The Day Eli Was Born (Pictures from Amanda's Camera)

I'm blogging again! I have to say a HUGE thank you to Nicki for all the great pictures she took and posted for me when Eli was born. It was so nice to know that she was taking care of that for me. I don't think I ever would have had time to do it while in the hospital. I'm glad everyone has had a chance to see our precious, new, little baby. We are just over the moon in love with him! He is such an incredible gift from God. Every time I look at him I think about how blessed I am. Sometimes it's hard to believe he's finally here and that he's OURS! WOW!

I thought I would give everyone a glimpse into delivery day. I know Nicki posted some pictures, but these are ones that were taken with my camera that day. It was such a wonderful day, one I'll remember for the rest of my life!


We started off our morning bright and early, very early, 4:30 AM to be exact. We had to check in at the hospital at 5:30, very early for a girl that was used to sleeping in until about 7:00 every day. Our bags had been packed for weeks, so all we had to do was grab them and go. Here Josh is loading the car. We were both so very excited. We couldn't wait to welcome our son into this world.


We arrived at the hospital and took one last pregnant picture--it's kind of hard to tell that because of the way I'm facing. I should have turned to the side. I was so happy, not nervous at all. I couldn't wait to get started.



We checked in to the hospital and by 6:00 they had me hooked up to the machines, the IV started, and the monitors on my tummy. Eli was very active. He kept rolling all around in my tummy. He had no idea what he was about to go through.

Here we are...the proud Parents-to-Be! Josh was such a great support to me this day. He did great! What a wonderful coach he was.

Nicki was our photographer/videographer for this important event. I was so glad to have her there with me.

Josh decided to get into coaching mode while Nicki was there. He wanted me to work on my game face and practice my pushing technique.

Dan stopped by to visit before all the serious action started. He and Nicki had their little boy, Jonah almost 2 1/2 years ago and he was more than happy to show Josh how to read the monitors. Josh and Dan kept track of my contractions for me for a little while.


Here are pictures of me with Josh's mom and grandmother. They stopped by to wish me well. I was so happy to have all my family and friends there on this wonderful day.

By this point, my contractions had started, but I was still smiling. That smile would fade pretty soon as my contractions intensified.


This was about 4 hours into labor. I instituted a "No Talking" policy in the delivery room so I could concentrate on breathing through each contraction. Once I got the epidural though, things were GREAT! WOW! I highly recommend getting an epidural if you're going to have a baby. Everyone said I became a completely different person after I was given the medicine. I was talking and cheerful again once my body relaxed.

Josh is suiting up for delivery...HA! Somehow he did sweet talk one of our nurses into giving him a pair of scrubs. He was super excited about having doctor's scrubs!


After 6 hours of labor and about 15 minutes of pushing, our precious little boy, Eli Daniel Wilson arrived in this world. I was so happy to see this person that had been a part of me for nine (ten) months. I had spent many days and nights dreaming about seeing him, holding him, and kissing him. I was so happy! As soon as I saw him, tears of joy started pouring from my eyes. Words cannot adequately describe the feelings that go through you the moment you lay eyes on your baby for the first time. It was UNBELIEVABLE!

Nicki followed Josh when they took Eli away after he was delivered, but she kept coming back into the room where I was to show me pictures of what they were doing to my little boy. I was so glad she did that, because I got to see my little boy even though I couldn't hold him right away.



After Eli was cleaned up and ate for the first time, they came and took him to the nursery for 3 hours to put under the warmers to perform more tests on him. I'll be a proud Mommy and say that he scored a 9 on his APGAR test and he passed his hearing test with flying colors. He's going to be one smart little boy :)

After 3 hours, they brought our little boy back to us so we could hold and love on him some more. Our journey into parenthood has just started but it's one we are going to love. We can't wait to see what our little boy is going to look like in the years to come and how his personality is going to grow and develop. We know how tough of a job it is going to be at times, but also how rewarding it is. From the very beginning we gave Eli up to God. Our hope and prayer is that God help us to be the parents we were called to be to this precious little boy. He is on loan to us from God and with his help we are going to be the best parents we can be.