Eliseo Ulises DelaFuente was born on August 24th, 2016 at 2:11 p.m weighing 7 lbs 7oz and 21.5 inches long.

SUNDAY AUGUST 21st:

I woke up having contractions at 5:00 o’clock in the morning on Sunday, August 21st. While Uli was sleeping, I started timing them. They weren’t bad.. They were just unconformable. Kind of like period cramps. They were 7 minutes apart and I woke Uli up to tell him. His response, “let me know when they are closer, I want to get some sleep.” I decided to take a hot shower and that helped a bit. I got back into bed and dozed off and on.

It was time to get up for church. Uli kept asking if I was okay to go to church. I told him I would be okay. Throughout the service, they were still 7-8 minutes apart. From the very get go, the one thing I was afraid of was labor. Vanessa from church prayed for me and I felt so much better! We got through the morning and Uli tells me, “whatever you do, don’t go into labor until after we play tonight.” Uli who is in a band called, Fall 2 Rise, was going to open up for Puddle of Mudd. Evening comes and my contractions are 20 minutes apart and end up stopping completely. By the way, Puddle of Mudd didn’t even end up playing..

 

MONDAY AUGUST 22nd:

No excitement going on, just the usual braxton hicks. I went to the doctor and I am dilated at 1 cm. She tells me that it can happen very fast or can be a slow process. I schedule my next appointment for August 29th.

 

TUESDAY AUGUST 23rd:

I woke up to contractions again this time around 9:00 a.m. I had a late start that morning. They were 7-8 minutes apart. They were uncomfortable like mild period cramps. [SIDE NOTE: My period cramps are horrible. I’m usually crying stuck in bed.] So while the contractions were uncomfortable, it was nothing compared to my period cramps. I call my boss (my mother-in-law) and let her know whats going on. I tell her that I may need help with my afternoon kiddos (I am a speech therapist assistant).

I show up to the clinic and the contractions are getting stronger. I had two kiddos scheduled. My first kiddo has no idea what is going on, he is only 2 and half years old however, I had someone in my room doing observations. I had to stop each time I had a contraction. She suggested that we should figure out covering appointment options for the next two weeks, in case I went into labor. My due date wasn’t until September 3rd!

My second kiddo shows up and she is the sweet 6 year old girl. She can see that I am struggling. She asks, “Miss April, are you okay? Does your stomach hurt?” That is all I can remember from that session. I was just trying to get through this 45 minute session. Claudia, Veronica, and Maribel figured out who can cover who. My contractions at this point are still 7 minutes apart.

I had to get home because Uli bought some tickets for the Chihuahuas baseball game and I needed to pick him up. It was a networking function and he thought it would be nice to watch a game and eat some yummy food. A WOMAN SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE WHILE HAVING CONTRACTIONS. HOLY HELL!! I don’t remember getting home! I’m trying to tough it out so we can enjoy a nice evening out.

We park in the parking garage and have to walk to the stadium. As we are walking, I have to stop for every contraction. They’re about 5-6 minutes apart. They are getting worse..[They are slowly starting to feel like my usual period cramps.] We finally meet up with the group of people Uli knows. They all see me and tell me, “Oh it’s just false labor.” “First babies never come early.” “First babies are ALWAYS late.” I told everyone, “I have a feeling that he is going to be here sooner.”

We found our seats and Uli wanted to order some food. I don’t even want to think about food. The contractions (my usual period cramps) are so strong that I feel like I’m going to puke! Uli offered me food but i just can’t. My contractions are 5 minutes apart. We tried calling my doctor but she’s not answering. At this point, we are trying to decide if its time to go to the hospital. I KNOW… I KNOW.. why did we wait!? I don’t know… I wasn’t ready? HA!

It started to rain and I think it was sign from God that it was time to go. We decided that we were going to the hospital but we needed to go home first because Uli didn’t have his bag and we needed to drop our puppies off with his parents in case they needed to admit me. The drive to the hospital was bad. EVERY. SINGLE. BUMP. HURT. Oh and it was pouring which made me even more nervous. My doctor called back and asks me to come in to be monitored.

We get to the hospital and they are only going to monitor me for two hours. We went in at 10:30 p.m and I was still at 1 cm. When the nurse checked me 2 hours later, I was at 3 cm. I was given the choice to labor a bit at home or they could admit me. We decided that we were going to stay. Uli grabbed our stuff from my car and I took a long hot shower.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 24th

I tried to sleep but the contractions were keeping me up. I ended up getting an epidural at 4:00 a.m. I was afraid of the needle but I didn’t feel a thing. I think the alcohol swab was worse than the prick. I ended up falling asleep and waking around 6:30 am. I was at 4 cm so they ended up breaking my water around that time. BIGGEST MISTAKE? NOT EATING!! My last meal was noon the day before and I woke up starving!

My mother-in-law and grandmother showed up around the same time. They kept us company. I was very emotional and started crying when our wedding song started playing on the radio. I couldn’t explain why I was crying. My sister showed up and they all talked while I dozed off here and there.

Around 10:45 a.m. I was at 6 cm. The epidural started to wear off and I could feel EVERY contraction. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me a shot of something to help with the pain. She said it would take about 15 minutes to work. It didn’t. She came back in and gave me something else. It started working instantly and I was comfortable again. My father-in-law showed up with Wing Daddy’s. I was so jealous that they were eating and I was not.

Around 1:45 p.m. I was at 10 cm. It was time to start practice pushes. After 10 minutes, my delivery nurse said that I was ready to go but we needed to wait for my doctor. She finally showed up and took one look at me and says… “APRIL DO NOT PUSH. DO NOT BREATH. HE’S ABOUT TO COME OUT.” She had to rush when putting on her gloves and medical gown. After 3 or 4 big pushes, he was out. She laid him on my stomach but he was not responding. The nurses took him away from me, tried to clear his airways and stimulate him to get him to cry. After 5 minutes, he started to cry. Oh that glorious first cry! They brought him over to me and I got to look at him for 10 seconds. They whisked him away. He needed to be in the NICU as soon as possible. At that moment, my heart broke… I could not remember what he had looked like.

I had to wait an hour and be able to walk before I could go see him in the NICU. I’m laying in bed waiting for the epidural to wear off and I started to shake uncontrollably. I tried to stop but I couldn’t! I started to get really cold. I could feel the saline going through my veins. The nurses must have brought 5 warmed blankets but I was still shaking. I didn’t want any visitors until I could control the shaking. I think it finally stopped after 30-45 minutes.

Our families came in and it hadn’t hit me what had just happened with Eli. A nurse came in to explain everything. Eli ended swallowing his meconium in the womb and it ended up in his lungs and wasn’t breathing very well. He needed oxygen and antibiotics. She said a bunch of other stuff but everything she said was a blur. I started crying. All these things started going through my head. Was he going to be okay? When can I see him? I was a big mess. That is when Pastor Joe came in to visit with us. He prayed for us and this weight had been lifted off of me. I felt calm and okay.

It took almost 2.5 hours for the epidural to wear off but I was able to walk to the NICU and visit little Eli. Seeing all those wires broke my heart but there he was sleeping peacefully. We weren’t allowed to hold him. They wanted little to no stimulation.

Stay tuned for part 2..

PART 2 of Eliseo’s Birth Story