We welcomed our little girl, Ella Jean, into this world on August 8, 2019.
August 7 was just another day to most people, but in our house it was induction day! I was able to get some last minute grocery shopping in, and that very much needed manicure pedicure! I mean, what's a girl to do without a mani/pedi on induction day?!? It seriously stressed me out-and if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I got kicked out the day before from a nail salon, so I definitely was stressing. Thankfully, the W Nail Bar in German Village had an appointment slot for me for the next day, induction day, and if you're a Columbus local, I highly recommend you check them out!
After the very important tasks, I came home, and worked on tackling the cooking ventures I had wanted to get into my freezer. Again, if you follow me on instagram, you know that when a baby boy is born, that Friday night, there's a welcoming party so to speak. So, since our community doesn't have much in ways of kosher bakeries/candy/all thing party, I made sure to order the decor and supplies from Amazon, and bake and buy as much as I could ahead of time.
But, I was also nervous about going into the hospital on a Wednesday night because that would mean a Friday afternoon discharge, and then arrive home and going straight into Shabbos-a period where we can't cook. But not only that!!! That Saturday night began the very serious fast for the mourning period called Tish A'bav. I wasn't going to be fasting, but other people in the house were, and we waited until after to set up the meal train, so I knew meals weren't going to be provided for other of these necessary times. So, I did what I do best-I make a list! I got most of it done, and what I didn't get done, I was at least organized enough that my mom could pick up where I left off. We also got some last minute cuddles in.
But, I was also nervous about going into the hospital on a Wednesday night because that would mean a Friday afternoon discharge, and then arrive home and going straight into Shabbos-a period where we can't cook. But not only that!!! That Saturday night began the very serious fast for the mourning period called Tish A'bav. I wasn't going to be fasting, but other people in the house were, and we waited until after to set up the meal train, so I knew meals weren't going to be provided for other of these necessary times. So, I did what I do best-I make a list! I got most of it done, and what I didn't get done, I was at least organized enough that my mom could pick up where I left off. We also got some last minute cuddles in.
Wednesday afternoon flew by, and before I knew it, it was dinner time. I learned from last time, although I should have learned from other times actually, that I throw up during labor. Because of that, I decided I wasn't going to eat dinner-I know it's recommended, and I knew I'd be hungry, but I wanted to save myself from that experience. I figured I'd be plenty hydrated. I took a shower. I got dressed. I put some makeup on. I packed my bag. I had DrH. take my bag down to the car. I checked my phone-a missed call from the hospital. I knew it meant only one thing...we don't have a bed for you right now. You can come down and get registered and wait, or you can call us back in a few hours for an update. The 5:30 am induction from this morning still hasn't been called in because we don't have room for her. Besides for the incredible let down of having that rush all day, knowing you'd go to the hospital that night and finally, finally meet your baby, I knew I was not looking at an even later birth, which meant either getting discharged early to get home in time for Shabbos, or not being allowed to be discharged in time for Shabbos because you have to stay for a minimum of 24 hours, and the later on Thursday it gets, the later on Friday I'll have to stay-possibly preventing me from leaving in time. Leaving me with very little food options for Shabbos, as well as the issue of people needing to stay with me, and come and get me-all while fasting for this 24+ hour fast. It might seem trivial, but to me, it was a huge huge deal. One that caused me a lot of stress and anxiety leading up to the birth, one that required a lot of logistical planning, and a hell of a lot of letting go. There was some back and forth with the hospital-what did the situation actually look like: would I be called in later that night (Wednesday night)? Would I be called in the night? In the morning? Or would I sit around all day Thursday and actually get called in for a Thursday night induction-a whole day later than planned? The nurses were really nice, and for those of you who are wondering-it made absolutely zero difference that my husband works in this hospital, which was quite a disappointment. Anyway, they suspected that I would most likely get a bed Thursday morning. We decided that should a bed open up at any point in the middle of the night, they should call me-especially since we had this time constraint. Otherwise, I'd call them at 5am for an update. My special special soul friend who was with me for delivery and stayed with me in the hospital was running late and arrived in the middle of the night, thankfully she didn't miss out on any action. Another special friend who had just had her baby a few weeks prior could sense my frustration and disappointment at my pushed off induction, sent her husband over, quickly, with ice cream. Once I got over myself, I headed downstairs for some pancakes and ice cream.
