Five on Five

bw hospital, originally uploaded by Reid Pierce.

Welcome Elinor Arden Pierce
Born January 5, 2008
7 pounds 5 ounces
20 inches

Click HERE for more photos.

The Birth Story
One thing we can already say about Arden is that she's got great timing.

I was terrified that she might arrive during the holidays. I wasn't ready, and I really didn't want the birthday competing with Christmas. Happily, she waited. After returning home from the holidays, I got the car clean, the house organized, the new nursery set up, Sawyer moved upstairs into his new room, the last load of laundry complete, a major meeting at work under my belt, the bills sent off, the bags packed and lined up by the door and a list of instructions for Sawyer and the dogs set out on the kitchen counter. I was officially ready. When I went to bed Friday night, my mom had just pulled into town for the weekend. I hadn't even closed my eyes when I felt the first contraction.

Only, I wasn't really sure at the time that it was a contraction because it didn't hurt. I sat there for half-an-hour before I asked Scott to check the clock. Was it possible that I was really having contractions five minutes apart . . . no, three minutes apart? Scott insisted that I call the doctor. I felt like an idiot calling, 'I think I might be in labor.' It's the second time around. I'm supposed to know, right? She told me that it was best to get in the car since we had an hour-and-a-half drive and I didn't have time to wait around and figure out if I was really in labor. She told me later that it was the sound in my voice that tipped her off. Even as we pulled out of the driveway, I felt like the whole thing was just in my head. But, as soon as we got on the road, everything intensified. I was feeling strong contractions every three minutes (I only told Scott about every other one because I didn't want him driving any faster).

We pulled into the Emergency Room just after midnight and waddled up to the front desk, Scott holding me up by my arm as I breathed through a contraction.
We asked the receptionist for directions to labor and delivery.
"Are you pregnant?" She asked me.
I just stood there, huffing and puffing, bewildered. "Um, yes."
"How far along are you?"
How far along do you think I am lady? Can't you see I'm in labor? I'm at the end!
By the time I got upstairs and hooked up to monitors I was having contractions less than two minutes apart.

I was thrilled that my Kilmarnock OB was on duty at the hospital in Richmond that night and would have the opportunity to deliver my baby after seeing me through two pregnancies. I kept telling her how glad I was that she'd told me to start driving.
I made the decision early to get an epidural, even though I wasn't in that much pain. The doctor broke my water to speed things up and by the time the medicine man arrived I was 6.5 cm dilated and no longer able to talk through my contractions. An hour later, the nurse came in to roll me over (keeps the butt numb on both sides) and I told her I had a strange feeling south of the equator - like something was sticking out of me. She checked it out and reported that the baby was, in fact, on her way out at that moment and if I could just squeeze my legs together and not push for ten minutes while she went and woke the doctor up and set up the warming bed, that would be great.

Um, right.

While I really wanted our Five to be born at 5 a.m. on the 5th , I could hold her in no more. With two big pushes, and one pull (by me), our daughter entered the world at 4:44 am. All told, the labor lasted less than six hours from the moment I started counting to the moment my baby was lying all goopy and purple on my chest.

My first reaction was that I'd given birth to an Inuit. She's got a head full of jet black hair, dark skin and long slits for eyes that almost never open I can't figure out who she looks like, but I'm confident that we've given her the perfect name.

Many people have asked us how we came up with Elinor Arden Pierce. Elinor is the name of my godmother, my mother's best friend from high school, who has truly been like a second mother to me. She is both beautiful and brilliant, and I hope my daughter will take after her. Our family has a middle name theme - so we will call her Arden. We liked the name for its strength. It's Gaelic and means "from the valley of eagles" - it's also used in Shakespeare to describe a thick forest. Arden has the strangest little cry - not unlike that of a baby eagle - and a heart-shaped tongue, so she is already a like a little forest creature, living up to her name.

We can't wait for you all to meet her.