Welcome, Ellie!

So, it's Saturday October 20th, 2012.  A day just like any other, except that I'm 3 days overdue!  I woke up, ran errands, got my nails done.  Chris and I headed to South County to have dinner with Mike and Katie Brendel at Tequila's Mexican Restaurant at 6PM.  Dinner was quick.  I ate chicken nachos...nothing spicy.  I had a small cramp during dinner but thought nothing of it.  The Brendels invited us to their house to play our favorite card game: Hand and Foot.  Chris and Katie were partners, Mike and I.  We had each won one game so far.  During these games, I had a couple of random cramps again...not painful.  Katie had been keeping time of the cramps in her head and when she realized I had a few that were 9 minutes apart, she began keeping track.  So, at 7:55PM she marked a cramp.  9 minutes later I had another.  Then 7 minutes later I had one.  I remember Katie saying "Oh, that probably isn't a labor cramp then" and I said, "If I go into labor tonight, you'll feel bad for saying that!"  Then at 8:16PM, I thought I peed my pants.  I stood up, mumbled something about being confused and not sure what had just happened.  I started to walk towards the bathroom and stopped to look at the chair to see if it was wet.  I again headed to the bathroom, this time with more water gushing out!  So apparently I started screaming and ran to the bathroom.  In my mind, these were excited screams, knowing my water had broken.  However, to Katie, Mike and Chris, these were horribly scary screams and they were worried something was wrong.  Forgot to mention that Chris asked me if I had pooped my pants!  What kind of person asks a question like that?!
Before I knew it, Chris was in the bathroom with me, asking if I was OK.  When I told him I thought my water had broken, he responded with, "Well, that's a good thing!"  I remember being surprised by his response because of course it is a good thing.  But, I guess since he had taken my screams to mean something was wrong, then I now understand his response!
Mike and Katie were such great hosts!  They were both worried too, but once they heard me laughing and crying and laughing again, they calmed down.  Poor Mike wasn't sure what to do, so after pacing the living room floor with their sweet dog Bailey, he headed outside to catch some air (after hearing too much detail!)  Luckily Chris and I had all of our bags packed and in the car, ready to go to the hospital.  He had to run outside to get me some clean clothes.  Mike grabbed a few plastic bags for us.  Then we all headed to the hospital, Mike and Katie following Chris and me!
Side note: we both had other plans that night with different friends but the other plans had gotten cancelled.  Funny how things work out!
On the way to the hospital, I called my parents and Chris' parents to let them know what had happened!  Then I texted all of our siblings.  So fun!!
Around 8:45PM, we pulled up to the hospital and Katie parked our car while we went inside to get registered.  I still wasn't having many cramps, none of them too painful. I was measuring 2-3cm when I arrived.  Once I got settled with all the monitors on me, Chris, Katie, Mike and I just hung out.  Mom came around 11PM.  At 11:30, the contractions were much more painful.  The nurse said that if I wasn't progressing by 12:30, they would put me on pitocin.  The Brendels left around midnight.
Around 12:15 the nurse came back and saw that I was still 3cm.  They then gave me the epidural and pitocin.  Smooth sailing after that amazing epidural!  They told us to try to get some sleep (yea right!)
I think it was sometime after 2:30AM they noticed the baby's heart rate wasn't jumping back to normal after contractions.  So they took me off pitocin.
By 4:45 I was at 6cm.  At 5:30, I was at 7cm.  But then at 8:30 I was still at 7cm.  So they gave me more pitocin.  At 9:30AM, I was at 10cm!!
The Vogt family started to arrive around 6AM.  Both Chris and my mom were in the delivery room with me.
At 9:48AM I started pushing.  However, since the baby's heart rate wasn't responding well, I could only push every other contraction and have oxygen in between pushes.  Chris was helping by putting the oxygen mask on my nose in between pushes...although sometimes he forgot to take it off while I was pushing!  I remember the nurse, mom, and Chris telling me I was doing great.  I also remember thinking, "Yea right...the other doctor told me I would probably be pushing for 3 hours!"  But at one point, the nurse had to tell me to stop pushing so she could grab the doctor...so I guess they were telling the truth!  At 10:28 our baby was born!  The nurse had noticed meconium  in me, so the NICU was in the room ready to take care of the baby due to the meconium.  As soon as the baby was born, the nurse said, "And it's a ...DAD?"  Chris said (what seemed to be 20 minutes later), "GIRL!"  I was in such shock; I thought for sure we were having a boy!  We couldn't stop laughing and smiling.  The NICU team took Ellie immediately, so we were not able to hold her until right before they took her to the NICU.  We each got to hold her for about 10 seconds.  She was so light, so beautiful, sleeping peacefully.  This was by far the best moment of our lives!!  Chris headed to the NICU with her while I got cleaned up.  Mom couldn't leave the room because no one knew the sex but us three!!
Dad, Sarah, Brent, Ann, Don, Aimee, Michele, Katie, David, Tyler, Greg, Aunt Kim, Aunt Therese were all waiting to hear the news when Chris walked towards them.  They made him stop so they could get their cameras and videos ready.  When he told them we had a girl, Ann jumped up and everyone else was very excited!
We were able to visit Ellie whenever we wanted.  She was doing well, but on antibiotics so we knew she'd be in the NICU until at least Tuesday (48 hours).  I didn't start nursing until Monday at 11AM so they were supplementing her with formula as well as what I had pumped.
Things were back and forth for the two days we were in the hospital about whether or not we could take Ellie home with us.  Luckily, at 6PM Tuesday 10/23, we left the hospital one happy family!
We were so blessed with visitors over those 2 days...
The Blinkinsops, Brendels, Grasses, Bichsels, Spiegels, Hiettes, Aunt Patty, Suz Goff, Aunt Carla, Carlyn, Andrea Shannon, Aunt Deb, Cheri, Aunt Cathy, and more!
And then for the next few weeks...lots more!  We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many great friends and family.  So much for which to be thankful!!
Welcome to the World, Ellie Kathyleen Vogt:  8 lbs, 5 oz  20.5 inches  10/21/12   10:28AM