Ellee's Birth Story: Part 1

Also known as the longest post for the shortest delivery.
Well, if I ever get it finished... but I'm trying!
It's true what they say, going from two to three is a huge difference. 
Love multiplies unfathomably. Time, however, does not.

A few days before she was born we had some friends over and said a special prayer that all would go well with Ellee's birth and during and after it I felt an incredible peace that all would indeed go well and that angels would be helping things along. Complete peace. It was truly a very special and tender experience that I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for. :)

I was scheduled to be induced at 40 weeks almost on the dot.
The boys had both been induced for medical reasons, and so when our OB offered to induce this time once I was 40 weeks I decided that's what I wanted to do.
At first I wasn't so sure, thinking, well... maybe it would be fun to have my water break and count contractions more seriously and all that jazz. And then I realized that didn't sound fun at all.

 Plus, it's pretty dang nice to be able to plan ahead, and get a baby sitter lined up, and your toes painted,  and well, when you're 40 weeks pregnant you don't really need a reason to want to induce, right?!

So that was the plan.

Until there was no room in the inn.

Haha, ok, bad bad pun. So sorry.

Onward.

We were supposed to be at the hospital at 8:30 am.

The hospital we go to is a great, albeit little, community hospital. It has huge rooms and you get to stay in the same room for the entire process (none of this moving you right after you deliver nonsense). They even have jetted tubs. oh yes. yes they do.

But because they are a smaller hospital you are supposed to "register" with them so that they know that they might be expecting you.

Well, at around 5:30 am I got a call from the head nurse, Sherry, from the hospital. 

Apparently they'd had an incredible amount of walk-in's during the night (it was around the time of that huge moon, OOOOoooo) and they were all booked out.
What? Booked out?! Can that happen?

The nurse sounded flustered because they were so busy and it was with people who hadn't registered or what not.

How dare they just go into labor and just go right to the hospital, right? ha ha

Anyhow, she said that there were also more people scheduled to be out of the hospital by 2pm that day, so to still plan on coming in and that she'd call us back in a few hours to let us know what time to head over.

So, first things first, we went back to bed.
I couldn't sleep, but it was nice to just lay there, knowing I probably wouldn't be able to do it again for a very very very very very long time.

It was nice to not be in a hurry and to be able to take our time as we got ready and finished packing our bags instead of rushing around to be there so early.

My younger sister and her husband (with the help of two of my other sisters) were planning to watch the boys for us at her house and for some reason that morning I decided to pack them some pajamas and their lovies and bedtime books. I hadn't planned on it because the nurse made it sound like we'd be going in around 10 am or so, and we figured Ellee would most likely be here that evening, and Dev would be back home with the boys by bed time. But I figured, what the hay, I have extra time, I'll pack an extra bag.

When Boston and Tagg woke up they were pretty disappointed to find out that we had to wait a bit. These boys had been anticipating the birth of their little sister for so long! That, and they LOVE their aunties and were excited to play with them. Boston would ask every five minutes if it was time to go yet. They were so excited to meet Ellee and play with their aunts they practically bounced around the house with excitement. And as the morning progressed and we were all ready to go the nerves started kicking in for Dev and I.

Excitement, anticipation, nervousness, and now just waiting.
Waiting and waiting for the phone call that was supposed to come.

But we really felt at peace that today was the day and it would all work out how it was supposed to somehow.

Well, around 10 am we were all getting antsy and the energy in the house was so thick you could taste it, so we went outside to enjoy the sunshine and let the boys ride their bikes.

As Dev and I sat on the tail gate of his truck watching them, it seemed surreal that we were just waiting for a phone call to tell us it was time to meet our little girl.
This little bundle that was kicking around inside of me. I would be able to hold her soon and see her sweet face. Crazy.

I was so uncomfortable. I kept feeling like she was sitting SO low. Even when I sat down I had to practically recline to a laying down position because she felt SO low. At the past few OB appointments I hadn't really progressed at all, but today. I don't know... she just felt SO low. Like James Earl Jones combined with Brad Garrett's voices low.

After more time and still no phone call, the suspense was killing us,.
We were trying not to be the crazy pestering expectant couple, but it was keeeeeling us, I tell you! Haha!
So Dev called Sherry to see if there was any news. Well, things had only gotten crazier at the hospital. More walk ins and an emergency c section. At that point I felt bad, and didn't want to be a pain-in-the-butt-crazy-preggo, but we just wanted to know if or what we should plan on. Sherry was really sweet, and told us that my OB, awesome Dr. Judd, had told them to make sure we were a priority, and that they were working hard to get us in. She assured us we should still plan on everything working out today and said she'd know for sure by 2:00 what time to come in and if we hadn't heard from her by then to give her a call again. Well, she sounded pretty certain she'd be calling us, so we decided to pack up the bags in the car, and take the boys to lunch to kill time and spend some last minute time as a family of four.

Lunch was fun. It was crazy to think it was the last time we'd arrive as "Johnson, party of four."
And I ordered dessert of course, because when you are about to give birth you eat whatever you want for lunch.

After lunch we drove around for a little while hoping that Tagg would take a nap, but he ended up being too excited to ever fall asleep. While driving around we ended up taking these last pregnant pictures of Elleebump at 40 weeks. It's crazy and amazing to think she was in there!
I felt like a waddling hippowhaleomus with a bad tan case of chloasma.

(Looking down to where I think my toes are...)

Every minute that went by seemed to take forever.
Were we going to meet our baby girl? Or not? It was the not knowing that was just CAAAARAAZY.
But still... Dev and I just had this feeling like she was going to come today, whether by induction or not.