I suck at blogging...

So, yeah. It's been four months since my last post. Where to begin with the changes in our life...

Jon unfortunately lost his job a week and a half before Christmas and has yet to find employment. Times are tough right now with the economy and all. Hopefully something will come up soon. He has a few good leads going as of now.

The day after Christmas I went to labor and delivery and found out I was in labor at 32 weeks. I ended up spending the night at the hospital for observation. I was contracting every 1-3 minutes when I arrived. I received two terbutaline shots, steroid injections to mature Eli's lungs, tons of IV fluids, and was discharged on Procardia and was to be on bedrest for the remainder of my pregnancy. Needless to say we weren't prepared for me having to start my maternity leave nearly two months before my due date.

I was taken off of the Procardia at 36w3d and at that point if I went into labor it was okay. My doctor told me that day that he didn't think I'd deliver in the next week but that I probably would deliver around 38-39 weeks. I disagreed but went on my merry way. The next night I joined some family at P.F. Changs. My contractions started up again while there just as they usually did in the evenings. I thought nothing of it. I went home and went to bed around 1 am, and unlike usual I couldn't sleep. I laid in bed for an hour just tossing and turning in pain. I finally got up and was hoping that my contractions would ease up with activity but I had no luck. I tried to go to bed again...still no luck. I decided to go ahead and call the doctor around 3:30 in the morning. The doctor told me to go ahead and come in. At that point I had to force myself to breathe through every contraction since they hurt so badly.

When we got to the hospital I was 3cm dilated and 90% effaced. I received some Nubain to take the edge off and tried to get a little rest. My contractions weren't slowing down. I took a walk a little later in the morning to try to facilitate my labor but had no luck. I was sent home to labor on my own at 10:30 am. I tried to nap...no luck. I tried to eat...no luck. I was just in too much pain. At 3:30 pm I called the doctor's office and told them that they needed to get me something for pain or let me have the baby. I was told to go back up to labor and delivery.

At 4:30 pm we arrived back at the hospital. I was in more pain than ever before at that point and couldn't bear it anymore. I was checked again and was 4cm and 100% effaced. I was admitted! I was so happy. They transferred me to a delivery room and my epidural was on it's way. At 6 pm I got my epidural and felt like a human being again. It was then just a waiting game. I progressed just fine on my own and at 10:40 pm on January 23, 2009 our little baby boy was born. Elijah Paul Ashbaugh weighed in at 5lb 12oz and was 20.5 inches long. He had a full head of hair and couldn't have been cuter!

We came home from the hospital on Sunday, January 25. It was nice to be home again. We were both pretty exhausted from the past few days. The visitors started pouring in the next day but we didn't mind. We enjoyed the company.

Eli is now nearly four weeks old and is a wonderful baby. He isn't fussy at all, he loves to be cuddled, and he's the most handsome baby boy I've ever seen. He eats like a champ and is getting so big. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing he weighs nearly 6.5lbs now! We'll find out next week when he goes to the doctor.

Aside from being new parents, Jon and I are doing okay. Times have been really tough on us, especially lately. I'm really feeling the pressure to go back to work, but with a few good job leads we are hoping that I won't have to because Jon will have a job again. Once his job situation is resolved we can hopefully get back on track and move forward with our lives. We feel like things for us have always been one step forward and two steps back. We're frustrated and discouraged, but we know that with prayer, patience, and each other that things will work out for us and we'll one day be where we want to be in our lives. We feel immensely blessed to have Eli though. Without him I don't know where we'd be right now. We have a lot in our lives to be thankful for but there's also a lot of pain and frustration that we are trying to sort through.

So if you're reading this, thank you for reading this far. Please pray for us. I feel hopeful as I type this. Hopefully within the next week you'll be reading a celebratory post about Jon getting a good job. I'll keep you updated on baby Eli, too. :)