BIRTH STORY

I can't believe it's been almost two months since my last blog. I had no idea how little free time I would have once the baby was born. I thought that I should blog about Elise's birth before I blogged about anything else.

My doctor scheduled me for my FIFTH ultrasound on Thursday, September 24th. James and I met with the doctor after my ultrasound to discuss how I would deliver Elise since she was almost one week past her due date. I was told that Elise was between 9 and 10 pounds, that I was not dilated at all and that the doctors believed me to have a narrow pelvis.

Because of all these reasons, James and I discussed that the best thing to do was to have Elise by cesarean birth and avoid the stress and complications of a natural birth- since it was believed by my doctor that if I chose to try a vaginal birth that I may end up with a cesarean birth if there were complications.

I arrived at Aultman Hospital at 7am on Friday, September 25th. After checking in and going through all the preparations, James and I went to the operating room to prepare for the long-awaited birth of our baby girl. The worst part of the surgery preparation was the spinal. After three tries and calling in another doctor- I finally received my spinal. The surgery went well and Elise Lauraine Moseley was born at 9:53am.

Because the curtain was in front of my face, I wasn't able to see Elise be born- but it was amazing watching her enter this world through James' eyes. He didn't have to say a word as I saw his face and his eyes filled with tears. As James cut the umbilical cord- I began to cry- knowing that we had just become parents and that our lives would be changed forever. James brought Elise to me and we both kissed her welcoming her to our family.

Elise was 8 pounds 15 oz., 20 1/4 inches, light brown hair and blue eyes. We all fell in love!! Elise and I did well while staying at Aultman Hospital. After our second day in the hospital, Elise had learned how to breast feed and was able to eat well enough so that she did not develop jaundice.

We are proud of her development and love her more and more every day. Elise is a blessing from God and a wonder to us. James and I never knew the joy that we could feel in adding a beautiful baby girl to our family.