Introducing Elie Berk Cittadino

photos by Heather Holt

Elie Berk Cittadino

It’s been one week with our sweet Elie boy!

To give a little background on his name… Elie [rhymes with belly] had been our boy name since first finding out we were pregnant with Harley four years ago. It was the ONLY name Casey liked for a boy, which is funny since it’s not a very common [boy] name… at least not here in America. Elie Wiesel, Elie Tahari, and Elie Saab might be other Elie’s you’re familiar with… and in Israel it tends to be more popular.

For those of you who don’t know, Berkowicz is my maiden name. In addition, Berk is my mom’s maiden name [so she just added an “owicz” when marrying my dad!]. Elie is named for my grandfather, Stanley Berk, my mom’s father. It just so happened to work out that it’s a part of my old last name too!

January 3, 2018

I had a scheduled induction at 39.1 weeks. There was no medical reasoning for my induction. It was completely elected. You see, my sister gets married this Saturday and I just couldn’t risk missing her wedding! I also needed as much recovery time as possible, so I’m thankful my doctor had zero concerns with me going a few days early.

Harley came early, at 38 weeks, and it was such a different experience! My labor and delivery with Harley was record time fast, but boy, was it chaotic and painful. This time around was much more peaceful and enjoyable.

I felt really good about my plan to get induced. However, if I’m being completely honest, two days before actually going in, I started to panic a bit and psych myself out that this was going to be the longest labor ever. Of course I could not sleep the night before. So, I took a nice long bath at 3am, then did my makeup [because what else is there to do at 4am when you can’t sleep LOL], and then practically stood over Casey until he woke up.

We arrived to the hospital early in the morning. It felt like we were checking into a hotel! As soon as we were put in a room, Casey made himself a comfortable little work station, and my mom joined us to keep me company until I was actually in labor.

My nurse, Michelle was amazing and made me feel completely at ease. She inserted a pill up you know where and said it takes four hours to do it’s intended job. During those four hours, I was able to shut my eyes for little bit, chat with my mom and Casey, and just relax. I was feeling contractions, but they were manageable.

After the four hours were up, Doctor L came in to check on me. He was able to break my water before going in for a schedule C section with another patient. I then got my epidural [which was the only thing on my birth plan!!!] and then had my mom sit outside the room with my dad so that Casey and I could have alone time. We put on Florida Georgia Line’s Top Hits on the portable speaker we brought from home and just relaxed. I quickly dilated from 2cm to 7cm to 10cm. I felt the contractions get stronger and stronger, but because of the epidural, I never felt the unbearable pain I did when first going into labor with Harley.

Michelle called Doctor L in after he was finished with his surgery. He asked if he could have 10 minutes, and she’s like, “Nope! It’s go time!” He was in the room for what felt like three whole minutes. In the middle of my first push, he goes, “Oh, your friends are going to hate you” and told me to keep pushing. I look down, and there was Elie! I was in total shock that he was here so quickly!!

It’s been a crazy week adjusting to a family of four, recovering, and getting ready for my sister’s wedding, but I really can not complain… Elie is perfect and we are lucky to have him! He also is the best little snuggler ever!

Thank you everyone for your well wishes!! And sorry if this post sounds like I’m 5 years old. Certainly not my most eloquent writing, but hopefully you can forgive me given the circumstances!! XO