Welcome to the world little Coleman...

I know I haven't kept up with the blog since Ryan and I got married but since we have a new addition, I want to keep everyone informed! Our son Coleman Ryan Elrod was born January 18, 2011 at 8:15pm, he weighed 7lbs 7.9oz and was 20.75 inches long. He is perfect! We waited such a long time for him and prayed for him to arrive safely, we are so blessed to have him in our life. He is a CARBON copy of his Dad (sorry Ryan... no denying him!), its hard to tell which is Ryan and which is Coleman when looking at their baby pictures! The only thing I think I may have contributed is his toes... they are already longer than Ryans. =)

Here is the story of how Coleman joined us:
On Monday January 17, 2011 I was off work for the MLK holiday, we had my 39 week appointment with Dr. Pollard that day. He made sure to tell us in our appointment that most women go over their due dates, especially with their first baby. We made an appointment for our next visit, the next week. Dr. Pollard said he didn't think we would need it, I thought he was just telling me that to make me feel better, I was sure I would go over! That night we went to Carrabba's for Emily's birthday dinner. We got home and I got my stuff ready for work and we went to bed. I woke up about 12:30 with what I now know was contractions. I wasn't sure if it was braxton hicks or cramps which I had been having plenty of both for weeks prior to this. I started timing them but they were only about ever 10-15 minutes. Well, they picked up steam fast and they started to get closer and closer together. I got up (but didn't wake Ryan up because I was afraid they weren't the real thing!) and walked around downstairs and tried to get comfortable. Finally around 2:30 I woke Ryan up because they were getting closer and more painful. We walked around downstairs, I took a shower and we cleaned up the house. At 4:30ish I called the on-call number for the doctors office and they told me we had to wait until the contractions were 5 minutes apart or less for an hour before we went to the hospital. At that time they were anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes apart. At 5:00 Ryan made the decision that we weren't waiting any more, we were going to the hospital. The whole way to the hospital Ryan kept looking at me instead of the road, I kept telling him to watch where he was going! We didn't call our family because we didn't know if they would keep us or send us home, we wanted to be sure before we woke everyone up in the middle of the night! Once we got to the hospital the nurse checked me and I was only 1cm so we had to walk the hospital halls for an hour and get checked again. So off we went, Ryan kept trying to make me laugh during the contractions which I didn't find as funny as he did! ;) We got back to the room and the nurse checked me again and I was 3cm! Plus, my water had broken while we were walking and I didn't even know it! She admitted us and we called the family to tell them. By this time I was ready for my epidural! Why be in pain if you don't have to be? The nurse got us settled and into the labor and delivery room and the doctor came in and gave me my epidural... WOW, those things are the best! I was so much more comfortable then and I could really enjoy the experience even more! Dr. Pollard happened to be on call and we were so excited about that. He came in and checked on us a lot, he is such a nice person! They finally had to start me on pitocin around lunch time because I wasn't progressing. Dr. Pollard went off call at 5:00 that night, we were sad he wouldn't be delivering the baby but Dr. Lindel, who was on call after Dr. Pollard, is equally as nice! Finally a little before 8:00pm I was able to start pushing. Ryan and the nurse were the only ones to help me for 95% of the pushing, Dr. Lindel came in at the very last moment and delivered Coleman! It was the most amazing experience, I was so happy when they put Coleman on my tummy and I could see that he was ok. He started crying, he had such a sweet little cry! Ryan cut the cord! I am so proud of Ryan, he did so good with everything, he was there for me 110% of the time. He exceeded everything that I could have imagined. I couldn't have made it without him. Coleman is so lucky to have such a wonderful Dad and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful Husband!

We are home and getting settled into a routine. Ryan was able to stay home with us for about 2 1/2 weeks which was really great. He is modest and says that he doesn't help out much but let me tell you, he helps out more than he knows! He wakes up with me in the middle of the night and even though he doesn't feed Coleman he changes his diapers, helps me keep him awake while he eats and keeps me company. He is wonderful! It is completely different being married to a firefighter. A lot of people couldn't understand why he took off for as long as he did, but when he had to go back to work he had to go back for 24 hours at a time. It is a big change, but we look forward to the next morning when we get to see him again! Hopefully we will get the announcements sent out soon and we look forward to you all meeting our son!