Happy 3 Months Miss E!

^ ^ ^ you and a few of your crazy aunts! ^ ^ ^

^ ^ ^ some of my favorite pictures of you, I can't get over your cute cheekies! ^ ^ ^

^ ^ ^ meeting your cousin Mathis for the first time! ^ ^ ^ 

Nicknames: The usuals, Ellie, Sweet girl, silly monkey, Baby Fergie

Temperament: Joyful and Happy. You are one big bundle of joy. I'll explain below...

Things I Could Do Without: Your dry skin and your cradle cap. I can't seem to find a solution to either. So guess what? We just decided not to care about either. I lotion you up, make sure you are happy and that's that. 

Item/Toy We Love the Most: Bumbo baby! You love sitting in it because you get to see everything and I think it makes you feel grown up. I love you sitting in it because it lets me get stuff done! Win win for both of us! 

Item/Toy You Love the Most: Your hands. Your love for your fists grow more each month! I have been trying to get you to love your pacifier more to protect your sweet little dry chapped hands, but nothing beats those cute little hands of yours.  One night, I covered your hands with the little flap on your jammies. When I found you awake and crying, your poor little arms were stuck at the the top of your jammies! You were determined to get those hands into your mouth. You also discovered the ceiling fan this month and I'm pretty sure you think it's cooler than mommy and daddy. 

Things I'm Loving Most Right Now: You are babbling all the time, It's so fun to listen to you discover your voice. You will even babble back to us if we babble at you. And that smile! I can't get enought! You are also a master nurser, which makes mommy's life soooooo much easier. Were down to less than 20 minutes for both sides and I would say that's a huuuuge accomplishment seeing that we were doing hour long sessions for the first couple of months. You rock! 

Milestones: You went on your first plane ride and despite mom panicking about almost every aspect of it, you rocked it and slept through both flights. You sat in your bumbo for the first time and you can hold onto things like burp cloths and your toy Elliephant (haha...ok to much!) You also met all of mommy's students! Dad brought you up to school and they were so excited to meet you!

This month, I really started to see your personality come through. Twice this month, you brought someone to tears just because they were holding you. I honestly believe that babies can be healing to the spirit, and you are evidence of this. Your sweet joyful nature is easily felt by those around you and you are happy to share it. I feel very blessed to be your mother, I am learning so much from you. I texted Mimi this week, "Mom, I think E gets cuter every day!". She responded, "I have always thought that about you". And you know what, I get it now. I get what your mimi is always telling me about how much she loves me and your aunts and uncles. I get why even when I do crazy things that make my mom sad, she still loves me. Because I feel the exact same way about you. I know that you will probably do things some day that will make me sad, but I know that I will always love you. 

Always. 

Ok enough mushy business, here is a fun story from this month. 

You looooove your uncle Ephraim. He comes over to the house a lot just to snuggle you. Sometimes I have to take you back by force because he just doesn't want to let go of you! It's adorable. He almost always sings you a song written especially for you. Lots of broadway/movie numbers with your name inserted in it. You think it is great fun. Your eyes get super big and you stare/smile at him while he sings away. Well one day, you were in the foyer at church with one of mommy's friends. She had taken you in the hallway because you were starting to get fussy. A mans voice started singing over the speakers from inside the chapel and you immediately calmed down and went right to sleep. Guess who was singing? Uncle Ephraim! He had never been so excited to hear that his singing put someone to sleep :) 

Oh my sweet sweet little one. I can't believe another month flew by! I can't wait to see what next month will bring! 

I love you forever. 

Mom. 

Happy 2 Months Miss E

Be prepared for photo montage overload.....

don't say I didn't warn you.

Seriously girl, we need to work on being a little more discreet when pooping. 

Nicknames: Silly Monkey, Little One, Little Girl...technically Ellie. 

Temperament : Unless you are tired or hungry, you are pretty much always Happy Happy Happy!

Things I could do without:  Your unpredictable sleep schedule. Sometimes, you treat mommy to a 5 hour span, but mostly you are up every 2-3 hours at night. I don't know how she did it, but MiMi was a sleep whisperer to you in Arizona...2 nights in a row you slept from 8-3! Clearly, I know nothing. 

Item/Toy You love the most: Your pacifier (MAMS and Gumdrop) and your hand. Basically, you love to suck on anything your mouth can reach. One time, your Daddy thought there was a leak in the house, but once he started looking for the dripping noise, he realized it was you sucking like a mad woman on your hand in your crib. Silly monkey :) 

Item/Toy We love the most: We looooove your Joovy Jogger! Since mommy can finally run again, we have been putting that baby to great use. 

