Happy and Home...

Hello!
We are so sorry that it has taken us this long to make a post! Unfortunately, the hospital didn't allow access to Blogger, MySpace or Facebook, so our lines of communication were practically cut!

Most of you know that Tif was scheduled to be induced on Monday morning at 7:00am. Of course we tried everything to not be induced...everything. Just ask, and we will tell you all you never wanted to know about how to naturally induce childbirth.

As fate would have it, and many, many prayers hoping to spontaneously go into labor on Sunday night at 2 in the morning, we both were woken by our alarm at 5:00am on Monday to get ready to head to the hospital.

We arrived and Tif was started on Pitocin at 7:00am. We didn't want to have an epidural, so it was a long morning/afternoon of Chris coaching Tif through every contraction. It was an incredible experience for the two of us and our marriage. (On a side note, Chris was just amazing; everything was easier when he was beside me.)

At 4:30pm, Tif was checked and was at a 4. She had been on the highest level of Pitocin for over 7 hours and was really starting to be in pain. So, we decided because the progression was so slow to cave and go for the epidural. Everything went smoothly, and Tif felt great and progressed from a 4 to a 9 in a few short hours. At 6:00, she checked in at a 9, but stalled there until 10:30pm. The doctor tried many different things, but finally determined that our chance of actually making any other progress was slim. The little guy was doing well, but Tif was on oxygen because her normally low blood pressure had plummeted to dangerous levels, decreasing the oxygen level for baby P. Because of the blood pressure concern and the 4 hour stall at a 9.5, a round of practice pushing, and sitting up for over an hour to let gravity help the baby fall, we made the decision to have the C-section with a little convincing from the doctor before Tif's risk of fever and danger to the baby escalated.

Elijah Nelson Pirtle was born on January 12th at 11:16pm.
He was 7lbs, 14 oz and 19 inches.

We think that this picture captures it all- He did not want to come out!

Here is Chris with Eli in the nursery while the doctors were finishing the C-section.

Here is Tif- One of the side effects of the epidural and all of the adrenaline was shaking, so here she is covered in tons of warm blankets just so that she could hold the baby for the first time without dropping him!

Here is Eli's first birthday cake! Because we were just sitting around waiting for him, we had it ready!

Here is the first person to hold the little guy besides us- his Memamaw. She was sure to be at the hospital the next morning at 8:00am to get the first spot in line!

And here he is...Introducing Elijah Nelson Pirtle

Even though our birthing process didn't proceed as we had hoped, we are thrilled to have a beautiful, healthy baby boy with us and we know that in the end, that is all that matters.

We thank God for providing us with this blessing and praise Him for keeping everyone safe.