She's Here!!!

Our sweet Ella Marie arrived on Wednesday, February 22, two days after her due date. She made her first debut at 5:56am after only 5 hours of labor, start to finish. She weighs 8 lb. 9 oz. and is 21 inches long.

I didn't realize that I was in labor because the pain was so different from when I had William, and it was only about a third of the intensity. I started timing the "contractions" at 1am, they were every 5-7 minutes, but not much pain. I could talk through them. At 4am, they were 3-4 minutes apart, so I called the hospital and was told to go in. We finally left at 4:45am, I was sure I wasn't dilated very far, and almost waited a while longer. We checked in, and I found out I was dilated to 9cm, and my doctor, who would be there at 7am, wasn't going to make it. I was so surprised. The dr. on call barely made it for my water to break and for me to push. She was born shortly after that.



So, no pain meds, or any medical intervention. I had an episiotomy without anesthetic, luckily it blended in with the rest of the pain of delivery! : )
I've now experienced a completely medical involved birth, and one without. Very interesting difference, I must say if I can avoid it, I will never be induced again. I really didn't mind this labor, and could easily do it again in a heartbeat. Yes, I know I'm weird, but it was so much easier and much less painful than William's delivery, and I loved that I didn't have complications of my own!

Unfortunately, little Ella swallowed some of her meconium, had the cord wrapped around her neck and thigh, and had a plummeting heart rate. She ended up with hypoglycemia, so they had to work on her very quickly. I didn't get to hold her for almost an hour after she was born. I'm happy to report, she is doing beautifully now, and was able to come back to our room from the special care nursery by 8:30pm the night she was born.

William is excited to have a baby sister around, but is still learning lots of new things about babies. He wants to hold her, but still to shy to carry out that desire. He likes to look at her and wants to know where she's at. Last night when we went to pick William up from Grandma Christian's house, he didn't like the idea of Ella coming home with us. He said, "No, I want baby sister to stay here." Kinda funny, but his whole world has been flipped upside down. He hates it when she cries, it really bothers him. He will make a great older brother!

February...

Okay, I don't have a picture this time, just a quick update. Our family had a great holiday vacation in Idaho visiting my family. Then, we celebrated my birthday, and moved into our own place in Washington. It has been quite an adjustment for William to be in a new place where the rules are different, he doesn't have Grandma and Grandpa to run away to and get spoiled, and has much less space to run around in. I'm glad we had the full month of January to get adjusted, because my energy levels are about nill at this point.

Only 2 weeks until my baby is due. And I'm fairly confident that she will wait that long, I went to the doctor today, and haven't dilated. A bummer, but she is easier to take care of right now, so I'll enjoy the last few days I have with William before I rock his world again. It will be fun to have a little girl around that I can dress up for no reason and increase some of the girly aspects of the home now that we'll be even 2 for 2.

I'm loving having my own space again. And I'm very excited to use my things, and get to decorate our own little home, making it our own. We are close to a bus stop, which will be nice since we only have Tyler's car, and William thinks the bus is awesome. We are within short walking distance to some in-laws, church and temple, and parks, so when the weather is always lovely (meaning spring and summer) we will definitely get some great exercise. It's strange to have so many great weather days during January and February where all we need is a light jacket and we are good to go. I love it, we've only had one snow storm where the snow stayed for about 4 days. We got a good hour in sledding at Grandma and Grandpa's house, so I got my very small snow fix in, and now I'm good for the rest of the year. I suppose living most of your life with lots of snow for 8 months out of the year will do that to you.

I will post sometime after I have the baby and won't forget pictures. : )