain was no more and I was feeling great!
At 2:30 pm on 9/8/10 we got the go ahead to start pushing and for the next hour we pushed and waited. Dr. Flanagan arrived around 3:10 and at 3:29 pm little Ella Kate Underwood arrived into the world with a little whimper weighing 7 lbs 9 oz and measuring 19 1/2 inches.
Here are some pictures of labor, delivery, and the two days that followed
Right after I had received the epidural and gotten the word that pushing would begin shortly. I was definitely a happy camper at this time!
Our first glimpse of Miss Ella Kate
Starting to get all cleaned up.
Her first close up. Anyone notice that great skin color and how much hair she has!
Dr. Flanagan and his most recent delivery.
Our labor and delivery nurse, Wendy. She was awesome and did such an amazing job of coaching me!
Granny and Poppy with their newest grandchild. Somehow I did not get a picture of Nona and Papa with their first grandchild. I will blame that on Keith since I was still stuck in the bed!
Ella Kate with her Parrain and Uncle
With my friend Aubrey from work... she was willing to basically be on call every night that Keith had not been home since 25 weeks.
We had to spend 2 full days in the hospital because Ella Kate was what is called Coon's Positive (She has A positive blood and I am O positive) which basically just meant that she was at higher risk for jaundice. We finally received our discharge orders at 3:40 pm on 9/10/10 (the day I was supposed to be induced).
Our first family portrait. Getting ready to head out the door!
Headed down to the car
Ella Kate's first car ride home!
Saban meeting our newest addition. He is still a little unsure of her but slowly warming up!
Well that is the story of how our newest addition entered the world. It was a long two days without much sleep, but we made it and are so glad to have her here and healthy!
As you can tell someone was a great little girl while we were there. Slept the whole time!
Once again someone was a complete angel! Once we got her dressed she slept all the way through us getting ready, church, and even most of breakfast! I sure hope that she continues to behave this well.
Here is our first family picture since the hospital taken before we went to church. Looks like I got a few more pregnancy pounds to lose! All with time! 
