Eleanor Anne Caputo

Our sweet baby Eleanor Anne Caputo was born yesterday, July 27, 2012 at 8:28 am. She weighed 8.25lbs (3740grams) and approximately 19.75 inches(although this is not definitive length as they don't really measure length in the hospital and we haven't gotten around to measuring her at home). My labor really started on Thursday night when we had gone out to dinner. I was having pretty regular contractions that were getting stronger. We had to leave right after dinner because I was tired of looking like a freak, grasping the table and closing my eyes while waiting for a contraction to pass. We went home and started to time the contractions. My parents were in France and waiting to hear if they should head back or not. I was determined not to get my hopes up that this was the real thing, after all the anticipation of the last week and a half. Finally after about 2 hours of contractions that were getting more intense and about 5 minutes apart, we called the hospital and they told us to come on in. It was go time!
We got to the hospital around midnight and got checked in to our "room", which was actually just a delivery room. They got Ellie and I hooked up to monitors-her for her heart beat and mine for the contractions. They had to put an internal monitor on Ellie because the external one kept slipping off of her whenever I'd writhe in pain from a contraction. When they did this, they broke my water. I was only dilated to a 3 at this time and the midwife said she would just let me labor and come back and check my dilation in 2 hours. So we labored and labored and I watched the clock, waiting for her to come back and tell me that I was already at a 10 and that Ellie had already magically just slipped out and the worst was over. That is not what happened. The midwife came back about 3am and told me I was dilated to a 5. I'll take that. At this point the contractions were starting to get pretty intense and they had given me some medicine to speed them up a bit and intensify them. I still have no idea why they did this, maybe because my water had been broken and they wanted to make sure I didn't labor too long, as I felt I was progressing along nicely. Anyways, the medicine was making the contractions come hard and fast, with no time in between for resting. I also started throwing up after some of the harder contractions because I would get so overheated. Let me tell you, vomiting while it feels like your insides are being torn to shreds is not fun. It was at this point that I asked if I could get the pain pump medicine. This medicine was very nice as it didn't take away the pain completely or even really close, but did take the edge off and made it more manageable the majority of the time. It also made me very loopy at times in between, which Dan found hilarious. At one point, the contractions were coming so hard and were killing me, even with me hitting the pain button time and time again. We discovered that my IV was bleeding and that the pain medicine was no longer getting to me. So we called the nurse in and she fixed it and helped me breathe through some panic that had set in due to the intensity of the contractions. Once things got back on track, it was about 5 am and time to check me again. I was now at a 7!! So we labored on, and about 6:45, the contractions started changing from intense cramping to intense pressure. I knew we were getting close so we called for the nurse but no one came for what seemed like forever! The pressure was getting so great and even though it wasn't the cramping, it was pretty rough. Finally Dan went out and got the nurse and she came back with the midwife (a new one since shift change, who was amazing!). They checked me again and said I was at a 10 and ready to push!! 
She explained to me what to do whenever I had a contraction and it was go time. I knew we were nearing the end but this was so hard. I had to stop the pain medicine before starting to push(it goes out of you within 10 minutes) so that baby was not groggy when she came out. So this part was all completely natural. I pushed and pushed and pushed and busted capillaries in my face and shoulders. I have never been more exhausted in my life. Dan and the midwife were so encouraging but it seemed like this time would never end. The midwife said it would take a little bit since this was my first, despite my hopes that I could push her out in 15 minutes:) Finally, after a little over an hour, I knew we were close because the midwife had put on her plastic apron and got out the materials to cut the umbilical cord. With each contraction, I would push 3 separate times. Finally I could feel her ready to come. The midwife had me push, then stop, push then stop, to help avoid tearing too badly. Then I gave one final push and felt Ellie slide right on out and they grabbed her and put her on my chest. I'm going to be honest, it felt a little alien like when the rest of her body slid out. A beautiful alien of course, but still alien-like. She gave one little cry and then was content and wide-eyed the rest of the time. 

Dan was amazing the entire time. Such an incredible encouragement and support and there's no way I would've made it through without him. He was a very active part when the time for pushing began and got to watch Eleanor being delivered. 

Eleanor was perfect and healthy in every way. My delivery was great and I only had a minor tear that needed a few stitches. We were both doing well so they let us go home about 4 hours after she was delivered! So unlike the States. But by that time I was ready to get home to my own stuff with our brand new baby girl. She really is the most precious thing we've ever seen. It's hard to put her down or share her with others:)  My parents are here for one more week and I'm so glad for their help and that they were able to be here for her birth!

We have taken so many pics already but here are some I've had time to upload!