She has arrived!

Eleanor Elizabeth Graham was born June 7th at 9:30 PM. She weighed in at 6lb 12oz and 20 inches long. She was 36 weeks and 2 days along and therefore a month early.

For those of you who are wondering about all the details I am going to put them here. If you don't care how she was made it out into this world feel free to enjoy the photos and skip all the details!

Just after they told me this was it! 42 inches, 36 weeks and 3 days

In recovery, 30 min old

Grandma got to hold her first

Granddad said a blessing over her, still with no name at this point 

Her first hat the nursery put on her

First morning 12 hours old

Daddy taking the early morning shift

A bit the worse for wear, looking much better now!

The night nurse made this for her while she was in the nursery her second night after she was named. 

Going home!

Home safe and sound, meeting the cat!

If you are baby crazy enough to want to see every picture taken of her, click here

3 Week old Update!

Now its been three weeks, I was feeling well after 2 weeks and this caught a bug and am just now getting back after that. But today was my first day with no pain killers and I was up and in town all day long, and still have enough energy to write this! So great improvements. Eleanor has proven to have a great disposition, she has a good set up lungs but only uses them if she hurts, and then not often. She is very easy so far, and very content, and goes with the flow. She is 7lbs and 6oz today on her 3 week mark with her due date still 5 days away. She was down in weight to just 6lbs even at 4 days old, so she put that weight back on up to 7 lbs by her 2 week check up and now keep gaining. She eats very well, and is starting to sleep 6 hours at a time.

The birth details

Sunday June 5th I started feeling some symptoms of high blood pressure which can be very dangerous, seeing spots etc. So Sunday night I e-mailed my Dr and asked if she wanted to see me sooner than my Tuesday apt. She called Monday morning and I was sleeping and had my phone off, so she called Brian at work and told him I needed to go to the hospital right now. So thankfully my parents were home so Mum woke me up and we went directly there. This was the third time I had been sent to the hospital for the high BP and each time before I had been sent home the same day when my BP lowered with rest.
This time they did the same tests for preeclampsia they had been doing for weeks and this time they did show abnormalities where they had always been normal before. At this point after just a few hours I was told this was it. At this point my kidneys were showing some signs of not functioning well and as the baby was far enough along to be delivered safely it was time to deliver her to save my body any more stress from the pregnancy.
At this point they started me on magnesium citrate drip to prevent stroke or seizures which can be caused from the high blood pressure. This is a important but miserable drug that makes you flushed and groggy, and feel flu like symptoms. I was on it continually for the next three days. That afternoon Brian came with his bag packed for the week, and stayed that night with me. I was given something that evening for overnight to soften my cervix in preparation for being induced the next morning. We did our best to sleep which is very hard with an IV in one hand and a BP cuff on the other, and a nursing coming in hourly to check the IV bags etc. Not to mention the baby monitors strapped to my belly. But I digress and should not complain as it all kept us both safe.
The next morning this is Tuesday the 7th, I was started on pitocin, to induce labor, they started slow and upped the amount every half hour. At around noon I was starting to have contractions on the monitor but did not feel them yet, and was maybe 2cm dilated. By about 4 that afternoon I started contracting very regularly and well, and had the epidural as they started to come very quickly, each was twice and intense as the last and about a min apart. The contractors were good but they baby would not settle down low and I was not dilating.
Through all of this, and every hospital visit I had had up to this point the baby's heart rate had been "ideal". At about 8 that evening the Dr came back in and checked and I was still just 4 cm with good hard contractions every min, and told us that for the last hour the baby's heart rate was not where they liked to see it. As she had been so predictably great up until now and with the slow dilating it was going to be some time yet, and she recommended a c-section to be sure the baby would be safe. My Dr up to this point had been very good about doing only what was really needed and nothing more and I knew she was trying to avoid a c-section at all costs so for her to bring it up I knew she had good reason and we agreed. From then on it was a blur of activity with the anesthesiologist coming it and lots of prep and they had me in the OR by 8:50 I think. They got me all prepped and then let Brian in. Who I have to add here looks very nice in scrubs, he might have missed his calling! Its a very good look for him and I realize now we didn't get one picture of him! He held my hand and watched as they pulled her out of me, and got to see her right away, they weighed her and wiped her down and he brought her over for me to see. I was so groggy and out of it I didn't see much. He went with her to the nursery to be sure all was well, but the Dr in the OR said she was perfect and I think she scored a 8 out of 10 in the first min infant test they do for all newborns, and 9 at the 5 min mark, not bad for one month early. The nurse her had her first said a few min after she was born that she had a lovely disposition. We heard that many more times from many nurses before we left. There was also comments that Brian couldn't be a first time Dad because he help her so naturally and without the fear most new dads show.
They patched me up while I was still out of it, and Brian was with the baby and brought me out to recovery where Mum was able to be, Helen was able to go with Brian to the nursery. Not to long later once I was settled in recovery Brian was able to bring the baby back to be to hold and nurse for a hour, everybody got to be there, and see her during that first hour. Then the Grandparents headed to our house and I was moved to a room.
The next morning we talked about names and finally agreed on Eleanor, which was very easy in the end, it was just right, even though it was not the name we thought we would use. She was just the perfect baby right away, hardly cried that first 48 hours, we had the three grandparents around much of the first few days and Brian never left. I love the picture of his sleeping with her on the cot in the room the first day. We went home Saturday morning, things healed well and baby starting to eat well. The Dr said it was a textbook surgery, and everything went perfectly.