The Day She Came...

Our Sweet Molly Ann Ellison

May 7th was the day of Molly’s due date.  Danny (my wonderfully handsome husband) Abby and Emma (my amazingly sweet and warm hearted bonus daughters) and I were waiting in anticipation for our beautiful new family member Molly to make her grand entrance into our arms and change our hearts forever!  Since I was 40 weeks along, I wanted her to come so bad so we decided to have fun!  I did not get dangerous but I decided to go out to the back yard and climb my 40 week pregnant body onto the trampoline and jump a little just to see if I could make her progress since I had been at a 1.5 dilation for several weeks.  Danny and I jumped and laughed as we eventually laid on the trampoline and watched the lightning and talked about the sweet moments from our past and the possibility of a bright future with this sweet child all the while enjoying the present moment we were sharing. We even noticed that a garden snake was enjoying the evening beneath the trampoline, at which point we moved our anticipatory actions indoors.

That night at 11:26PM I started having pretty painful contractions and they continued and progressed in pain throughout the night!  We then found ourselves strolling into the delivery room at 5am with contractions close and a long blissful day ahead of us.  

The feeling of this being THE DAY was so overwhelming! I opted out of having the epidural so for 14 hours Danny and Jennifer Blessing (My Sweet friend acting as my Doula for the day) helped me BREATHE and labor through the contractions.  My sweet husband held me around the shoulders and allowed me to bury my head in his chest while Jennifer told me to breathe and rubbed my back and helped adjust the music (Kari Jobe was the only thing that kept me calm) and helped me keep everyone out when I felt like I needed time away from visitors.  They were both so calm and encouraging the whole day.  

We (Danny and I) had a moment at the beginning of the day where we had one last family of four treasured time together before we were a new and completed FIVE! I had made both Abby and Emma a book of pictures from their baby years all the way to this year and it included a lot of the fun times we had had together.  Danny and I expressed our love for them to them and told them how special they are going to be in Mollys life!  We explained how important they are and how we all get to start new memories with Molly in them from that day forward .  Danny and I enjoyed watching them look at their books and talking about all of the fun times we had shared with one another over the years!  Abby and Emma waited so patiently with family the entire day for Molly to come. Emma’s little 6 year-old focus was actually on Ranger, our family’s recently adopted-out dog.

I had the best nurse her name was Amanda.  She helped me in so many ways both emotionally and physically and I have no doubt that she was sent by God to befriend me that day!  Amanda bought Jennifer and Danny a coffee and brought it to them after hours of labor and I was at the point of nausea so I remember Danny holding me and his breath was making me more nauseated because it smelled like coffee so I hastily said “you need an altoid”!  Danny left my side to go and get the altoid and I hastily said “Come back I need you quick” before he even made it to the altoids. Poor guy...he didn’t know what to do.  He told me he started holding his head up so that he did not make me sick.  He was so sweet all day.  I prayed a billion times for God to help me through each contraction and for the baby to be safe and they prayed as well while we listened to Kari Jobe on the iPod the whole time (thanks to Jennifer for having her CD). I tried to listen to other music but none of it worked like Kari!  14 hours of HARD labor I was at a 7 and 100% effaced the Dr. came in the room and informed me that Molly was not far enough in the birthing canal and her heart rate was dropping so I needed to either try an epidural (which he did not feel would work because of how far she still had to go) or a C-Section.  I did not ask for any of these two things and honestly I was heartbroken because I was trying so hard and had made it so far with nothing but hard work and good help.  I cried and asked if I had time to talk with Danny.  After talking to my sweet Danny and my awesome blessing Jennifer I was encouraged to try the epidural.  After I told them I was going to get an epidural it seemed like forever before it was ready...I was in the worst pain I had ever been in before so when the decision was made I was ready for it.  The anesthesiologist came in and put the epidural in and the neatest thing is I could still feel my legs, feet, toes, and the contractions, they just were not that painful!  30 minutes after the angel anesthesiologist came in I along with the Dr were amazed that it was already time to push.  The Dr said are you sure you have an epidural because you are able to push hard.  I remember feeling proud because I felt strong :)  1.5 hours at 9:34PM my sweet Molly Ann was here!!!!!!! I could not believe it!  He (the Dr.) allowed Danny to cut the cord and then placed my sweet baby girl on my chest making me more proud than I had ever been in the world. Molly cried when the Dr held her, but she didn’t make a peep once she was on my chest.  I had immediately FORGOTTEN about the disappointment of having to get the epidural and the struggle of labor...and I basked in the moment of MOTHERHOOD!  I remember my husbands look on his face as he looked at her in amazement!

Thank you all both family and friends for continually praying for us as we stepped into this next chapter of our lives and together embraced the reality of a deeper kind of love! We love this little miracle so much!  

I now truly believe that God shows us a glimpse of his Love through our babies!

Love 
Stephanie Andrea Ellison