Things I’m loving most right now:  Your adorable chatty, smiley self. If you aren’t crying or sleeping, you are talking and making everyone around you smile. Your favorite place to talk is on the changing table. We also can’t get enough of your grandpa sneezes. You yell, not cry, yell as loud as you can for 3-5 seconds before your cute little sneeze pops out. It's awesome. 

Milestones:

Upright is your middle name these days. Forget about cradle holding you, you want to be standing up and looking out. You can hold your head up almost entirely on your own for a short time, you love to look around at anything and everything. I love watching your curious eyes discover the world around you, and you did a lot of discovering this month. We took you to Arizona to see your cute cousins over Spring Break (Daddy’s last one!) and I've decided 2 months is the perfect age to take a road trip. Despite it taking 2 hours longer due to you demanding food (sheesh!) you slept the entire time! You actually did roll over from front to back, but were pretty sure it was a flook cause you haven't done it since. 

Miss E, I wish you knew how much joy you bring to everyone around you. I had to return to work last week and I was so worried you would be sad all day, but guess what...you are happy happy happy just like I said before. Auntie Estrella came all the way from Ft Worth to watch you the first week I was back at work and I'm pretty sure you were in heaven. She even got rid of your cradle cap! (Aquaphor people...get it nice and goopy, soak for an hour and the stuff brushes right out!). This week, you went to the Paynes house where their sweet momma and 3 daughters doted on you relentlessly! Sad is a very light word to use when I told them that I didn't have to go to work on Friday. Next week, your Gma is coming to give you all the snuggles you want! It makes me so happy that people love you almost as much as I love you.

Because I love so so much.
And I will love you forever.

Mom

Happy 1 Month!

I can't believe the little Miss E is 1 month old today!

No really, I can't. Where did February go? 

 This little one is changing so much. She started eating WAY more than she used to so I'm hoping to start seeing some chubby cheeks on her soon! 

 

One of the great things about E is that she has a hate/love relationship with her pacifier. When she wants it, she loves it. When she doesn't, she spits it out and will not let you put it back in her mouth. 

I wish I had a little Elephant in her animal collection, but Mommy's camel will have to do for the picture prop for now.

The next 4 pictures are some of my favorites. 

I can't stop laughing at the first one. 

Girlfriend, you have got to be more discrete when pooping!

(I'm pretty sure she pooped the entire way through the photo shoot)

"Ok Mom...enough with all the pictures. Can I take a nap now?"

Nicknames: I call you "Little One" and your Dad calls you "Little Girl"
Temperament: Unless you have gas, super content. (Who could blame you!) Your happiest time is right after you eat and before you fall asleep. You start making super cute smiley faces and sometimes you accidentally laugh. It's seriously adorable.
Things I Could Do Without: Projectile spit up. (think Pitch Perfect...yeah, it's intense!)
Item/Toy We Love The Most: We love your Rockabye Baby lullaby CD's. They put you right to sleep or calm you down when you are fussy. (We have Coldplay and Weezer)
Item/Toy You Love The Most: Your Papasan chair when it's vibrating (Thanks Cami!) Sometimes we prop it up against your crib so then your crib vibrates!
Things I'm Loving Most Right Now: When you are awake, it's my favorite time with you! We sing, we wiggle and sometimes you poop. You love it when I make your legs run really fast or when I dance with your arms. Sometimes you even make little squeaks and I like to think that you are singing with me, but I bet you are just laughing at your silly mama. I also love watching you with your Daddy. You look so tiny against him and he can't stop saying, "She's so cute!" when he holds you.
Milestones: I'm pretty sure I saw you attempt a cartwheel the other day, or maybe that was just you rolling off my lap while nursing...he...he. You love to hold your neck up high when you are on your tummy or on my chest. You have mastered pooping like a champ and you can spit up like it's nobody's business. What can I say, you are one talented baby! You also took a bottle for the first time and mommy is super happy that daddy can help with late night feedings now.

Wow. What a month it has been for Miss E. She was born. She made me a mother for the first time. She pooped through 200+ diapers and 20+ loads of laundry. We keep thinking she couldn't possibly get any cuter, and then we wake up the next day and she's somehow a million times cuter than the day before. We are slowly getting into a routine, one that will really shake up once I go back to work in a few weeks (sad, don't remind me). Miss E made her first appearance at church where we spent the majority of the time in the mothers room nursing. She experienced her first rain storm and blizzard, all of which we admired from the window. She loves snuggling with her Daddy at night and he can't wait to get home to snuggle her. We are deliriously tired, but couldn't be happier.

