Elizabeth Ashley Rhodes was born Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 4:00 AM. She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and measured 19 inches.
Elizabeth's due date was November 16, so she came about 2 weeks early. Chase's birthday is November 1, and Mike's birthday is November 2. We think Elizabeth was bound and determined to be born on November 3, so she wouldn't be left out of the birthday trio. We originally tried to schedule a c-section for 11-11-11, but I think her November 3 birthday is much more unique and special to our family.
Her birth story started on the morning of Mike's birthday (Nov. 2). I lost my mucus plug that morning and texted Mike about it. He responded, "Today??" hoping that she might be born on his birthday. I responded, "Maybe she's going for 1-2-3.. Ha ha."
When Mike got home from work that afternoon, I asked him where he wanted to go to dinner for his birthday. He suggested Vespaio. I laughed because that is my favorite restaurant and I said, "That's funny because that is where I wanted to go on 11-10 the night before my scheduled c-section."
After dinner, we came home and sat outside on our patio with Chase. A cold front was blowing in. Somehow, I felt the need to tell Chase not to be scared if he woke up and we were gone. We were going to have his Aunt Alli come over if we had to go the hospital in the middle of the night. I reassured him that Elizabeth and I would be ok, and Aunt Alli would take great care of him.
We put Chase to bed, and I was getting more anxious as my contractions started picking up. They weren't painful, but I thought I should lie down and read and try to time them. That was about 10 PM. Mike fell asleep, but he was quickly awakened when I yelled out at 11:15 PM that my water broke.
And so the scrambling began to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. We waited for my sister, Alli, to come over. The contractions immediately became painful. We checked into the hospital about midnight. By the time we got situated with the hospital protocol, I got my epidural after 1 AM at 8.5 cm dilated. I was ready to push at 1:40 AM, but I had some difficulty with all the numbness from the epidural. We waited until about 3:15 AM for me to get some feeling back to start pushing. At 4 AM, Elizabeth was born a beautiful, health baby, and I had no complications with delivery.
Elizabeth is our little angel who completes our family. We are all absolutely in love with her, and her big brother, Chase, has really taken his role to heart. He is very protective and nurturing towards her. He makes her art at school, and he finds plenty of "treasure" to bring home, so that she can start her very own collection. As someone who believes that everything happens for a reason, I feel like my little trio of Scorpios are my soul mates.
