Elliot Arrives!

Elliot Lee Williams arrived Friday, December 4, 2009, at 7:33 a.m.

I woke up around 2:30 with very mild contractions spaced about 1 hour apart. Finally, I got out of bed at 5:30 and took a shower. After the shower, my contractions were about 20 minutes apart. Since my labor with Gavin was so long, I figured we had time on our hands before we needed to be at the hospital. The plan was to go to our house in Des Moines and wait it out for a bit. My parents came to pick up Gavin at about 6:45. My contractions were getting stronger and were all in my back at this point.

By the time my parents left around 7:00, the contractions were pretty intense and getting really close together. Iwan and I decided we would not be making it to Des Moines. Fortunately, Pella has a hospital about 3 blocks from where we live. It's a good thing, because by 7:10, I knew Elliot would be making his grand entrance sooner than later. Iwan put my shoes on me, and we were out of the apartment about 7:15. We live on the 3rd floor, and I had to stop in the middle of each flight of stairs because of contractions and the incredible urge to push. My water broke on the second flight of stairs.

Once we were in the car (no easy feat at this point), Iwan drove the three blocks to the emergency room at Pella Regional Health Center. He ran in to tell the woman behind the desk what was going on, and someone was immediately out with a wheelchair. The woman raced me to the OB ward where I was immediately attended to by fantastic nurses. They helped me up on the bed, and I saw all the things needed for delivery being brought in to the room. A doctor showed up just in time! I pushed three times, and Elliot was born!

My doctor, Dr. Vande Zande, introduced himself after the delivery and commented that it wasn't quite the way he usually meets his patients. Then someone realized that in the chaos, no one had recorded the time of birth--7:33. Elliot's stats were taken--7 lb. 7 oz. and 20 inches, 9 on the APGAR at both 1 and 5 minutes. Fortunately, he was safe and healthy. If Iwan and had tried to leave a bit earlier, even at 6:30 when my contractions were still at least 10 minutes apart, we wouldn't have made it to the hospital in Des Moines. Praise the Lord for all the little things that kept us from leaving on our way!

I'm thankful to God for our wonderful gift and for the care we received at the Pella hospital. My nurses and Dr. Vande Zande were fantastic! Even though I didn't have the birth experince or doctor I had expected, everything turned out for the best. God has blessed us with a new, perfect little boy.