Next month...we take our first family road trip. Wish us luck!


Love you Miss E. Forever.
Mom


{Sallie}

Miss E's Birth Story

During one of our birthing classes at the hospital, the instructor handed out a set of cards.  Each card had a different "birth plan" scenario/option on it. She asked us to eliminate the 2 least important things from our pile. I'm sure we took something like mood lighting away. We continued eliminating 2 cards until there were only 2 cards left in front of us.

"Healthy Baby"

"Healthy Mommy"

I thought to myself, "of course that's what I want, but I also really want _________ and _______ to happen because that would make things easy and that's how I'm planning on things going". 

Initially, I would have told you that nothing went as planned. Until I remembered that birthing class and those cards. In which case, it all went as it should have. As I type, my sweet little baby is in her swing making the cutest little noises and that is exactly what I wanted. 

Here is a very short version of how I thought things would go: 

I thought  I would go into labor on my own and labor at my house until my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. At that point, I would go to the hospital and hopefully be dilated to at least a 4. I would be admitted. My doula would come and help me labor the rest of the way. I would walk the halls, bounce on a ball and work really hard to get that baby out without any medication. It would hurt really bad. It would be an incredible experience. My baby would come out pink and crying and  then I would cry with her. We would settle down in a recovery room for a couple days with a relatively comfortable recovery for myself and then go home a couple days later floating on cloud 9 with my sweet baby and dear husband. 

I planned for all of the above. I planned and prepared to the best of my ability and then I waited. 

And here is the really long version of how things actually went: 

Monday January 21 (MLK day): I had my weekly Dr appt after school  (teacher workday for me). The Captain was able to go with me because it was a holiday so no work or school for him. The nurse took my blood pressure and it was 155/110. I'm usually very normal and so I laid on my side and we chatted with my doctor for a little while before she took it again. Still really high. My doctor decided to admit me to the hospital for a 24 hour urine check because high blood pressure at my point in pregnancy could be an indicator of preeclampsia (and if you watched that Downton Abbey episode, you understand why that would be a problem!) I cried the entire way home thinking, "I'm not ready for this!" and "how could I have preeclampsia, I'm super healthy! I just went to the gym a few days ago!" Regardless of my crying, we were on our way and I decided to relax. Things were probably going to be just fine. 

And they were. I had a small amount of protein in my urine at the end of the 24 hour urine collection, but not enough to be induced so my Dr sent me home on bed rest till Miss E decided to make her appearance. 

Bed rest wasn't that bad. I had to lay in bed all day watching tv and reading books. Shoot me right?I've decided that's how I want to spend the last week of every pregnancy--and how every over due pregnant woman should spend theirs as well.  I even got a "bed rest birthday party" thanks to the Captain! 

I went to bed on my birthday (Thursday) feeling a little different. My back was hurting and continued to hurt throughout the night. I kept waking the Captain up asking him to put pressure on my lower back. Eventually I didn't even have to ask. He would hear me moving and just immediately put his hand on my back. Good husband :) 

At about 4am I decided to just get up and go to the couch to watch TV since I wasn't really sleeping. The back pains were becoming more frequent and once I moved to the couch, I noticed that my stomach was hurting at the same time that my back was. 

Hmmm....maybe these were contractions. 

So I started timing them. 

Sure enough, they were contractions coming anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart, but still pretty regular. The Captain left for the gym around 7 am and on his way out the door, I told him that I thought I was having contractions but not to get too excited because I could have them for a couple days before anything would happen. My request didn't help. He was so excited and bounced off to the gym instructing me to call him as soon as anything changed. 

After catching up on all my morning shows, I hopped in the shower (which slowed the contractions down), ate a good breakfast (hoping it would be my last meal before the baby came) and headed off to a routine "over due" non stress test at the hospital.

 

Everything and everyone was fine at the non stress test. E's heart rate was great and the nurse/technician informed me that I was having contractions 6-7 minutes apart. I let her know that I was aware of that and that I was hopeful that the baby would come sometime this weekend. 

After that appointment, the Captain and I decided to grab some lunch at our favorite local pizza place (again thinking/hoping it would be my last meal and boost of energy before the baby came). Everyone commented on how pregnant I was as I stuffed my face with a delicious calzone. 

Really? You don't say...I almost forgot I was pregnant till you mentioned it. Thanks pizza place people for reminding me :) 

We had a good laugh and headed back home to labor some more. Eventually the Captain reluctantly had to go back to class. My contractions were still around 5-7 minutes apart and I assured him that I would let him know when he needed to come home. 

