Elijah John Burckart was born Wednesday, February 19th at 8:02pm. Here's his birth story:
We anticipated Eli's arrival for weeks before his due date of February 14th. Oma came to stay, we packed our bags, I made a detailed list of everywhere the girls needed to be etc but he had his own time. I was scheduled to be induced the evening of Feb 19th, 5 days after my due date. All day I waited for the call from the hospital. At 5:00pm we decided to go out to eat near the hospital (taking 2 cars so Oma could bring the girls home). Minutes before we left for dinner I started have contractions but of course I wasn't sure if they were "real" so I kept it to myself. We left for dinner and I told Erik when we got to the restaurant that I thought I was in labor but I really really wanted to eat dinner. Against his instincts he started ordering and I took the girls to the table and tried to sit down. As soon as I tried to sit I knew it was time to go! We opted for a quick run through the Wendy's drive thru and headed to the hospital. After hearing from the doctor, we went inside and were taken to a room by a nurse - it was now about 6:30. As we settled into the room the nurse was having trouble with the computer and was in no hurry to get things moving. Meanwhile my contractions were getting faster and faster and I wanted to get the antibiotic drip started as soon as possible (who has time to call tech support???). Thankfully at 7pm the nursing shift changed and a fabulous nurse took over (who had no problems with the computer) and the process started. My mom came to visit for a few minutes and soon my contractions were coming every minute or two. They laid me down and everything became a blur.
I remember Dr. Placide telling me he was going to break my water and in my mind all I could think was "but I need the antibiotics and it is safer to wait closer to delivery to break my water". I guess I still thought I had hours to go; plus my epidural wasn't here yet! He broke my water, they rolled me over and all of the sudden my body wanted to push. I now laugh at those times I thought women could just hold the baby in by crossing their legs, hah! There is no going against God's design of the body. It was the most amazing feeling I had ever felt, a feeling hindered at previous births by the epidural. I told them I needed to push and they said ok. WHAT??? I thought you rolled me over to give me an epidural, isn't this where you tell me its too soon to push?? The joke was on me - - they all knew it was time. And so I pushed a few times and there he was, a gigantic bundle of joy. Elijah John Burckart was born at 8:02pm weighing in at 9 lbs, 8 ounces and was 22 inches long!!
