Which one is which?

The Story.....

So, now that I've posted some pictures, I'll share the rest of the story. First, I want to offer my apologies to anyone who has had to be around me for the past 37 weeks and 4 days. Let me just say, first and foremost, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that I have had three times now to conceive and give birth to my children. I consider this one of the greatest blessings of my life; however, for me pregnancy is a means to an end, and a means that is extremely hard for me to endure without complaint. When it is over and I start looking back at the way that I cope with my pregnancies, I just want to apologize profusely to everyone for my miserable demeanor and all-too-often vocalized anxieties. Anyway, the good news is that I have never struggled with post-partum depression. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I have post-partum euphoria. Since we arrived home from the hospital last night, I haven't been able to quit expressing my elation at being able to bend over, breathe, shave my legs, share my lap with Daxton and Jacy, sleep on my stomach, etc. The list goes on and on.
So, for the play-by-play, if you're interested, I've been diagnosed three times now as having babies that are LGA (large for gestational age), and as such, my doctor had offered me a scheduled induction at 37 weeks to avoid needing a C-section for a ten-pound baby. Of course, I jumped at the chance to take him up on this offer (the sooner the better in my opinion). So, I had been scheuled to be induced on the 7th of April as soon as the results from an amniocentesis indcated that the baby was mature. Nana flew out to be with us in the evening on the 6th, and my body decided to go into labor that night, which was very convenient because we could leave the kids and head to the hospital without majorly inconveniencing any neighbors in the middle of the night. So, Ben and I headed to the hospital at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. I was really hoping that my being in labor naturally would allow me to bypass the amniocentesis, but due to the failure of my contractions to progress my dilation, I had to go through with the amniocentesis early Wednesday morning. It wasn't a very pleasant experience, but at that point, I was about ready to find the nearest sharp object to take matters into my own hands, so I was willing to let them do whatever they wanted to do to me so long as it resulted in the expulsion of my baby from my body. The amnio went well, and my doctor gave the okay to start the induction at about 1:00 p.m. So, the pitocin was started, and soon after the epidural was administered (heaven!), and by 7:40 p.m. we were ready to push....., well, I guess I was ready to push. I pride myself on being a good pusher, and this is because I have no trouble whatsoever on focusing every fiber of my being into getting rid of the object of my discontent, not to mention the joy and anticipation of meeting the new little addition to our family and receiving that inital wave of relief when you see that they have all the right parts in all the right places and are healthy and alive. SO, it was literally two intense pushes, and Eli was out. Happy day! It's all downhill after that. I've been on "cloud 9" ever since. Eli is a beautiful baby, and I am in love with him for sure. So far, he's extremely mellow, and although it's only been half a day around the other two kids, I think he'll fit in just fine. I feel extremely blessed and extremely grateful, and now that I'm rid of the pregnancy doldrums, maybe there will be more to read on our blog!

Elijah Seth Johnson 4/7/2010