He still texted me every 20 minutes. 

"Any changes? Should I come home?"

Finally around 3:30 pm, my contractions went to about 4 minutes apart and I decided to have him come home thinking we would probably head the hospital relatively soon. 

And apparently he received shouts and cheers as he left class. Everyone, including his professor, was super excited for the Dad-to-be. 

I had been texting my doula all day and when my contractions bounced to 3-4 minutes apart, she suggested we start making our way to the hospital. You've never seen such frazzled almost parents. I was trying to update my phone and clean it off to make room for pictures of E---finishing a load of laundry---picking up the house---stopping only to sway through each contraction. The captain was running around packing again. We decided to eat something really fast and then finally drive to the hospital. 

I wish I had a picture of us in the car. In between contractions, we were both beaming with excitement. We had been anxiously waiting for this drive for months and it was finally here!

We got to the hospital around 5pm. My doula was waiting for us and again, the excitement was thick. We got set up in the room that I would later deliver in and a nurse checked my progress. After a night and a day of laboring, I was at a big fat 1. 

A 1. 

As much as I tried not to be, I was disappointed. I knew that with my high blood pressure, they weren't going to allow me to labor on my own for days on end progressing at this slow rate. I think my doula could see it in my face and turned to both the Captain and I. "Guys, I think your birth plan has just changed"

And for some reason, that made things better. Like exciting better. Like..."ok, that's ok. just tell me what to prepare for". 

But how do you prepare for something you have never experienced? 

An hour later, the nurse checked me again and no surprise, I was still at a 1. I told them several times, "My mom was the same way, she didn't dilate until her water broke." But they couldn't break my water until I was progressed more so I was out of options. I needed to just trust my Dr. 

Who decided to admit me and help move labor along faster. My high blood pressure was a concern. The 1 time I got on a ball to labor, my BP skyrocketed and I was back in bed, on my side a minute later. 

This meant I needed pitocin. 

I say "needed" now but I was very upset then.  As soon as the nurse said "pitocin", I started bawling. I kept asking if I had to and what it would feel like. I told her I was hungry and she said I could eat something quickly before she started me on pitocin, so I sent the captain on a food hunt. He came back with a chicken salad sandwich that I downed without even hesitating. I think I was nervous eating and stalling at the same time. 

Eventually, I got myself together and started pumping myself up. I think I called my mom to let her know what was happening and she reminded me that I had once ran up the side of a mountain in record time and like that, I could do this. 

I don't think she understood how much I needed to hear that. 

At 8pm, they started the pitocin and my 2-3 minute contractions suddenly became very different. I went from being able to breath and work through each contraction, to sobbing and begging the Captain to make them go away. They only lasted about a minute, but they were awful. Some women can labor unmedicated on pitocin, but I quickly realized that I was not going to sanely make it through this night without some help. Feeling very defeated, I asked the Captain to get the nurse because I wanted to order the epidural. And then I stared at the crack at the bottom of the door waiting for the feet of the anesthesiologist to appear. 

20 very long minutes later, a very nice man walked in and I started crying again. 

I could not get it together. Every contraction was becoming almost unbearable. I wanted the epidural so bad but was completely terrified to get it. 

He walked me through a series of questions (where I bragged about not having any nausea my entire pregnancy only to throw up my entire chicken salad sandwich minutes later) and then walked me through the process of getting an epidural---the whole time I was thinking, "great, sounds awesome, let's get this going". And he did. Still feeling defeated that I wasn't doing this naturally like I hoped, I decided I needed to say something: 

"I just want everyone to know that one time I ran up a mountain...ok!" 

Somehow, that justified everything. And I was finally smiling. And everyone around me was laughing. And for the first time in this whole process, I thought, "everything is going to be just fine". 

Laughter. It really is the best medicine.

Pretty soon, we decided to get some rest. It was about 9:30pm at this point and neither one of us anticipated her coming before 7 am. I tried sleeping, but how much can you sleep when you know that you are about to push out a baby soon? It was more like, sleep....catch up on instagram time for me while the Captain slept for a couple of hours. 

Around 11:30pm, the nurse came in to check my progress and surprisingly, I was already at a 6! E's heart rate had dropped a little with the pitocin, so they decided to stop it and let me progress on my own. 

The next couple of hours were spent exchanging life stories with our doula, eating popsicles, and enjoying our last few kid-less hours. So much was going through my head...what would she look like, how much would she weigh, would she have hair? I told the Captain that I really wanted her to have his lips because why would I want to curse her with my 2 bottom lips? 

