Birth Story of Elijah Niuvakai

It's been just over a month since our third player of team Fonua arrived. Elijah Niuvakai was born April 12, 2014 at 7:20 pm weighing 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/2 in long. That same day around 2 am I woke up and my water had broke. I've never had my water break so it was somewhat surprising and caught me off guard even though I was already two days past my due date. I went and woke Saf up to tell him it was time to go to the hospital. My contractions weren't painful yet so I took a shower and got ready. I walked out of the bathroom all ready to go assuming Saf would be ready too...NOPE. He knocked back out. Seriously?! I annoyingly woke him back up and told him to hurry and pack some clean clothes. Good thing I listened to that feeling I had the day before and finally packed my hospital bag. I called my parents and they came over to watch the boys while we left to the hospital. When we got there my contractions slowed down so they started me on pitocin. My contractions picked up and got painful. (The most annoying thing is when someone tries to talk to you while you're having a contraction. Saf liked to do this every single contraction.) I finally asked for my epidural but the nurse told me I'd have to wait for an hour for the anesthesiologist because she was in the OR. It felt like I was going to DIE if I had to wait that long so the nurse gave me some medicine through my IV that totally relaxed me and made me all dreamy and sleepy. I felt like I was on cloud 9 -literally. I got some good rest after that. Finally I got my epidural and the waiting game began. 

Around 7 pm the nurse finally checked me and nonchalantly told me I was ready to start pushing. She had me do two practice pushes....and I threw up -partly because I was nauseous but mostly because of my nerves. Whether I was ready or not this baby was coming! Then she told me to stop pushing because she didn't want to deliver the baby by herself. She paged the midwife and ran and got Saf who was standing just outside my door talking in the hallway. My mom had just left earlier to go get them some food. I didn't even have time to call her to tell her to RUN or else she was going to miss everything because before I knew it the midwife was in the room and we were ready to go. I pushed once...and Saf assured me that I was already almost there. I pushed again....and baby was out! (Sooooooo much easier and less traumatic than my other two deliveries!) My mom walked in a minute after I had him and was totally bummed she missed it. The midwife put baby straight onto my tummy and I held him for the first time. I actually got to hold him for what felt like 20 minutes before they took him to clean him up a bit and put a diaper on. Finally meeting the lil guy that had been kicking me (hard) in the ribs and on my bladder for the past couple months and holding him felt so surreal! I was able to capture the moment of seeing him open his eyes for the first time. I counted his fingers and toes. I held his little hand and noticed how much smaller it was compared to his two older brothers although he looked just like them when they were born. I was able to soak up and thoroughly live present in those first moments that my son arrived. 

I felt pretty good after the delivery and was able to walk around almost immediately. I felt like superwoman bringing our third son into this world. It's a miracle every time. Despite all the unpleasant aspects of pregnancy, delivery, and after delivery I felt so amazed and loved myself and my body even more because of the miracle that it made. Having another baby just added to my own definition of beauty...and I felt BEAUTIFUL that day. We stayed at the hospital for 24 hours and then we were out of there! (I hate staying at the hospital). Recovery has gone well and I'm already back to working out. I told Saf no more babies until a couple more years. I need a break. Safi boy and Niko LOVE their baby brother and are so good with him. I'm finally starting to get into a rhythm with three kids. I still can't believe I have THREE BOYS!