Labor Day

Our long awaited baby girl is here!!! Where do I begin?!?! Let's start at the beginning of the day..... I had a routine doctor's appt tuesday morning at 11am. I was hopeful they would do something for me at the appt so I repacked our hospital bag. Remember, we packed it up two weeks ago because I thought my water broke. At my appt the doctor talked about if I was around next week, then they would intervene. I asked, "what about today?" He said they don't typically intervene until between 41 and 42 weeks and they would not let me go to 42 weeks. Then he said, "but... you will be 41 weeks tomorrow...." I think he could hear the desperation in my voice and see the pain in my face if I had to go another week, so he agreed to call over to the hospital to see when they could get me in. And baby was sleeping so her heart rate was lower than normal, usually she is awake when I happended to have my appts, so I could see slight concern in his face about her heartrate. I'm telling you, everything happened to fall into place for me to have her on tuesday! First, Wade didn't have school that day and would only have to miss one class on Wed. Second, Grandma Cathy happened to be coming through town and wanted to stop as we were on our way to our appt. And third, her sleeping heartrate kind of pushed things along. I was so relieved when he said we could have her that day!! And I was having braxton hicks all day monday, so my body was gearing up to have a baby soon any way, I just needed a little help.

40 weeks and 6 days

Talking to my sister, telling her we were going to the hospital!!!

We came home before checking in to the hospital to gather our bags, have lunch, and settle Whitney in with Grandma Cathy. It was so convienent that she was already here and we didn't have to worry about getting anyone to Ames to watch Whitney!

Our last photo as a family of three. I had a sudden overwhelming sense of sadness as we were getting ready to leave Whitney. We told her what was going on, but really she had no idea that we would be bringing a baby home and that she would no longer be the baby with all the attention.

After much deliberation.... Ellison Lucille!!!! We will likely end up calling Ellie, Ella, or Elle. Whatever happens to come out of our mouth at the time. I am already annoyed with everyone thinking I am saying Allison when they ask us her name. Hmmm, not too late to change it, we haven't filled out the ssn paper work yet.......


Right after labor, poor thing! Labor was fast and furious. We checked in at 1 and had what I thought was kind of a snotty nurse. Like she was annoyed the doctor was inducing me without good medical reason. As if being a day shy of 41 weeks wasn't good enough! When the doctor checked me at 11 I was still dilated to a three. He said, too bad I wasn't at a four, then they would have to take me because that is technically in labor. When he broke my water he said I was at a four now. The nurse asked me how I went from a three to a four. I don't know, could have been the contractions I was having before he broke my water, or maybe my kind hearted doctor wanted to say I was at a four. So, he broke my water about 2:15 and I told him I would try my best to have the baby by five so he could still deliver me and still get home by six. