The Heavins: Elias Arlan Heavin

We can hardly believe it but our little man is finally here! Eli made his grand arrival exactly three weeks before he was due.

I went in for my regular prenatal appointment on Wednesday (July 11th). While there it was discovered that I was already 2 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced, and I was also showing a lot of the signs for preeclampsia. I gained ten pounds in a week (which is just insane), had some edema, there was protein in my urine, my blood pressure was higher than normal, and the doctor said my face was looking puffy around my eyes and nose. He was very concerned and immediately sent me down to the lab for blood work. When I came back he had decided that rather than have me do the 24-hour urine analysis, he wanted me to go directly to labor and delivery at the hospital to be induced. It was a bit of a shock since Mason and I were still prepared to wait a few more weeks before the baby came.

I explained what was going on to Mason and we got everything together to head to the hospital. Once we got there and were shown to our room, I was immediately given an IV and hooked up to a magnesium drip. My doctor said that women with preeclampsia are more prone to having seizures and the magnesium helps to prevent that from happening. The next morning around 6:30, they started me on pitocin to get my contractions going. I was already having some mild ones the night before, but nothing too crazy. The doctor planned to come back to break my waters around noon, but they actually broke on their own around 10:40 that morning. The doctor and several nurses said that they believed I would have delivered in a day or two anyway since I was progressing so quickly. Here is the last pregnant picture of me at exactly 37 weeks. And the doctor was definitely right, my face was looking rather puffy!!

Around 4:30 I was checked again, and at that point I was ready to go! I was very fortunate and only ended up pushing for about an hour and a half and little Eli was here. He made his grand entrance at 6:06 p.m. He weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 and a half inches long, which was rather shocking since he was three weeks early. At that point I was very thankful he didn't go full term. He would have been a whopper!

This is our first family picture right after Eli was born on July 12th. Everything went very smoothly and Mason helped to trim the umbilical cord. From there, we were brought back to our room to spend some time with Eli and get to know him. For the most part, he's a very mild-mannered baby, but he hates to be changed and undressed, and will get VERY worked up. He definitely has a set of lungs! He's been a very good eater as well, which is good because he does have a touch of jaundice. The doctors weren't too concerned, but they just wanted to make sure that we keep an eye on it.

After three days in the hospital we were very eager to get home. We got home on Saturday around 4-4:30 and spent the rest of the evening holding and loving on Eli. He definitely gave us a run for our money his first night here at home. He ate great but then when we would lay him back down, he would get super fussy. We tried everything short of standing on our heads, but the little guy just wanted to be cuddled and held. It was the only thing that would make him sleep. So needless to say, we've been rather exhausted today! But it has definitely been worth it, and we are so happy and thankful that Eli is finally here!