October 27, 2016

A BIRTH STORY: ELLE EMERY



Elle Emery Henry
Born October 19th, at 7:55pm
7lbs 12 oz – 19 inches

On Wednesday morning I went in for my 40 week appointment and was still dilated to a 4, 80% effaced at 7:00am. My doctor was amazed I had been walking around that dilated for the past two weeks, so we decided that an induction would probably be best. She told me that the hospital would probably call in the next few days when they had an opening. So I came home, took a nap, Marcus went to work, and at 10:30am got a phone call. The hospital asked if I could be there in an hour. I couldn’t believe it! All of a sudden, I felt so unprepared.  I called Marcus to come home and asked my mom if she could come watch Harper. It was so hard leaving Harper that morning-I was crying SO hard telling her goodbye. But as we were walking out the door she was so happy that Grandma was there that she didn’t mind either of us leaving.


We got to the hospital at noon, and they started me on an antibiotic drip until 4:30pm. It was great! They actually let me order a full lunch, and Marcus and I were able to talk, relax, and turn on the World Series (not Ashley’s choice.) After the four hours of antibiotics, they started the Pitocin. For the first hour, I hardly noticed I was having any contractions, but by 6:00pm the contractions started coming quick and consistent. By 6:30pm I asked for an epidural and for the next 15 min I counted down until the anesthesiologist could come in. It took everything I had to keep breathing, smiling, and between contractions I kept telling my nurse “I’m sorry!” Finally, I had the epidural but it only numbed my right half, so they decided to have me lean to the side. Right when I did that, my water broke!  So my doctor checked me and I was at a 10, ready to push.  I thought for sure it would be another couple of hours.


She apologized for not checking sooner and realized I probably could have pushed even before I got my epidural, but by that point I was SO glad I had it, I didn’t care! We waited for everyone to enter the room, and after three pushes, Baby Girl Henry made her arrival at 7:55pm. She screamed for the first 15 minutes until they finally put her on my chest and she instantly stopped crying. Overnight in the hospital wasn’t as bad as I remembered with Harper and in the morning both Marcus and I actually felt pretty good-except for the fact that the nurses kept checking mine and Baby Henry’s vitals every 30 min. I just wanted to sleep!


On Thursday we woke up and everything felt so surreal. We couldn’t believe she was here. We had visitors throughout the day and it was so sweet to watch Harper with her little sister. Marcus went down and brought her into the room by herself. I thought she wouldn’t even notice the baby but I was SO wrong. She jumped up on my bed and then exclaimed “Baby!” She started pointing out the baby’s eyes, nose, blanket, and paci and wanted to “hold the baby.” It was amazing to watch her take on that role of big sister so quickly as she wanted to show off “her baby” to everyone that visited.  


That night, as soon as we hit our 24 hour time limit in the hospital, we were out of there. I LOVE to sleep in my own bed.  And the BYU vs Boise State game was on anyways, so we were willing to stay up and watch it (or at least Marcus was.) It was so nice being in our own home, and being able to be together as a family. My mom watched Harper through the weekend, and I still can’t believe we are officially now a family of four! And that we have “children.”

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