Three weeks ago on June 6th I started having contractions at my women's bible study, but it didn't hurt so I wasn't really sure if it was the real deal. Later that night they started getting more intense and closer together so I woke up my husband Bryan and told him, "This is it!" He didn't believe me at first and wanted to go back to sleep but when I started moaning in agony he realized I was serious. We woke up my very sleepy mom and dad and went to Anderson Hospital in Maryville, Il.
We got there at about 3:30 a.m. on June 7th and I was already dilated 4 cm! I got an epidural and it felt amazing :) because the contractions were very intense and close together. Of course all of my doctors were busy or not at the hospital so I kept seeing different doctors and really the nurse did all of the work. By 7 a.m. I was ready to push! It wasn't as simple as I thought it would be; there is definitely a technique to it and they had me try several different positions. I pushed for two and a half hours before my nurse told us that he was facing up instead of facing down and because of that was not getting through the birth canal. That is when she told me we were going to have to do a c- section.
That was one of the scariest moments of my life just because it wasn't at all what we were prepared for and weren't really sure what to expect. They told me Bryan could be in the surgery room with me and that made me feel a lot better. We waited for my doctor to get there and they wheeled me into surgery. The anesthesiologist gave me a stronger epidural and Bryan held my hand as I shook violently; a side effect from the epidural. I was numb from the chest down but I could feel all of the pressure and movement from the doctors. I just kept talking to Bryan to keep my mind off of how scary it was. It took a little longer than I thought it would because he actually got stuck in the birth canal and I was told by the anesthesiologist that they had to push him out of the birth canal before they could pull him out.
All of the sudden I felt them lift him out of me and I heard the doctor say "Oh he's peeing!" LOL! We watched as they laid him on the scale and cleaned him off. It seemed like an eternity before they let Bryan hold him and he brought him up to me. We were both crying and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced. Sadly they took him away to the nursery with Bryan while I got stitched up. It seemed like an eternity while I waited for them to put the staples in so I could go to recovery and hold my baby for the first time.
They wheeled me past my family and into recovery and my nurse took out my epidural and gave me some medicine and just talked to me. I was still shaking really bad so she was trying to help me calm down. Finally Bryan came in and soon after him they brought me my sweet little boy.
Holding my little boy for the first time is a moment I will never ever forget. To hold the little baby I've carried in my belly for 9 months and to see how much he looks like my husband and to just stare into his little blue eyes... oh it was wonderful! Bryan and I just couldn't stop staring at him and crying at how beautiful he was. It was God's greatest blessing on our lives.
June 7th, 2011 at 10:52 a.m. our son Elijah Dean Fulton came into this world to bless our lives and teach us patience and grace, to fill our lives with joy and giggles, to show us the kind of love that God loves us with, to remind us of the innocence of a child, to teach us what it is to sacrifice everything for the one you love.
We love parenthood. We love our little boy. We love that Jesus blessed us with him. :)
