Phil and Shanna’s Blog

Elleana Eden Gons

Posted on 06. Nov, 2009 by Phil Gons in Birthday, Family, Pictures

Our little girl is here! Elleana Eden Gons arrived at 2:30 PM (PST) on Saturday October 31, 2009. She weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz., measured 19 3/4 inches, and had a full head of dark hair. If you’re looking for pictures and videos, jump straight to the bottom. If you’re here for all the details, read on.

Elleana Eden Gons

Getting Close

According to our doctor, Shanna’s “due date” was November 7. In our birthing class, we learned to think in terms of a “due month” instead, so October 24 through November 21 was when our baby girl could arrive. We also learned that most first-time moms are up to a week late. So we knew that our baby could come before or after the due date, but we’d been thinking all along that she’d probably arrive somewhere between November 7 and 14. (We’d also been hoping that she’d be on time or a little late, since Phil was in charge of launching a big project at work that he’s been overseeing for several months. Logos 4 was scheduled to ship on Monday November 2.)

On Friday October 16, when we went in for Shanna’s weekly checkup, we found out that she was already dilated to 2 cm and 50% effaced. Her doctor told us that she was pretty sure Shanna wasn’t going to be late. We were a bit surprised at how far along she was, so that weekend we started nervously packing and preparing, thinking that we could have the baby at any time. We read in some of the literature from our birthing class that being dilated to 2 cm typically means that you’re in early labor, which can last up to 12 hours or more. So we thought we’d probably have the baby that weekend! After a little more research, we realized that probably wasn’t the case. But at least we were pretty much packed and ready to go!

At Shanna’s next appointment the following Friday, October 23, not much had changed. She was still dilated to 2 cm and 50% effaced. The next Wednesday, October 28, we had what would turn out to be the final checkup. Shanna was dilated to 3 cm, but the doctor gave no indication that it would be very soon. Shanna’s mom, however, was convinced otherwise. Little did we know, just two days later we’d be heading to the hospital.

It’s Time!

On Friday October 30 around 9:30 PM, Shanna’s water broke when she was walking on the treadmill at our community center. She hurried back to our condo and let me know. She was surprisingly very calm, and I was almost in shock. (I was planning a full day of work on Saturday, and then an 18 hour day on Monday, the launch day for Logos 4.) We called the after-hours line for our doctor, but couldn’t get through. We Googled “my water just broke,” and the consensus was that it was time to go to the hospital. A few minutes later, we heard from the doctor on call, and she told us to be making our way to the hospital soon.

We went through all of our checklists and packed up everything we thought we might need. (Apparently we brought too much. The nurses were laughing at us. :)) We left for the hospital around 11:30 PM and arrived in our room around midnight. Shanna was dilated to 5 cm and having regular contractions, but they weren’t painful. Since Shanna had tested positive for Group B Strep, they put her on penicillin to reduce baby’s chance of picking up the infection as she passed through the birth canal. That meant that Shanna would spend most of labor on her back, which caused things to progress slowly. After a few hours had passed, Shanna had dilated to 6 cm. We tried to get some sleep as her contractions continued.

Around 5 AM the doctor said that Shanna hadn’t progressed as much as they would like, so she recommended giving her some pitocin to speed up and strengthen her contractions. We decided that since Shanna wanted to get an epidural, we’d go ahead and have that done first. Getting the epidural was much more painful than it was supposed to be. The anesthesiologist assured Shanna that she wouldn’t feel a thing except for the stinging sensation from the lidocaine used to numb the area. However, Shanna felt the entire thing even after repeated attempts to numb the area.

After the pitocin kicked in, the contractions become stronger and more frequent. However, after several hours, Shanna had progressed only to 6 1/2 or 7 cm. The doctor was concerned that things weren’t moving fast enough, especially since Shanna’s water had broken more than 12 hours earlier and baby’s safe environment was quickly becoming susceptible to germs from the outside world. In order to speed things up, they wanted to turn up the pitocin levels. But in order to do so safely, they wanted to evaluate the strength of the current contractions, which required the insertion of an intrauterine catheter tube. But after several failed attempts, the doctor decided to proceed with an increase in pitocin and just monitor Shanna and the baby closely.

Contractions started to get even more intense to the point that Shanna was now having to breathe through them for the first time. This went on for a couple of hours until shortly after noon when Shanna was fully dilated and baby was pretty low. It was 12:45 when the doctor told Shanna she could start pushing with her contractions, and this is where things got very difficult. Shanna’s epidural had numbed her stomach, but she had complete feeling below her waist. The last 15–20 minutes of pushing was the worst of it.

She’s Here!

At 2:30 PM our precious little girl emerged and was quickly ushered into her mommy’s arms.

I saw firsthand the truth of Jesus’ words from John 16:21: “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” In less than 30 seconds, Shanna went from the worst pain she’d ever experienced or even imagined to immense joy and forgotten pain.

Seeing our little girl emerge from her mommy’s body was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever experienced. It’s a memory I’ll never forget. My only regret is that I didn’t capture the moment on video.

Our little Elleana was born with a slight temperature, so to be on the safe side since mommy was GBS positive, they decided to take Elleana to the special care nursery, get her some antibiotics, and do some tests. That meant that mommy wouldn’t get to be with her daughter very much and wouldn’t even get to see her for several hours. This was perhaps the hardest part.

After blacking out a couple of hours after delivery, Shanna eventually got to go in a wheel chair to see her baby. Our favorite nurse was back that evening and was working in the special care nursery. She made sure that Shanna got to come in every three hours when they checked for vitals, etc. This gave Shanna the opportunity to begin feeding. Even though Elleana was connected to an IV and was not supposed to have much of an appetite, she did a great job latching on and feeding. What a huge blessing it was for Shanna to be able to be with her baby every few hours.

On Monday they decided to bring Elleana in to our room to be with us. What a fun day that was to finally have her with us. On Monday afternoon, Shanna was discharged from the hosptial as a patient, but they wanted us to stay with Elleana overnight just to make sure that everything was okay with her outside of the special care nursery.

Going Home!

On Tuesday morning Elleana was discharged from the hospital, and we could finally go home after three-and-a-half days. All of the tests came back negative. She was a healthy and happy baby girl. It turns out that there was no real need to take her to the special care nursery, but we’re glad they took the extra precautions to make sure she was healthy. The doctors and hospital staff were wonderful (with the exception of one nurse), and being in the hospital longer than we planned or wanted gave Shanna many opportunities to ask questions and learn about caring for a newborn. It all worked out beautifully in God’s wise and kind providence.

Sleepless in Bellingham

Our first couple of days at home were pretty tiresome. We were so excited to have our little girl with us that we didn’t take the time to sleep during the day. The interrupted sleep at night just wasn’t cutting it, so we’ve starting taking more naps during the day. Even though we’re a bit tired, we’re loving every moment of being parents to our precious Elleana Eden. We never imagined how much joy she’d bring and how deep our love for her would be in such a short time! God the Father’s love for His children has an even deeper meaning to us now than it did before. We love to just hold her and watch her as she sleeps. We praise the Lord for His kindness in giving us this precious girl to raise for His glory.

First Doctor’s Visit

At her first doctor’s appointment this morning, Elleana weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz., already passing her birth weight. The doctor said everything looked great and that we could even stop waking her every 2 1/2 to 3 hours to feed her throughout the night. We have a healthy, growing, sweet, adorable baby girl. What a precious blessing from the Lord!

How Do You Say Her Name?

Elleana is pronounced ell as in bell, e as in grey or e as in red (but not e as in me), and ana as in Ghana. Elleana is based on the Greek word for mercy: ἔλεος or eleos. We chose Elleana because of how much we value God’s mercy to us, and because we thought it was very pretty. 🙂 Her middle name, Eden, is pronounced just like it is in “Garden of Eden.”

Grandparents Coming!

Shanna’s mom is coming out for two weeks on November 12–26. It’ll be her first time out to Bellingham, and we’re really looking forward to seeing her. Phil’s mom and dad are coming for a week on December 3–12. They were out once before for two weeks, but it will be great to see them again. Elleana is so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents!

Pictures

Here are some pictures of our little girl while we were in the hospital. Click on the image below to view them at Picasa. If you don’t seem them, click here.

Here are some pictures from the first few days at home. Click on the image below to view them at Picasa. If you don’t seem them, click here.

Videos

Coming soon! Check back later to see our little girl in action.

Tags: Elleana, featured, Phil, Pictures, Shanna