Around 2 am, I lost track of the time. But around that time, my Dr came in and checked me. I was at an 8, almost 9 and she was ready to break my water. Yay! She broke my water and discovered that little miss E had already passed her meconium (her first poop). 

Right after she broke my water, E's heart rate started to drop. I had a great epidural that allowed quite a bit of leg movement, so I rolled to both sides in an attempt to get her heart rate back up. It didn't work, so to all fours I went. This was probably the scariest part for me. I remember being on all fours, my doula telling me to breathe because I was giving her oxygen and then listening to her very slow heart beat. It had been so fast and lively all night and then suddenly it was at a crawling pace. I remember hearing someone say it was at 60 beats per minute and within 30 seconds, all the lights were on, my dr was gowning up and the room suddenly had a lot more people in. 

But then her heart rate jumped back up and everyone took a big deep breath. 

My Dr told me that we could take a little more time, but that I was already at a 9.5 and she thought it would be best to get her out sooner than later. She could stretch me the rest of the way if I would do the pushing. 

2 sets of pushes and E's heart rate drops to 45. 

I saw my doctor grab what looked like giant salad tongs and told me she was going to be using forceps to help E out.
Then I pushed some more as she pulled my sweet baby E out.
She also performed a small (actually I don't know how big but I'm telling myself small) episiotomy on the tear that was already happening. 

I saw hair and I couldn't stop saying, "She has hair!"

She was also covered in green goopy meconium and she wasn't breathing. The chord had been wrapped around her neck and there was a pretty tight knot in her chord. Not even seconds later, she was in the corner with a NICU team for what were probably the longest moments of my life. My doula was telling the Captain to breathe because he wasn't. He was just staring at our not breathing baby. I was staring at my Dr hoping she would say something about how this happens all the time, but she just kept asking for someone to let us know when she was pink. 

And then I heard the sweetest piggy grunt I ever heard. 

And my little E started crying. 

And the Captain was breathing again.

Little Miss E
Born at 3:03 am on January 26, 2013
6 lbs 9 oz
21.5 inches long

They put little E in my arms and I couldn't stop staring! It was an incredible moment. I immediately saw her Daddy's lips and my little nose. Her hair was so black, I was shocked! Her skin was so soft, and I just wanted to kiss her all over.

 

Everyone was happy and healthy. Exactly like we had planned. 

I don't think I understood the magnitude of what happened in E's delivery until later that day when my Dr came to check up on me. She asked if she could hold E and then started to tear up. She said that she went home and continued to reflect on what happened earlier that morning. Had she done everything right? After going over everything that happened, she truly felt like my choice to get an epidural (she knew I wanted to do deliver E naturally) saved my baby's life. If I hadn't been under anesthesia when her heart rate dropped to 45, she would have had to call an emergency C section and she didn't think there would have been enough time to get me under and to get E out. 

Now we're all crying. Me. The Captain. My Dr. 

Through tears, I told her about my decision to change Dr's when I was 22 weeks pregnant. I searched around and asked lots of friends for recommendations and every time someone mentioned her name, I knew she needed to be my Dr. It just felt right. 

And now I know why I felt so inspired. I will always be so grateful for my Dr who helped bring E into this world safely. Not saying that another Dr couldn't have helped, but I know that for some reason, both E and I needed Dr. Hook.

 

Like my doctor, I've also thought a lot about how everything went down. I'm amazed at how my body prepared itself for what E needed. If I wouldn't have had high blood pressure, I most likely wouldn't have gotten on pitocin. If I wouldn't have gotten on pitocin, I probably wouldn't have gotten the epidural. If I wouldn't have gotten the epidural, I might not be listening to my little E's sweet noises as I type.

I love this little girl so much. More than I can possibly describe.

So to sum up a very lengthy post...Here is what I learned from this entire experience:

• The human body is amazing. Trust it. 
• Prayers bring forth miracles. A few of our friends told us about some prayerful experiences they had Friday night while I was in labor---specifically for E and me---and I know they were needed. Thank you. 
• Planning and Preparation are essential. Even though we didn't get the "natural" birth that we hoped for, our preparation for that kind of birth helped us through the birth experience we did get. 
• Babies are awesome. You should get one if you don't already have one because they are kind of the cutest, softest, bestest little things around :)

Congratulations! You made it through the longest birth story ever! Go eat a cookie to celebrate :) 

{Sallie}
Photos of E credit to Joleen Kremin. Thanks for taking these sweet pictures! 

follow me on instagram to see more pictures of E @seesallierun