Maxwell's Birth Story

Maxwell Elliott -- December 23rd, 2013 -- 6lbs 2 oz --19.5in -- 4 weeks early

He is here! Oh boy did he give us a great story to tell!

Sunday the 22nd of December my water broke. We had just left one Christmas party and had driven 15 minutes to another, as soon as I stood up my water broke. I was just standing in a driveway trying to determine if I was peeing myself or if this was the real deal. I called out to Rob and we stood there a minute trying to process what was happening. We finally decided to head to the hospital, but I really wanted to go by the house to get our bags.

When we arrived at our house, we saw that I was bleeding a good deal. Rob grabbed our bags and drove like a crazy person to the hospital. I was really scared something was going wrong. We walked straight into Maternity & Evaluation and were hooked up to contraction monitors. The Doctor's told me that my placenta was detaching and that was the cause of the blood, they told us if it got worse they would need to do an emergency c-section.

We were moved up to a labor room where I tried my hardest to stick to my birth plan, but there was obviously another plan. Over the next 22 hours I had to have an epidural, IV, pitocin and then a c-section. I couldn't dilate past 3 cm and we found out later that even if I had my bones wouldn't have allowed a natural delivery.

I remember finally falling apart when they told me I had to have a c-section. Maxwell was coming four weeks early and I was afraid he would be in the NICU after delivery. All of our family was in the room before they took me to surgery and I was so relieved to have them all there for support. I couldn't believe that in a few moments we would be meeting our son and my journey of motherhood would begin.

During the surgery there was a lot of commotion and they asked Rob to come take a photo. Maxwell's umbilical cord was tied in a knot and wrapped around his neck. The Doctor's told us he was a miracle baby. They only see knots like this once a year and it doesn't have a happy ending. I was crying tears of joy as I heard his first screams. Rob went over and watched as they cleaned him up and checked him out. He was absolutely perfect. It felt like hours before Rob walked over with Max and laid him on my chest. He was so beautiful and all ours. I cannot explain the emotions, but they were overpowering.

And just like that we became parents to a beautiful baby boy. And we've been sleeping less and smiling more ever since.