Hanging at the Hospital

We were in the hospital for a couple of days after Eisley was born. We enjoyed this time and bonded as a new little family of three. I learned how to nurse (and am just now getting the hang of it), we slept very little, and fell in love even more!

The hospital staff were really great to us.

Here are some of our favorite moments from the hospital:

 Eisley getting her belly button tag removed!

 LOVING my Turkey Tom from Jimmy Johns!! I waited SO long for this sandwich! DELISH!

 Skin-on-skin time with daddy! This girl still loves curling up on daddy's chest to sleep!

Birth Story (Part 3- It's Time to Welcome Eisley Grace!)

Birth Story: Part 3

A few hours after Dr. W broke my water, my family arrived at the hospital. I was so excited for them to be there! I wasn't a pretty sight for them...I was exhausted (I think I was a little out of it with those epidural drugs), I was quite nauseous, and I was tired of waiting on my daughter to arrive. I was just READY! Lucky for me, Dr. W came in and told me it was go time!  YAY!

Chad was by my side the entire time. He encouraged me, fed me ice chips (man, did I love those ice chips!), held my hand, and gave me tons of forehead kisses (I LOVE forehead kisses!). I know I couldn't have done it without him by my side. A little under an hour of pushing later (with me sleeping in between contractions/pushing...sleeping!), Eisley Grace made her entrance into the world. She had (and still has) a healthy set of lungs and screamed and yelled about leaving the comfort of her home from the past 9 months.

Chad cried. I cried. My tears came from overwhelming joy, extreme exhaustion, absolute delight, and a new found depth of love I never knew I could feel. To this day, I can't describe the love I feel, other than being an unconditional and forever and ever kind of love.

Here's the official stats:
Eisley Grace Harrison was born on her due date of Sunday, October 20th at 4:15pm weighing in at 7lbs 4oz and measuring 21.5" inches long.

Every nurse told us that it was amazing Eisley was born on her due date. We were told numerous times that only 4% of babies are born on their actual due date! Eisley Grace is her momma's daughter! :-)

 Sleeping between contractions....

 

Chad got a picture of the clock when Eisley was born: 4:15:58pm

 

This is my favorite picture of her! She looks so long!!

 

Our doctor, Dr. W. (we love her!) holding Eisley girl

 

The Harrison Family...a family of 3!

Birth Story (Part 2- Epidural = Sweet, Sweet Relief!)

Birth Story: Part 2

After walking the aisles for over an hour, it was time for my epidural...my sweet, sweet epidural!A lot of women are nervous about the needle or the pain associated with an epidural, but I wasn't really nervous about it at all. From being admitted to right before the epidural, I had dilated another 2 centimeters (wow and ouch!); I was just so happy to get some relief from the contractions!

After getting the epidural around 5:15am, it was pretty much a non-eventful morning. I was feeling pretty good and it was time for Chad and I to take a nap. We were very much regretting staying up to watch that movie the night before! Luckily for us, Eisley decided she was going to wait quite a while before making her debut. So we had plenty of time to sleep, watch movies (thanks to Chad for loading a ton on my iPad), and spend the last minutes and hours cherishing each other as a family of two.

Dr. Weisberger got to the hospital around noon. She decided to break my water to help gets things started. WOW! I was amazed at how the shape of my belly changed after she broke my water. It was amazing how much water was actually in my belly! She also gave me some Pitocin to give my contractions a kick-start...and boy, oh boy, did the Pitocin work!

(to be continued...)

Birth Story (Part 1- Holy Contractions, Batman!)

On Saturday night (Oct 19th) I started to feel a bit crampy but really thought nothing of it. I was told, by multiple people, that I would KNOW I was having contractions and these little "cramps" didn't cause any serious alarm on my part. So, Chad and I decided to stay up late to watch a movie and headed to bed around midnight.

Around 2:30am, I woke up with a startle. I was having contractions and I KNEW it (Jen and Alisa- you were SO right!)! I woke Chad up and had him start timing. I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes, so we decided to call the doctor; she told us to head to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 3:45am, parked the car, and headed to labor and delivery on the 9th floor. I don't know if you've ever been to the hospital in the middle of the night (I hope you haven't!), but it's pretty much the creepiest place on Earth. The hallways were both dark and empty...pretty much the beginnings of a creepy zombie movie.

I got checked in, put on a glamorous couture (HA!) hospital gown and started to walk the hallways. I couldn't get the epidural quite then, so I had to walk the hallways for about an hour. Let me tell you...it was the longest hour of my life! Chad was amazing; he held my hand, talked me through each contraction, and pretty much kept me from "hulking out" on the kind little nurse who kept telling me to wait "just a little bit longer."

(to be continued)...

 

There is NO traffic this early in the morning! 

 

Oh Chad...

 

This is my contraction face...and my lovely outfit...haha!

I loved this sign! hilarious!

 

Look how young and naive we are...we have NO idea just how much our lives are about to change!

Walking the halls...

Boys Trip

Our good friend, Tyler, surprised Chad with tickets to a Chicago Bears game at Soldier Field! This was both a birthday gift and a "last-hoorah" gift before Eisley was born. Instead of driving up and back just for the game, Chad and Tyler decided to make it a "man trip" and stay in Chi-town for the weekend!

Our great friend, Michele, let the guys stay at her place while they were in the city! She actually let them take over her apartment for the weekend so they wouldn't have to pay for a place to stay in the city! Needless to say, she is awesome!

Here are a few pics from their trip: