{Happy 1st Birthday, Eli!}

I can't believe my little baby boy is 1 year old today. It seems like yesterday he was still in my tummy--pushing and kicking. I wasn't blogging until 5 or 6 months after he was born, so I'd like to take this opportunity to share our journey of bringing him into this world. It is a very long and boring story, so bear with me, please.

Most of you know that I had three miscarriages within an 8 month period of time just prior to conceiving Eli. It was a very difficult year. Losing my mom, and then the miscarriages. I just couldn't understand why this was happening to me. We finally figured out that the cause of the miscarriages was my body not producing the hormone, progesterone--in fact my numbers were so low that the nurses thought that I wasn't even ovulating, even though I was. So, I was given progesterone pills that I was to take twice a day from 3 days post-ovulation through my 13th week of pregnancy. Progesterone is what builds up the uterine lining allowing an egg to implant. If you don't have enough of a lining the egg will either not implant at all, or implant and then release because it didn't have enough to burrow into.

We conceived Eli right away. His original due date was July 9th--Jarrod's birthday. We didn't tell many people that I was pregnant at first, because of the previous miscarriages. We didn't want to get excited about the pregnancy if it wasn't going to last. I ended up with morning sickness during this pregnancy, unlike my pregnancy with Isaac, but it only lasted about 14 weeks--thankfully. When I was 20 weeks (on Valentine's Day) we found out that Eli was going to be a boy. I was so excited--a little brother for Isaac!

When I was 35 and a half weeks along, Isaac and I were rear-ended while driving to meet a friend for a play date. The whole trunk of the car was pushed forward and over $3600.00 damage was done. I was terrified that something would happen to the baby since I had been shoved forward forcefully against the seat belt. I felt a lot of tightening in my belly and I was worried that the baby was not okay. I ended up going in to see the Dr., and was given a non-stress test to measure the baby's movement and heart rate. Everything appeared to be okay, so I was sent home. Less than a week later, at just over 36 weeks, my water broke. It was so unexpected. I'd had my weekly check-up with the Dr. the day before and I was not dilated or effaced--it appeared that Eli was planning on staying in there for a while. My Dr. had told me that day that he would be out of town for the next week, so I'd better not go into labor just yet. I had been told during an ultrasound performed after the accident that Eli was going to be a big baby, like his older brother, and that I would most likely end up with another c-section. I had gone a week overdue with Isaac. My water never broke and I had never dilated or effaced, and it seemed that it would end up the same with Eli. So, when I got up at 5:30am to go potty and felt something unusual I seriously thought I'd had an 'accident' on the way to the bathroom. I was so embarrassed. I quickly figured out that it wasn't an accident, but that my water had broken. I was 4 weeks early, and hadn't packed a hospital bag or anything. David and I hadn't even discussed names for the baby yet--oops.

So, after dropping Isaac off at my parents house we headed to the hospital. We were checked in and put in a labor and delivery room. At this point, I was hoping that since Eli wasn't full-term and not as large as Isaac was, I might be able to deliver him without having to have a c-section. I was put on Pitocin--a drug to help me have contractions, but my body just didn't cooperate. Nearly 12 hours after my water had broken I was told that since my cervix hadn't dilated at all I would be having another c-section. I was bummed, but had kind of expected that this would be the outcome. So, off we went to the operating room. I was given a spinal that numbed me from the chest down and within a few minutes Eli was born. 6:17pm on June 18, 2008. He weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 20.5 inches long. He had a ton of dark hair, and the chubbiest cheeks I've ever seen. He ended up being jaundiced, and we had to have him on bilirubin lights at home for a day or so, but for being a month early he was amazingly healthy.

I can't tell you how much I love this little boy. He has brought so much joy into my life. He is so different from Isaac, and that amazes me. Isaac is a doer, and Eli is a watcher. I just love them both so much. Here are some pictures of us just prior to Eli being born and then right after.

Definitely not the best picture of me. Ugh!

David--just prior to walking with me to the operating room for the c-section.

Baby Eli. Look at those cheeks!

Mommy and Eli. Look at all of his dark hair.