I was in and out of sleep Wednesday night into Thursday morning. I was half waiting for the phone call, half wanted to enjoy that last night of sleep (spoiler: ironically, I'm sleeping better now than I was during the end of my pregnancy). I had set my alarm for 5am, but when the alarm went off, I hit snooze. I had turned my ringer on in case they had a spot for me, so at 5:07, a phone call jolted me awake, Ms. Rubin, you can head on in, we have a bed for you.
I got up, took a shower, and got dressed. I had attempted to wake DrH, but he was slow to get up that morning. I have a very close friend, a soul sister, we'll call her SS. She was with me during Simmy's birth, and was set to be with me this time as well. She got a late start on her drive into Columbus and didn't arrive to my house well into the night-later than I was willing to stay up. After I was dressed, relieved to find her sleeping in the room meant for her, I woke her up and told her we had to go, the hospital called. She sat up, got up, and looked at me and said, we're having a baby today! SS takes quite the time to get ready, even in need to be quick, so DrH and I ended up getting some time to ourselves downstairs on the couch while we waited for her to get ready. With all the hustle and bustle upstairs, Simmy ended up getting woken up, so I left her with my parents as I told them we were leaving.
We snapped one last belly picture...
We arrived to the hospital around 7am, grabbed a cart to take all the necessary induction bags. Truthfully, I had one bag-SS had herself two bags, a box of things, and a pillow. DrH went to park the car while the two of us made our way to the elevator. Now, I think that most people would look at us and assume we were heading up to Labor and Delivery-but you know what? In all the hustle and bustle of getting to work/shift changes, we were deep into a line to get on the elevator-good thing I wasn't actually in labor! Eventually we made it onto a packed elevator, thankfully the first to get off, but we joked this would not be the time to get stuck in an elevator. Thankfully that was not a premonition!
We made our way to the Labor and Delivery side of the floor; I remarked out loud, we were just here. As I was getting registered, DrH arrived from parking the car. We were showed our room, which was thankfully much more cozy than last time. I wouldn't have to yell across an entire room to get someone to hear me! I changed into my gown and met my nurse. While I can't remember her name, I do remember that she was excellent! I informed her of all the information she needed to know: we were doing cord blood and stem cell storage, we had a birth photographer (or so we thought), I was to receive a steroid via IV to help combat post-natal itching, and I get really sick from the epidural and take a long time to recover. I also found out that my OB was not in the hospital that day, which meant that I had the opportunity to really push for what I wanted from an induction: I wanted to receive an epidural first, then pitocin, and then break my water when it was time. Initially, my OB had told me I'd get pitocin first, and then an epidural when it was time to break my water. I was hesitant to go this route mainly because I didn't find it necessary to go through labor with pitocin-to just get an epidural! I also was afraid that if my water broke on it's own, no one would be available to give me the epidural then and I'd progress too quickly, and I really didn't want to go through that pain. One of my fears is pain after the birth-if there's a complication, if there's tearing, post-birth contractions...I was dead set on an epidural as the first step in the induction. Thankfully, the OB on call was ok with my choice. MFM came in and confirmed via ultrasound that the baby was head down, my nurse started my IV and took blood, the anesthesiologist came back and administered the best.epidural.I've.ever.had. Seriously! It was fast, relatively painless, and was successful. I've had four other experiences with epidurals, one of them being a spinal. Based on this experience, I'm sure that I was dosed too high in my previous ones. Within a matter of minutes typically, I get nauseous, the room spins, I feel like I can't breathe, I'm dizzy, I'm cold, and I'm just overall really out of it. This epidural still made gave me a lot of these symptoms, but they were less severe, and I was able to manage it. I was nauseous, but spent the time sitting straight up instead of lying down, and managed to not throw up. I was able to check my phone, but eventually got dizzy, overall I had more manageable symptoms.
