Elijah's 3rd Birthday!

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Rachel's 4th Birthday

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Jeremiah's 6th Birthday!!

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Our 8th Anniversary!!!

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

It's a Boy! . . . Welcome Elijah Paul Laufer!!


So, where to begin? After a long and difficult pregnancy Elijah Paul Laufer is here! He's a month early, but he's here, healthy, and everyone is doing just fine.

It all started a long long time ago... No No No, that would take too long to type out. Basically, I started going into pre-term labor somewhere around 18 weeks. Long story short I ended up getting a circlage at 24 weeks. Between the high risk doctor and my normal OB doctor I was going to the hospital every week, taking progesterone shots weekly, and "Procardia" every 4 hours (3 hours at the end). Even at night! It was like having to wake up to take care of a newborn but the newborn was still inside. So tiring! Fast forward a few months to Monday Oct 4th and I was back in the hospital with steady contractions and a circlage in me. The high risk doctor decided that we were far enough along to warrant removing the circlage. That way I wouldn't have to stay in the hospital under constant supervision and could return home to take care of Paul and the kids until the baby really decided to come.

Fast forward two long weeks of constantly wondering if these contractions were getting closer together or stronger and at 35 weeks 5 days finally things started to progress. We called our friend Holly to come watch JP and Rachel and went in to the hospital. Sure enough I was dilated to 4cm which is far enough along that I was considered to be in active labor. We told them we didn't want to stop labor and to see what happens. Within an hour we had progressed to 5cm! But the last two pregnancies I've gotten stuck at five. A few hours later they broke my water and within an hour of that I was dilated to 9cm, ALMOST ready to push. With my last two pregnancies once I got past 7cm I was ready to push within less than an hour so that's what I was expecting. But this time I got stuck at 9cm! After 45 minutes that seemed like 2 hours they moved me to another room with a hot tub. The thought was that by relaxing in the tub my body would move to 10cm and I'd be ready to push. It worked! They were afraid I was going to have the baby in the tub! So they got me back into the bed, with some nice warm towels, and after a few short pushes Elijah was born! We were so excited and relieved when he came out crying, breathing, and not blue.

They did the usual baby checkout and Elijah was found to be in perfect health. He never needed to be put in the NICU. Thank God! He even wanted to nurse right away and get acquainted with mommy! Dad was all smiles and taking lots of pictures. But I did manage to take this picture!

We spent as short a time in the postpartum room as possible. It is impossible to rest with nurses, doctors, lactation consultants, lab techs, hearing test, baby nurses, pencil pushers, etc. coming in and out at all hours. We let the staff know we wanted to leave ASAP and since this was our third child they figured we knew what we were doing and didn't object, especially since Elijah was doing so well.

About an hour before leaving the day after his birth Grammy made it to visit with the older siblings. Jeremiah saw Elijah and asked, "Baby Rachel?" We introduced him to Elijah and asked him if he wanted to come closer. Jeremiah walked up, got a scared look on his face, and ran and hid behind Grammy! It was so funny and totally unexpected. Rachel seemed unsure and somewhat affectionate with her new baby brother.

All in all it couldn't have gone better. We're home and adjusting to life outnumbered by our kids as best as we can.