Ellie's Birth Story

She's here!!! 

Ellie Austin was born on November 23rd.

She weighed in at 8lbs 1oz and was 19 inches long. 

I had been having contractions for a few days, but kept putting it off because I didn't want to make my husband come home from work or call the babysitter if it was just a false alarm, especially since it was the week of thanksgiving! Well, my husband surprisingly got Thanksgiving day off so we decided to get down all the Christmas decorations from the attic and put up the Christmas tree since we probably wouldn't have another chance. I jokingly told him that putting up the tree was going to put me into labor. We went to Cracker Barrel for thanksgiving dinner (fancy, I know) and I was having contractions through the night but didn't really think much of it. We enjoyed our night together and Stuart went back to work the next morning. I woke up still having contractions and they seemed to be more consistent and sometimes painful, so after hesitating to go to the hospital I finally decided maybe I should go get checked to make sure. We got to the hospital around 9:30 and sure enough I was already 6cm! We were shocked! I guess laboring at home for a few days was worth it ;) I debated if I should get an epidural or not. I wasn't in much pain and I really wanted to do it without one since I knew I could (if anyone remembers my crazy birth story with Scarlett) but I decided for my husband's sake I would get one this time to make the experience more enjoyable for all of us :) I got the epidural at 12:10 and at 1:00 I was 8cm. They hadn't given me anything to speed up my labor since I tested positive for gbs and needed 2 doses of antibiotics before she was born. The IV of penicillin was awful!!!! It felt like my hand was burning! Definitely the worst part of the whole labor! After I received all the meds, they started my pitocin and broke my water at 3:00. Not long after that I started feeling some pressure and after only about 5 pushes little miss Ellie Austin was born at 4:02 pm! No matter how many babies you have, it's always such a surreal experience! And for those of you curious, Austin is my husband's middle name. Since we never had a boy, we decided it was the perfect middle name for her :)

We're so happy she's finally here and in our arms now!
In love with our little family of 5!