IV, epidural and pitocin were complete around 10:30am. When I felt the pressure of a contraction, which was sporadic, I would push the epidural button. At 1pm they came in and checked me, I was 4cm, and they broke my water. I messaged the photographer to let her know this update, and she said she would head to the area and to let her know when I was checked next. The nurse brought me a birthing device called a peanut-which is like a birthing ball shaped like a peanut that you put between your legs and lay on your side. It's meant to open up the pelvic and help progress dilation. At 2pm I was having pain on my left hip and shoulder from laying on that side. It was no small feat to get me onto my right side. Around 3pm I had what I thought was catheter pain. I panicked and tried to ignore it. I was also fearful of a baby just falling onto the bed and the photographer missing the birth. When I had this realization the pain was ebbing and flowing I got panicky and had DrH call for the nurse. When she came in, I explained that I had what I was assuming was catheter pain, to which she said, you don't have a catheter. She checked me and announced I was 10cm. Because I was having this pain, I began to cry because as I mentioned above, I did not want pain associated with the birth, or after, and I did not want the photographer to miss the birth. All the OB was able to tell me was, if I pushed-I would definitely have a baby. If I waited, she might be busy when I did need her to deliver. The photographer messaged that she was 45 minutes away, and we decided that we were having this baby without her. In all of this, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me a final dosing, which actually ended up being a mistake, but more about that later. SS jumped into photographer mode and we do have great birth pictures which the photographer has offered to edit for us.
In 3 contractions, at 3:10 pm, Ella Jean was born, with a head of dark hair, screaming, weighing 6lbs 14 oz and almost 19 in at 37 weeks 1 day.
As soon as she was born, the last dose of the epidural hit me, and it was then that my typical epidural experience went down. I threw up, I was unable to hold the baby, I had to keep my eyes closed to prevent the room from spinning, etc. I regret that last dose because part of why I wanted it was to numb the pressure and to hold off to allow the photographer to make it in time. But, I am glad I was out of it for the immediate post-birth. It must be weird to be fully present while they clean, sew, check for blood loss, placenta-on one hand I'm happy to be out of it.
Ella continued to scream, whine and whimper even though she was swaddled and being held by DrH and SS. I was too out of it to really hold her. They called in the neonatologist who told us that due to her being 37 weeks and under developed, she needed skin to skin. DrH immediately got in position and sure enough, she was soothed rather quickly. We also made sure to keep her close to us those first days because she obviously needed it more than most newborns.
The hospital stay was fast. The first night we had close family and friends visit. Then the next morning/early afternoon the kids came and met their new baby sister and this time, the photographer made it in time. Then, because of the later than anticipated induction, staying the full two days would have cut into Shabbos, and with a lack of kosher food and the Saturday night 24+ hour fast day due to one of the biggest days of mourning in Jewish history, we opted for discharge at the 24 hour mark and were able to spend Shabbos together.
It was a beautiful start to our journey of a family of seven.
Most pictures are by Shayna Marie Lewis
I got up, took a shower, and got dressed. I had attempted to wake DrH, but he was slow to get up that morning. I have a very close friend, a soul sister, we'll call her SS. She was with me during Simmy's birth, and was set to be with me this time as well. She got a late start on her drive into Columbus and didn't arrive to my house well into the night-later than I was willing to stay up. After I was dressed, relieved to find her sleeping in the room meant for her, I woke her up and told her we had to go, the hospital called. She sat up, got up, and looked at me and said, we're having a baby today! SS takes quite the time to get ready, even in need to be quick, so DrH and I ended up getting some time to ourselves downstairs on the couch while we waited for her to get ready. With all the hustle and bustle upstairs, Simmy ended up getting woken up, so I left her with my parents as I told them we were leaving.
We snapped one last belly picture...
We arrived to the hospital around 7am, grabbed a cart to take all the necessary induction bags. Truthfully, I had one bag-SS had herself two bags, a box of things, and a pillow. DrH went to park the car while the two of us made our way to the elevator. Now, I think that most people would look at us and assume we were heading up to Labor and Delivery-but you know what? In all the hustle and bustle of getting to work/shift changes, we were deep into a line to get on the elevator-good thing I wasn't actually in labor! Eventually we made it onto a packed elevator, thankfully the first to get off, but we joked this would not be the time to get stuck in an elevator. Thankfully that was not a premonition!
