Ellayna Kathleen Holt was born Saturday, September 27th at 2:48 am! She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. She is such a sweet baby and has already brought us so much joy, and she's not even 3 days old yet!! I'm sure you mamma's out there know what I'm talking about, but I just can't believe how much I love her already. I tried to imagine beforehand the love I would feel for her but its nothing compared to how much I love her now that she is here! The story of her delivery is one I'm sure I'll tell a million times and I'll never forget! A few weeks ago I went to the dr. and she said (to my surprise) that I was 3 cm dialated. A week later, I was at 4 cm and 70-80% effaced. The day after my appointment, I was having some severe lower back pain at work, combined with a lot of low pressure that just didn't let up. I called my dr. to see if she thought I was in labor. I talked to the nurse and they said I could be but it was hard to say. They offered to have me come in so they could check me but I decided not to since my dr. wasn't in and I didn't really feel like seeing the NP (I didn't have a great experience with the one on call). So the next day (Friday), I went to work and debated all day calling the dr. Finally at about noon I called just to see if I could come in for a quick dialation check before the weekend. They told me to come in at 2. So, I called my friend Laura to pick me up from work since I assumed they would tell me to go home and I didn't want to make Rusty leave work. I left work at around 1:30, got to the dr. around 2, and found out I was 6 cm dialated! At that point, the NP said I definitely needed to be admitted. The whole thing was so surreal. I didn't have my bags with me, nothing really ready for a hospital stay, and I really didn't feel mentally/physically prepared to have a baby!! But, but 3pm, I was hooked up to a monitor, and by about 4, Rusty got to the hospital and they broke my water. From that point, things didn't go quite as quickly. I didn't end up having her until almost 3am, after about 3 hours of pushing (with pretty much no epidural at that point). After I'd pushed for 3 hours, the dr. (not my dr.-my dr. wasn't on call) recommended we try to suction her head out because it just wasn't coming out. Once we decided to do that, she was out in about 10-15 minutes. Here are a few more pics for you to look at!! I, obviously, think she is just gorgeous! Its funny, to me she looks different in every picture, and almost different every time I look at her! We do have a big prayer request though. We were supposed to come home from the hospital today (Monday), but this morning, little Ella tested with a really high level of jaundice. I was pretty teary eyed and worried at first but I'm feeling a little better now. The nurse who gave us the news wasn't the most pleasant woman and she basically freaked us out. But after talking to a different nurse and the pediatrician, we are feeling better. Right now, she's laying on the glow pad and we're also supplementing formula with breast feeding until my milk comes in. So far she is doing really well with the formula-they actually just stick a tiny little tube in her mouth while she's breast feeding so she doesn't really know that the milk isn't coming from me. We're praying that we can be discharged tomorrow morning. I am officially being discharged tonight but they will let me sleep in the hospital room unless they need the bed. We're praying that doesn't happen! If Ella isn't discharged tomorrow morning, I'm not sure what we'll do yet. Just hoping that doesn't happen. We really appreciate your prayers, and we'll keep you posted!!
So as of Wednesday, I am 3 cm dialated!! I was super surprised! My dr. said she was going to check me and I honestly 100% thought she would say "no progress", but, then she said 3 cm and I was shocked! The look on Rusty's face was priceless, poor guy! HA! So of course I asked her what that really meant. I know women who are dialated at 2 or 3 for weeks and then even end up going over their due date! But she said she did not think I would still be pregnant on my due date. When we were leaving she said..."well, see you next week, or, maybe sooner!". I think that freaked us out the most! But once I got past the freak out point, I've been really excited and just really ready. And if you are wondering, NO, the bathroom is not done. But after this weekend it SHOULD at least be functioning in all ways...it will probably still need another coat of paint and baseboards. But at least we can use it and put all our stuff in the closets away. Please pray for us! We will both feel so much better when that is done and we can focus all our efforts on being new parents and just lovin on our new baby girl :) But I'll keep you posted on the progress (on my labor, not the bathroom)! I seriously feel like a ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off! They say only 11% of women have their water spontaneously break, but I just am so paranoid about that happening, especially when I'm out shopping or something!
This is totally un-pregnancy related but I was just eating some really good pie and thought I'd blog about it. About 6 months ago I discovered the Pioneer Woman website-if you've never been there, check it out. Its the best cooking website ever! She has pics and step by step instructions. I've tried a number of her recipes and its really gotten me back to cooking! Most recently, I tried her recipe for Scrumptous Apple Pie. Its one of the best pies I've ever had-try it, you will NOT be disappointed! Plus, I just feel like such a homemaker when I have homemade apple pie for my husband!
Other than making pie and being wife/homemaker of the year, I've been busy just tying up loose ends at work. I only have 13 days of work left, not that I'm counting!! I can't even imagine what my life is going to be like in just 3 short weeks-everything will change, and I can't wait! I had a meeting with my boss today and just confirmed my plans-I'll be taking my full 12 weeks off (and then some), and returning to work after the New Year, but then just working from home 2 days a week. I feel so blessed that I am able to do this. Its been amazing just to see how God has worked in the past few years. I love how God works-His timing is usually so different from ours, and always is so much better.
