Long over-due Ellsie post

This post is long over-due, but I want to have it written anyway!
In June 2014 we went to our ultrasound to see our 4th child (which we knew was a boy, because we were a boy family!). I watched the ultrasound as the tech moved around and there it was, I was sure it was a boy. Just as I said, "Oh Look it's a..." The tech interrupted and said "It's a girl!". I was shocked but excited. I really had planned my life around having a bunch of boys and was excited about it, I had no idea what to do with a girl!  Now that we have her, I can't believe how much she has changed our family, for the better of course!
After 3 pregnancies of being induced and babies getting smaller and crankier, I was determined to wait this one out and have her when she was good and ready. That is, until I hit about 38 weeks pregnant and reality got a little out of focus. It's so funny looking back, how irrational pregnant women are. A week feels like eternity when you are dying to hold your baby, know she's safe and healthy, and to get comfortable again. At 38 weeks I started talking myself into being induced because the dr. estimated her to be much bigger than my other babies were. I held out until 2 days short of 40 weeks, but mostly because I wanted my doctor to be there and he was going to be traveling a lot the next week or 2. I was induced on a Sunday morning between all of his trips and days gone. Adam and I shipped the boys off to grandma and grandpa Powell's house the night before and headed to the hospital at 7 a.m. I was all hooked up and ready to go by 8 and the doctor came and broke my water on his way to 9:00 church (about 8:45). He joked and said he'd be back to check on me after church and told us that he'd love to get out of teaching Sunday School, so if I'd hurry that would be great! I got my epidural shortly after he left, which was kind of a disaster. While I waited for the epidural I was given some Fentanyl in my IV to help with the pain, but it made me head spin and I was so sick. When he got there, the anesthesiologist poked and prodded for a while as he said "I can't tell if I'm hitting bone or just a tight muscle or something". He placed the needle and re-placed it and them finally felt like it was good and left. I was numb for about 20 minutes before it wore off and I could feel everything above my thighs (of course, my legs were like jello- it worked REALLY well there.) They tried giving me another dose, but it didn't help and the contractions were getting much stronger. I'm a very obedient person (well, no, not really, but there's a first for everything), so I followed the doctors orders to hurry up and by 10:30 I was ready to get that baby out! The nurses called Dr. Kirkman and he hurried over after turning on a video for his sunday school class. I did all I could to keep myself from pushing while I waited, but he got there just in time to catch her as she came out. It was painful, but it was quick and she was perfect! Ellsie Rhealyn (Name comes from grandmas Rhea and Sheila Marilyn) was born at 11:05 a.m. 7 lbs. 1 oz. 18 1/2 in. with beautiful red hair.
When the anesthesiologist came in, he did the usual "Here are the potential risks of epidural, sign here". He told me that there are basically 2 things that can go wrong. 1. For a very small percentage of women, the epidural just doesn't work. 2. For an even smaller percentage, the patient can get headaches caused by the epidural. Both are unlikely.
While I was recovering, I got a slight headache and asked for some tylenol. The nurses told me to let them know if it got worse. It did. By that night I had a terrible headache and barely even wanted to hold Ellsie. I slept most of the night to try and get rid of it (usually I don't sleep after having a baby because I have so much energy and adrenaline). The next morning I was feeling a little better, so I decided to go home rather than stay another day. The headache was better as long as I was laying down, but when I'd be upright for a few minutes it would come back. By the time we pulled into the driveway (and then caught our chickens that had escaped from their coop and were running in the neighbors yard), my headache was back full force. I got into the house and went straight to the couch. It got so intense that I couldn't even move and all I could do was cry and close my eyes. I talked to the nurses at the hospital and they said that if it gets worse I could come back in and they'd do what is called a blood patch where they take some of my blood, insert another epidural and push the blood in to plug the hole where the spinal fluid was leaking and causing the headaches. I did NOT want to get another needle in my back after all of that, so I went to my chiropractor instead and he adjusted me but said it would probably still just have to heal on it's own. I spent the next 3-4 days not really doing anything other than nursing the baby and laying in bed because I was so miserable, but eventually the headaches started to taper off. The worst part of it, I remember thinking, was that I felt great other than the headaches. My recovery was so quick and I wanted to get back to life, but I just couldn't be upright! It was a long few weeks, and luckily I had a very happy baby, so it was much easier than it could have been.