The short version of Eloise Ann Fisk’s birth story.
First, some background- we found out early November we were pregnant and shortly after we actually thought we lost her. From that moment God spoke over her “Fighter”. (we didn’t know yet she was a girl until two months later) We found out it was a girl mid-January and couldn’t come up with a name 😂! I had an interesting learning experience being pregnant while in Kazakhstan with various appointments and instances (I have another blog about that HERE you can read about).
So while we were in the States, June 10, I started having contractions, 3 days before we were supposed to fly out to come back to Kazakhstan! (A bit scary as at this point I would have been between 33-35 weeks along) We were in a whirlwind of 24 hours where I had progressive contractions for 8 hours, went to the hospital, no progressive labor, took medication to stop the contractions, went home, then saw my OB/GYN the next day to be told, “Go back to Kazakhstan, you’re fine!” So even now, our Little Fighter Girl was fighting to just stay in 🤣. He then prescribed me the same meds for two weeks and we flew back to Kazakhstan and even traveled to Kyrgyzstan with no major instances coming back June 27.
On July 3 we had an ultrasound to check on her and met with my delivery Dr. All looked well except our Baby Girl was head up! I was told to come back in two weeks to check her position.
So now comes Wednesday, July 11 (retrospect- it appears I was probably about 38 ½ weeks), I woke up at 5AM feeling some contractions (more than the Braxton Hicks I’ve been having for over 12 weeks now) and was able to sleep for another hour, but they started to get intense starting around 6:00AM where I couldn’t lay down through them or sleep. It’s interesting because this initial stage of me getting through my contractions for about two hours was bouncing back and forth on my feet like, you guessed it, A FIGHTER! (I even balled my fists here and there, no joke!😏) I had regular contractions until about 10:30 when we headed to the private clinic we chose. We had a meeting already at 11:00 with the Director to get some questions answered (we don’t know how delivery works here!) so we instead met with the Delivery Dr (this was by about 11:45). She saw I was having contractions, confirmed I was already 5CM and that the Baby was still head up. She encouraged a C-Section, but we asked if we could try a natural delivery. She was hopeful in 2-3 hours she could turn, plus she was a small baby, but they would be VERY painful contractions and suggested an epidural for the pain. We declined. She said I needed to lay down and breathe through my contractions (easier said than done) to get the Baby to turn the best. So we went into my Labor room (which is different than the Delivery room but the same room for recovery, for Mom and Baby). So we settled and Andrew filled out paperwork as I laid down on the bed through my contractions. We had nurses and Drs in and out, not much, and any time they were around they were awesome coaches encouraging and breathing with me, as well as helping Andrew massage me. Oh boy, were my contractions intense!!!! I wasn’t keeping any food down and was barely keeping water and coconut water down and I was so weak from poor sleep the last couple of nights. After awhile I started to get up on all fours through my contractions because they were getting intense and even more painful. Every time personnel came in, they wanted me to get an epidural (I was getting quite loud 😜, and if it wasn’t for Andrew I probably would have given in!) So this was a couple of hours and about 2:00PM my friend, Dana, who has been helping translate, got there, Andrew warned them the Baby was coming soon and if we were to move to the Delivery Room it needed to be done NOW but they didn’t move quick enough and about 30 min later, my water broke, and along with it, came her right foot! Our Little Fighter LITERALLY kicked her way into this world!!!! Only my pregnancy Dr was there at the time so they called for my Delivery Dr. and for the last 20 minutes, between the two of them, as I was laying on my back, they “maneuvered” her out of me and she was officially born at 2:50PM. They whisked her away quickly to the Baby Delivery room (adjacent to the actual Delivery room) to help get her breathing and “unpurpled” hah. Andrew followed and she started breathing and crying very shortly after. I got to meet her an hour later! We are so impressed with the Drs and Nurses and the involvement they had and the expertise of delivering a breech Baby (although I never want to labor a breech Baby again- oi vey! 😳) We chose Eloise hearing it from friends who almost named THEIR recent daughter Eloise, it means “Famous Warrior” which fits along with what God spoke about her being a “Fighter” (And Andrew’s Paternal Grandmother’s middle name was Louise which was fitting) and Ann, “Grace/Favor” after Charity’s Paternal Grandmother’s middle name, Rebecca Ann, who passed away December of 2015. We are overjoyed and our hearts have expanded to make room for another Little Love in our lives! Thank you for reading this until the end! If you would like to hear the DETAILED version of the birth story, I have that available as well and can either Email or FB Message it to you, so just comment and let me know and I’ll send it your way 😉