Its been a busy couple of weeks! We are trying hard to make every minute count in preparation for our baby girl coming! We have the nursery almost finished, the last thing we need to put in the room is the glider and we pick that up tomorrow. After that, it will just be arranging everything and putting things up on the wall. I can't wait for it all to be ready! Last weekend I cleaned all her clothes and attempted to organize them. Its harder than I thought it would be! I felt like Monica on Friends-I was trying to categorize everything and before I knew it I had like 12 different categories. So, I have everything put away for now but I'm sure I'll reorganize everything once she comes and I realize nothing is where it needs to be :)
As far as our other projects...the bathroom is SO close to being done. I honestly never thought it would take this long-we were totally unrealistic about how long it would take. Oh well. As long as its done in the next 2 weeks I'll be happy. Its really just finishing touches at this point. I hope to be posting pics of the finished room SOON!
Here are a few pics from my church shower! My life group girls Laura, Mandy, Nancy and Carol headed it up and my sisters Sarah and Rachel helped a lot also. Thank you girls SO much for all your hard work!! It turned out so nicely and I just felt so loved!! Me and my good friend Anne who drove 2 hrs to come to my shower!! My friend Jen made this adorable diaper cake! I had seen them in magazines before but never in real life! It was so cute and I know it took so much time to make. I loved it! Here is me and my great friend Laura :) I cannot believe I am almost 37 weeks pregnant!! Its totally surreal to me that in less than a month I will be having a BABY. I can't really imagine actually going into labor and going through that process, let along bringing her home and taking care of her. But I'm so excited! So far my pregnancy is still really normal-nothing to report! My last dr's appt was last week and my Dr. actually didn't even want me to come in this week, so I have my next appt next week. I had a small scare over the weekend and on Monday when I thought my water MAY have broken plus I felt a lot of low pressure plus back pain. I called the dr. and talked to the nurse and she said it sounded like pretty normal pregnancy stuff-nothing to worry about. As of my last appt, she hadn't dropped yet so I think they aren't too worried about me going into labor early. Hope they're right! Rachel called me the other day and said she had a dream that I went into labor on September 12th. Hmm. I hope she is wrong because that is this Friday!! Well here is a belly pic I took a few hours ago-I warn you, its not too pretty! I wonder how much bigger I will get? Hopefully not too much more!
We went to the last concert where we won't need to find a babysitter! It was such a good conert-Jars of Clay, Switchfoot and Third Day. We went with 3 other couples and it was so fun! Baby girl was rocking out-she loves music!! I kept seeing this one guy at the concert who had brought his baby! He had these big headphones on him so the loudness wouldn't bother him-it cracked me up! I had to get a picture:
Here's me and Mandy hanging out on the lawn waiting for the concert to start: Hopefully my next post will be of the completed nursery and bathroom! And the post after that...may be the big one!
Ellayna Kathleen Holt was born Saturday, September 27th at 2:48 am! She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. She is such a sweet baby and has already brought us so much joy, and she's not even 3 days old yet!! I'm sure you mamma's out there know what I'm talking about, but I just can't believe how much I love her already. I tried to imagine beforehand the love I would feel for her but its nothing compared to how much I love her now that she is here! The story of her delivery is one I'm sure I'll tell a million times and I'll never forget! A few weeks ago I went to the dr. and she said (to my surprise) that I was 3 cm dialated. A week later, I was at 4 cm and 70-80% effaced. The day after my appointment, I was having some severe lower back pain at work, combined with a lot of low pressure that just didn't let up. I called my dr. to see if she thought I was in labor. I talked to the nurse and they said I could be but it was hard to say. They offered to have me come in so they could check me but I decided not to since my dr. wasn't in and I didn't really feel like seeing the NP (I didn't have a great experience with the one on call). So the next day (Friday), I went to work and debated all day calling the dr. Finally at about noon I called just to see if I could come in for a quick dialation check before the weekend. They told me to come in at 2. So, I called my friend Laura to pick me up from work since I assumed they would tell me to go home and I didn't want to make Rusty leave work. I left work at around 1:30, got to the dr. around 2, and found out I was 6 cm dialated! At that point, the NP said I definitely needed to be admitted. The whole thing was so surreal. I didn't have my bags with me, nothing really ready for a hospital stay, and I really didn't feel mentally/physically prepared to have a baby!! But, but 3pm, I was hooked up to a monitor, and by about 4, Rusty got to the hospital and they broke my water. From that point, things didn't go quite as quickly. I didn't end up having her until almost 3am, after about 3 hours of pushing (with pretty much no epidural at that point). After I'd pushed for 3 hours, the dr. (not my dr.-my dr. wasn't on call) recommended we try to suction her head out because it just wasn't coming out. Once we decided to do that, she was out in about 10-15 minutes. Here are a few more pics for you to look at!!
I, obviously, think she is just gorgeous! Its funny, to me she looks different in every picture, and almost different every time I look at her! We do have a big prayer request though. We were supposed to come home from the hospital today (Monday), but this morning, little Ella tested with a really high level of jaundice. I was pretty teary eyed and worried at first but I'm feeling a little better now. The nurse who gave us the news wasn't the most pleasant woman and she basically freaked us out. But after talking to a different nurse and the pediatrician, we are feeling better. Right now, she's laying on the glow pad and we're also supplementing formula with breast feeding until my milk comes in. So far she is doing really well with the formula-they actually just stick a tiny little tube in her mouth while she's breast feeding so she doesn't really know that the milk isn't coming from me. We're praying that we can be discharged tomorrow morning. I am officially being discharged tonight but they will let me sleep in the hospital room unless they need the bed. We're praying that doesn't happen! If Ella isn't discharged tomorrow morning, I'm not sure what we'll do yet. Just hoping that doesn't happen. We really appreciate your prayers, and we'll keep you posted!!
