Elianna Marie Wright: A Birth Story
Elianna Marie Wright was born on July 7th at 2:49am, 7lbs and 19.6 inches tall! Her due date was actually on July 6th, so it was pretty spot on! I had a doctors appointment earlier that day and was barely 2cm dilated. Later that night Stephen and I went to get mexican food for dinner. When we came home we watched Jurassic Park with Asher and then put him to bed. I had my first contraction at 11:46pm and the next one came at 11:56pm. I told myself that if I had another one at 12:06am then I would tell Stephen to start keeping track of them with me. At 12:04am I had my next contraction and knew I was in labor. For the following hour my contractions stayed consistent and Stephen decided that it was time to head to the hospital. I was pretty hesitant because it was literally the first hour that my contractions had even started, I didn’t want to go all the way to the hospital just to have them send us back. Stephen was insisting that we go because of how fast my first labor was with Asher and because my contractions were ten minutes apart for an hour straight, so I went along with it. He got our hospital bags and at that point I tell my mom i’m in labor. My mom calls my sister and they make arrangements to bring Asher to my aunts house so they can make their way to the hospital. When Stephen and I were headed to the hospital I typed the address into my GPS and it said our ETA was an hour! At that point I freak out because I just know that we would be pushing it (again, like we did with Asher). Then, about 10 minutes into the drive I realized I had my GPS in the mode to avoid highways from a trip I had previously taken! I was so relieved when I changed it and realized it was just 20 more minutes.
We got to the hospital around 1:45am and they checked me in and then took my vitals. I asked them if they could tell me how dilated I was because at that point my contractions were getting stronger. I come to find out I was only 4cm dilated! I was discouraged because I really wanted to just be fully dilated already since my contractions were strong lol. They asked if I wanted the epidural and I declined it since I wanted another natural birth. My contractions were becoming closer together and stronger too, I knew I had to be more dilated! They wheeled me into the delivery room about 20 minutes later. I had them check me again and I was 7cm dilated! At this point my contraction were so intense I was just trying to get as comfortable as I could. I knew things would be progressing quick, I just couldn’t believe how quickly! About 5 minutes later I told them my water was about to break and seconds later it broke!
I told my delivery team that I needed to push and they were telling me to wait a bit because they didn’t think I was fully dilated. I had them check me again and they said I was 9cm, but I didn’t believe that. I just remember Stephen telling me 9cm could be mistaken for a 10cm and that if I needed to push that I just should lol. At that point I did because it just felt like the most natural thing to do. I honestly couldn’t hold back any longer and started pushing. As Ellie was coming out her shoulders were stuck under my pelvis (just like Asher), so that part was intense. Actually every part was excruciating lol. Since she was stuck they had to push down on my stomach to help get her out while I was having my contractions (so freaking painful!).
My sweet baby was finally born after about 5 to 6 big pushes later and I was just so relieved! Since her birth happened so fast she was born with bruising all over her sweet little face. Holding her for the first time was just so surreal. I can’t even describe it other than saying it was just such a special moment where I swear time just stood still. During delivery I tore and had to get stiches after. They asked me if I wanted laughing gas so that I could be more comfortable with the stitching and I tried it out. Honestly I really didn’t like it at ALL. I felt so out of it and like I had no control of my body at all. I was worried about holding my baby because I didn’t know how long I would feel out of it. I stopped using it after a couple of minutes. It felt like an eternity when I was getting my stitches. I just wanted to hold Ellie so bad but had given her to Stephen and the nurses to get her checked out and cleaned up. I could see Stephen in the background talking to the nurses, midwife and doctor about Asher and showing them all his pictures, such a proud dad haha. It was so sweet.
It took 35 minutes to birth my placenta but after that I finally got to enjoy my sweet angel and hold her again. Prior to her birth I worried about breastfeeding her and if it would work out. Stephen and I had gone to a breastfeeding class, I had felt more confident afterwards. They talked about the importance of skin-skin contact and doing it right away to get the babies to root and latch. From the moment I got her back again we did skin-skin and she immediately started rooting and latched all on her own. It was so beautiful and natural. It was literally everything I hoped it would be like.
My labor was a total of 3 hours from the start of my first contraction until she was born! I have to say that this was a more intense labor than Asher’s. It was far more painful and stressful during this labor. Delivery teams make SUCH a difference. Although ours was nice.. I’ll just say they weren’t anything like the ones we had for Asher. I ended up just spending one night at the hospital instead of the two since I was missing Asher SO much. It was nice to be able to get back home and start our new life. Asher has been the most amazing big brother from the moment they met. I was so worried about him and how he would feel about having to share our attention. He has been so spoiled and so loved and has had 150% of our attention that I stressed about how he would be able to handle it. He has been a complete champ. I honestly couldn’t be more proud of him! When he came to visit us at the hospital he asked us if we could take her home! He is always trying to soothe her and asking where she is and what she is doing at all times! He’s so gentle with her and loving. We couldn’t be luckier <3
A very special thank you to my dear friend Alyssa Hitchcock of Lovely Bones Studio for capturing our Fresh 48 photos for us <3 Head over to her blog to check out the rest of her AMAZING work here !!
XOXO