Eli Thomas has arrrived!!

Eli Thomas Allison was born March  20th at 4:38 pm. He was 8 lbs 7 oz and 21 1/2 inches long! A big baby compared to Isaac's 7 lb 11 oz. His little feet and hands are huge... no wonder my little nudger baby made me so uncomfortable!

Eli's Birth Story:
I went in for an induction on the 20th because he was overdue. I had hopes that he would come on his own and had pushed the induction date back from the 16th to the 20th to give him extra time.. but to no avail. I was 3 cm and 50% effaced for 2 weeks with constant painful braxton contractions. So.. we had to evict him from his warm womb and choose his birthday :(  We got to the hospital at 7:20 after stopping for a quick bagel for breakfast. It took 2 nurses and and  an IV specialist to get my IV started.. 4th attempt was the charm. Evidently my veins have valves and they couldn't thread the catheter through without the vein blowing. They started pitocin around 10:00 and I labored until 12:00 when I was 4 cm and 80% effaced. My OB broke my bag of waters and contractions started picking up in frequency and pain. Josh and I used the techniques we had learned in birthing class to keep things going. I walked the halls, used the birthing ball and Josh was constantly massaging my back (back labor is soo fun!) and reminding me to breathe. It was a very calm labor; we did allow some family to come in before the pain starting picking up too much. Around 3:00 the contractions were intense; the devil drug pitocin is not much fun at all.  Our nurse checked me and I was 8 cm and right at 100% effaced. I requested the epidural and by the time everything was finished I was feeling pressure... sure enough it was time to push! I ended up pushing for 48 minutes and baby arrived! We still had not picked a name.. it was down to Eli or Seth. I told Josh to name him and I did not care which one he picked. He looked at him and said if the baby was smaller he would name him Seth, but since he had such big hands and feet that he looked like a NFL player and went with Eli. After skin on skin bonding and a nursing session, Josh went to announce his arrival and we started letting family in to meet our newest family member.. Eli Thomas. Isaac was the first one it to see the baby and I think he was a little speechless!

Eli is a great baby.. except for sleeping! He is definitly a sweet, sleep-robber! He is very calm and alert. He did not close his eyes for 6 hours after he was born. He is a chow hound and loves to eat. These newborn days are tough but I am trying to cherish them because they are gone way too quickly.