INTRODUCING:

ELLA KATHRYN HARWARD

She was born on November 12, 2010 at 5:06 pm. She weighed in at 8 pounds 10 1/2 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. She is perfect in every way. She is adored by everyone in our family (even Grant, and I was skeptical if he would even acknowledge her, let alone like her).Everything went well with the birth. I'd have to say it was my most painful birth so far, but luckily, my epidural worked well for the most part, so I feel like I don't have much to complain about. I was on pitocin for a good while before they broke my water, but once the doctor broke my water the contractions started coming FULL FORCE! I wasn't quite prepared for just how hard and painful they would be with all that pitocin going. Luckily I had a great nurse, my WONDERFUL husband, and my very supportive and knowledgeable mom there to help. Also, luckily for me, the nurse ordered the epidural before I asked for it, so I only had to suffer through the pain for about 45 minutes.My epidural worked great on one side, but only about half way on the other side. But after the contractions I was having, I was so relieved to only be feeling half the contractions on half of my body. I was able to rest for about an hour before my body was very forcefully telling me that it was time to push. With the first three kids my epidural always worked to the point where I could tell it was time to push, but it wasn't ever an uncontrollable urge. This time, the urge was so strong that it was quite uncomfortable (and by 'quite', I mean VERY). We waited for just a bit for the doctor to get there and get ready, then after about 2 1/2 or 3pushes she was here.Like I said, it was my most painful birth, but I'm aware it could have been MUCH worse, so I have nothing to complain about. I really and honestly can not understand why someone would want to do this naturally. I'm not sure I could have lasted through much more than 45 minutes of those terrible contractions. Then again, I'll be the first to admit that I don't like pain and will avoid it if at all possible. At any rate, it was all worth it. Ella is here and healthy. We've been working hard to decide on a name for the past 24 hours. I wanted to name her Kathryn, but all night last night I kept calling her Kathryn, and it just didn't seem to fit. So, I went onto our next choice, Ruby. I was calling her Ruby for the second half of the night, and it seemed to fit better, but still didn't seem natural. Today we thought of the name Ella, and both liked it, and it seems to fit her well. Of course, I was totally fine with it, until we put it on the birth certificate, and then I started second guessing it. But, it fits her, so we'll keep it. So, that's the story of our little Ella. We couldn't be happier!!