The Latest and Greatest

I am going to make my attempt at the blogging world.  Over the past year or so I have slowly become a follower of many different blogs.  I thought many times about starting my own but thought "What the heck am I going to blog about???"  I mean life until this point seemed so completely average I couldn't think of what I could possibly write that people would actually care enough to read.  That was until Eli was born...now with the closest family member, besides my sister, 2 hours away I feel that I am in constant need of uploading pictures and making phone calls updating family of his every sneeze, yawn, or hiccup.  Ok, so that may be a little much but I doubt my Facebook friends will enjoy seeing a new picture of Eli on their news feed every 20 minutes.  So in order to keep family and friends happy that actually want to enjoy our new little Harper family moments in detail; I have decided to start this blog.  I am not making any promises but I will do my best to keep it up to date with the latest and greatest events of the Harpers.

I guess the best place to start is with a little introduction.  Mark and I will have been married for 3 years in September and are currently living in the up and coming city of Warner Robins, GA!  haha  So maybe that is a slight exaggeration...but really we have grown accustom to the small town life (Mark may say differently...but it isn't as bad as he makes out! ;-) )  On June 4, 2011 God presented us the greatest gift so far.  Elijah James Harper made his appearance at 5:55am after 32 hours of labor and weighed in at 6 lbs 13 oz and 20 3/4 inches long.  No, that was not a typo...I did say 32 HOURS of labor!  Here is the birth story:

I began having contractions about 15 minutes apart at 10:15pm Thursday night and they continued at about that increment until about 5pm Friday.  I would walk around the house through contractions and collapse on the nearest couch or bed to sleep for the 15 minutes until the next one.  Then at around 5pm Friday the contractions began to get closer and closer and more intense.  There was hardly any time to actually fall asleep or rest between contractions.  My mother, Mark, and my doula followed me around the house, massaging my back, giving me drinks of water, feeding me, etc.  I would NEVER have made it without ALL 3 of them!  At around midnight that night my contractions were about 3 minutes apart and we decided it was time to go to the hospital.  The thought of strapping myself into the car and enduring the contractions on the way to the hospital was terrifying.  I got myself into the back of the truck and had made it a little over half way to the hospital without a contraction.  I had just began to think that maybe I would make it there when the next contraction hit.  I think Mark hit the gas as I moaned in the back.  ha

We reached the hospital and I paced the waiting room as Mark signed me in.  I was checked once I got back into a room only to find out that I was 95% effaced but only 3 cm dilated!  The nurses reassured me that with such good effacement that I should go really fast but "really fast" was not going to be fast enough.  I had made plans that I was going to do this naturally without any pain medication but I was tired and I began to doubt if I could actually do this.  But I was determined...I spent the next 5 hours in and out of the shower, pacing the room, sitting on an exercise ball, leaning against the bed...basically whatever I could think of to do.  The contractions were intense but it wasn't until I hit transition (the last 3 cm of dilation) that the contractions began to become unbearable.  The time came to push and after 45 minutes of pushing our beautiful baby boy was born.  I picked him right up and put him on my chest and a huge rush of relief came over me.  The contractions were over and Eli laid on my chest crying out the most amazing sounds reassuring us that everything was alright.

So although it was a long labor process, I wouldn't change it for the world (well..I would fast forward the whole process if that were possible).  That moment was a week ago today, although it feels like yesterday.  Time seems to be flying by already...

After his first bath

6 days old