Elliot Lucas

On November 23 at 6:16 pm our family welcomed our newest addition, Elliot Lucas Buettner. He was 8 lbs 2.8 ozs and 21 inches long.
Around 8 am on Monday Andy and I checked into the birth center. By 9 am I had started contracting on my own but at 10 am they started pitocin. By 11:15 am I was still at 4 cm (where I had been for about 3 wks) and Dr. Mascola ruptured my membranes. Shortly after I got an epidural. We debated whether or not we wanted to have an epidural but I am so glad that we opted for it! When James was born we decided not to have epidural, but of course I only pushed 3 times to deliver him. By 1 pm I was again feeling a lot of pain, at which point they checked me again and I was at 5 cm. They had the anesthesiologist come back up and he decided to give me another bolus of drugs to see if that helped with the pain. We were concerned slightly because back in May when my cerclage was placed they used a spinal block and it didn't work at all. They decided to try the bolus and if it didn't work they would have to replace the epidural. Thank goodness the bolus worked and I felt great! I was able to nap and get some good rest in and spend some great quality time with Andy before Elliot arrived. Around 3:30 Dr. Mascola checked me again and I was 8-9 cm! By 4:30 I was complete at 10 cm and they had me start pushing. I pushed for about 2 hours-Elliot came down the birth canal crooked which took longer for me push and it more difficult. I had an awesome nurse who coached me and a great med student who was there for the whole birth and Andy did great as well!! I was even surprised he watched the whole time! These 3 along with my doctor were great for encouragement etc and at 6:16 pm Elliot arrived!
Within a few hours I had the initial recovery completely and Elliot started to eat immediately. We have chosen to breastfeed and Elliot is a natural! He does great and has no problems! Today we'll be going home and I'll get to see James and he and Elliot will meet for the first time! Unfortuately with the H1N1 flu season being here they are not allowing anyone under the age of 18 in the birth center and so I have not seen James since Monday morning.
Elliot has been doing great and so am I. We're ready to go home but we've gotten quite a few visitors including a couple of my co-workers and one of Elliot's aunt and uncle, Everett and Tasha. We've also gotten to see several of our old friends from NICU and they are thrilled to see us here with a term baby!
I must say that the birth of our two boys were completely different and having a term baby is great to experience.