Hi Friends! Pastor Wife Life is BACK! I definitely slowed things down towards the end of my pregnancy and took some time off after the arrival of our second baby girl, but I’m here and ready to get back into the swing of things!
What better way to come back than to share the birth story of our angel, Elliott Grace Fidell! If you know me, you know I LOVE birth stories and shared Anniston’s story a year ago here. The births of my girls were the most beautiful days of my life. They were hard, exhausting, and terrifying, but they were also amazing in every single way. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to love anyone like I love Anniston, but then I caught eyes with her sister and all of those fears vanished! My heart grew in size and I now have TWO precious girls that own my heart! SO if you’re into this sort of thing, take a seat and read on!
I was induced with Anniston at 39 weeks because of elevated blood pressure. My blood pressure was a little high the first half of my pregnancy with Elliott, but then leveled out and looked great the remainder of the time! This time it was just a waiting game! My due date was December 17th and even though I didn’t want to be induced, I really didn’t want to go late because I didn’t want to get any closer to Christmas! I tried EVERYTHING possible to go into labor naturally. Seriously, you name it, I did it. But this girl seemed nice and cozy in there! My doctor was on call December 16th so after a lot of prayer we decided to be induced that day. I was sad to let go of going into labor naturally, but I am SO glad we did so I could get the worst of my recovery behind me and enjoy Christmas as a family!
We checked into the hospital at 7:00am and I was dilated 2cm. We met our AMAZING nurse and then started on pitocin at 8:00am. The contractions started right away and weren’t bad, but I was just THRILLED to be feeling them in my stomach this time! My entire labor with Anniston was back labor and I wouldn’t wish that on ANYONE.
The contractions still weren’t feeling too bad so they broke my water at 11:15am. I was 3cm and 80% effaced. The contractions picked up IMMEDIATELY. They were 2 minutes apart from the beginning of one to the next and lasting a minute in length. They felt awful and I only had a minute between each contraction to get a little relief. Miles and my nurse were both incredible and did such a great job taking care of me. Miles had worship music playing and held my hand through contractions. My nurse helped me try new positions and talked me through it all. But two hours of this and I was still only at 3cm. That was all I needed to hear to decide to get the epidural. With Anniston, my labor picked up quickly after I got the epidural so I was hoping it would do the same this time!
At 1:15pm I got the epidural and was told I should feel relief in 10-15 minutes. My contractions started getting worse and unfortunately so did my pain. By 2:00pm the pain was almost unbearable and the epidural wasn’t bringing any relief. I started to have a panic attack because the exact same thing happened with Anniston and I could tell Miles was getting anxious too. My nurse talked me through it all and did everything she could to get the epidural working. FINALLY at 2:15, an hour after getting the epidural, the pain started to subside and I could relax. I still felt pressure, some pain, and once again could still move my entire body easily, but I was just glad that the throbbing pain was gone. I’m not sure why my body reacts to epidurals like this, but I’m 2 for 2 so far!
At 2:30pm they checked me and I was 4cm and 100% effaced. We spent the next hour relaxing and talking with our nurse. She has an amazing story of all the Lord has done in her life and it was a pleasant distraction to listen to someone share! A little over an hour later I started to feel nauseous and they checked and I was 7cm! In only 1 hour of the epidural working I had gone 3cm! I was so glad that the relaxation of the epidural helped my body do what it needed to do!
Ten minutes later at 3:50pm it was like a switch went off and I felt like the epidural wasn’t working at all because it seemed like all of the pain was back. My nurse checked and I was at 8cm. For the next 20 minutes she and Miles tried to bring me relief by switching my positions and rubbing my back. At 4:10pm I could barely breathe because it was hurting so bad. My nurse barely even had to check before declaring I was 10cm and she could see her head! She was crowning!
The doctor came in immediately and as she was getting her gloves on she asked me to push to see what would happen. As I started to push she yelled “STOP” because the head was coming so quickly and she needed to get into position and get the pediatric team in there. They said this baby was coming FAST!
At this point I was glad I could feel the contractions because it helped me know when and how to push! I pushed two times to get her head out and my doctor told me to look down and see all of her hair as she came out. It was the most surreal and amazing thing! One push later and she was out! Three pushes total… it all happened so fast!
At 4:20pm Elliott Grace Fidell was officially in the world and in my arms! She came out SCREAMING and then barely made another peep her whole first week of life! They placed her on my chest and once again I felt love like never before. This perfect little girl that I only knew from the kicks inside of me was here and she was ours!
For the next hour we shared skin to skin time and Miles and I just stared at her. We couldn’t believe she was here. We couldn’t believe how perfect she was. We couldn’t believe she was ours. We couldn’t believe her hair! Ha!
It was another exhausting, but amazing day. A member of our family came into the world! It’s all so incredible and I can’t help but be in awe and give thanks to our very good God for blessing us with another healthy baby girl! She is an absolute gift and one we will always treasure!
All photos by the lovely and talented Nathaly Norman.
If you are in the Auburn or the surrounding area you MUST check her out. These photos were taken less than 24 hours after Elliott’s birth and she made me feel like an actual human being! So grateful for her talent and heart!
Hi! I'm Courtney! Proud wife to my pastor husband, Miles, mama to our baby girls, Anniston Kate and Elliott Grace, and living in sweet home Alabama!
I love sharing my real life experiences and the goodness of our God and I hope this space does just that! Thanks for stopping by!