We made our way to the Labor and Delivery side of the floor; I remarked out loud, we were just here. As I was getting registered, DrH arrived from parking the car. We were showed our room, which was thankfully much more cozy than last time. I wouldn't have to yell across an entire room to get someone to hear me! I changed into my gown and met my nurse. While I can't remember her name, I do remember that she was excellent! I informed her of all the information she needed to know: we were doing cord blood and stem cell storage, we had a birth photographer (or so we thought), I was to receive a steroid via IV to help combat post-natal itching, and I get really sick from the epidural and take a long time to recover. I also found out that my OB was not in the hospital that day, which meant that I had the opportunity to really push for what I wanted from an induction: I wanted to receive an epidural first, then pitocin, and then break my water when it was time. Initially, my OB had told me I'd get pitocin first, and then an epidural when it was time to break my water. I was hesitant to go this route mainly because I didn't find it necessary to go through labor with pitocin-to just get an epidural! I also was afraid that if my water broke on it's own, no one would be available to give me the epidural then and I'd progress too quickly, and I really didn't want to go through that pain. One of my fears is pain after the birth-if there's a complication, if there's tearing, post-birth contractions...I was dead set on an epidural as the first step in the induction. Thankfully, the OB on call was ok with my choice. MFM came in and confirmed via ultrasound that the baby was head down, my nurse started my IV and took blood, the anesthesiologist came back and administered the best.epidural.I've.ever.had. Seriously! It was fast, relatively painless, and was successful. I've had four other experiences with epidurals, one of them being a spinal. Based on this experience, I'm sure that I was dosed too high in my previous ones. Within a matter of minutes typically, I get nauseous, the room spins, I feel like I can't breathe, I'm dizzy, I'm cold, and I'm just overall really out of it. This epidural still made gave me a lot of these symptoms, but they were less severe, and I was able to manage it. I was nauseous, but spent the time sitting straight up instead of lying down, and managed to not throw up. I was able to check my phone, but eventually got dizzy, overall I had more manageable symptoms.
IV, epidural and pitocin were complete around 10:30am. When I felt the pressure of a contraction, which was sporadic, I would push the epidural button. At 1pm they came in and checked me, I was 4cm, and they broke my water. I messaged the photographer to let her know this update, and she said she would head to the area and to let her know when I was checked next. The nurse brought me a birthing device called a peanut-which is like a birthing ball shaped like a peanut that you put between your legs and lay on your side. It's meant to open up the pelvic and help progress dilation. At 2pm I was having pain on my left hip and shoulder from laying on that side. It was no small feat to get me onto my right side. Around 3pm I had what I thought was catheter pain. I panicked and tried to ignore it. I was also fearful of a baby just falling onto the bed and the photographer missing the birth. When I had this realization the pain was ebbing and flowing I got panicky and had DrH call for the nurse. When she came in, I explained that I had what I was assuming was catheter pain, to which she said, you don't have a catheter. She checked me and announced I was 10cm. Because I was having this pain, I began to cry because as I mentioned above, I did not want pain associated with the birth, or after, and I did not want the photographer to miss the birth. All the OB was able to tell me was, if I pushed-I would definitely have a baby. If I waited, she might be busy when I did need her to deliver. The photographer messaged that she was 45 minutes away, and we decided that we were having this baby without her. In all of this, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me a final dosing, which actually ended up being a mistake, but more about that later. SS jumped into photographer mode and we do have great birth pictures which the photographer has offered to edit for us.
In 3 contractions, at 3:10 pm, Ella Jean was born, with a head of dark hair, screaming, weighing 6lbs 14 oz and almost 19 in at 37 weeks 1 day.
As soon as she was born, the last dose of the epidural hit me, and it was then that my typical epidural experience went down. I threw up, I was unable to hold the baby, I had to keep my eyes closed to prevent the room from spinning, etc. I regret that last dose because part of why I wanted it was to numb the pressure and to hold off to allow the photographer to make it in time. But, I am glad I was out of it for the immediate post-birth. It must be weird to be fully present while they clean, sew, check for blood loss, placenta-on one hand I'm happy to be out of it.
Ella continued to scream, whine and whimper even though she was swaddled and being held by DrH and SS. I was too out of it to really hold her. They called in the neonatologist who told us that due to her being 37 weeks and under developed, she needed skin to skin. DrH immediately got in position and sure enough, she was soothed rather quickly. We also made sure to keep her close to us those first days because she obviously needed it more than most newborns.
The hospital stay was fast. The first night we had close family and friends visit. Then the next morning/early afternoon the kids came and met their new baby sister and this time, the photographer made it in time. Then, because of the later than anticipated induction, staying the full two days would have cut into Shabbos, and with a lack of kosher food and the Saturday night 24+ hour fast day due to one of the biggest days of mourning in Jewish history, we opted for discharge at the 24 hour mark and were able to spend Shabbos together.
It was a beautiful start to our journey of a family of seven.
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