My miracle!

So many of you already know most of this story, but many of you don't.  I'd like to tell you a little story about the birth of the cutest little boy you've ever seen (sorry, no pictures yet, will load some tonight).  

When I got to the hospital yesterday morning, the nurse started talking about getting prepped for a C-section and I mentioned that I thought I was in labor.  So she checked me and I was dialated to 3 cm and 70 % effaced.  So she called my doctor (whom I love more today than I did last week). My doctor laughed and said, "Let's go with it!"  So they put me in a labor room and my doctor came in an hour or so later and laughed at me.  She said, "Did we pick the right day or what?!"  My doctor broke my water and contractions got even stronger and closer together.  By the time I was at 5 cm, I was shaking and about to vomit.  So I got an epidural.  Apparently, I'm very sensitive to that type of medication and pretty quickly my blood pressure dropped to 90/50 which of course made his heart rate drop.  The dr. came in and said she didn't like it at all and if things didn't change soon, we'd have to do a C-section.  We decided to turn my epidural off to try to get my blood pressure up.  It worked like a charm!  About 3 hours later, it was almost time to push!!!

So, we got all ready to push and for some reason, my dr. told my nurse that she was only going to let me push for an hour.  I think she was worried that he wasn't going to be able to handle everything.  After about 45 min. or pushing, my doctor was wanting to know how much progress and she wasn't thrilled.  About 20 minutes later, his heart rate did start to drop a bit and my doctor told me it's either forceps or a C-section.  I told her that I did not come this far to go have a C-section.  She told me I better push harder than I thought I could push and get this baby out!  

At 4:51 pm yesterday afternoon, with the help of forceps, Eli Matthew Frederick was born into this world.  All 9 lbs, 9 oz. and 21 3/4 inches of him!  I cried when they put that slippery little boy on my chest.  I think that yesterday was one of the most spiritual days of my whole life.  I have never felt like Jesus was completely focused on me as I did yesterday.  I prayed through every step of that labor and delivery.  It was so wonderful and I would trade it for anything!

His name fits his birth experience perfectly.  Eli means "the Lord is my God" and Matthew means "gift from the Lord".  It is the perfect name for him!