Our Birth Story

Monday May 24th

This is Bryan and I at 7:30am, our last photo of just the two of us, the next photos would be so precious of our newest little member in our family. Elij

ah was in no rush to come out. I was 9 days over due and was being induced. We had come to the hospital the two days before to start the process but my body would not budge with the first two attempts. So here we were for the pitocin induction, hoping it would work and that I would start to dilate. When we got there I was finally dilated to 1cm so they could do the pitocin. We were very thankful to the Lord for we had been earnestly praying for me to dilate. So they decided start the pitocin. After that things got really intense and I was having contractions almost every minute yet they said I wouldn't deliver until midnight and it was only noon. We then decided to go for the epidural. We had really hoped for no drug interventions but at this point there had been so many I didn't think I could make it 12 more hours.

After I got the epidural the next few hours were great I hardly felt anything and we just got to relax. About 5 or 6pm I was dilating to about 6cm and the contractions moved down to my lower back and tailbone and they started getting pretty intense. About 15 minutes before I delivered they decided to take my temperature and noticed that I have a fever of 101. They immediately gave me some medication to treat an infection and called Children's Neonatal team in to check Elijah and treat him for the same. I don't think we really knew what was going on at that point or that the potential of something being wrong was there. At 9:45pm one of the most overwhelming joys instantly came about, Elijah Timothy Guenther was born. It was an instant love that I cannot explain. We were able to hold him just a minute then the

Neonatal Specialist took him to examine him. They said things looked good but they were going to treat him for the infection that he may have gotten through me. We got to hold him for just a few more minutes and Bryan and I were able to dedicate him to the Lord. I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to pray over him before they took him.

The next few hours were heartbreaking for me. They took him over to Children's and told me I could not go with him. The absolute blessing was that they let Bryan go with him. Bryan had the opportunity to spend his first few hours with our son, holding him and watching what the nurses were doing to him. Finally about 3 hours later after I probably drove them crazy asking them to let me go and see him they did. They gave me 15 minutes to be with him until I had to go back to United. It was such a precious time just to hold our beautiful son and awe at how the Lord created him and that He gave him to Bryan and I.

The next 24 hours we were there were a little crazy.

The next 24 hours we were there were a little crazy. It was very hard that I had to stay at United and Bryan and Elijah were at Children's. So every two hours Bryan would come and get me (which was like a 1/4 mile down the hospital hallways) then after an hour I would have to go back to my room so they could monitor me. I think the nurses were frustrated with me because I kept disappearing to the NICU to see Bryan and Elijah but I just couldn't help it.

At about 10am on Wednesday they said that everything was looking good with me and they would release me. We were excited but had to wait on Elijah to get discharged. About an hour later they told us that he would get an early discharge because he was looking great. We were very excited to finally take our baby home.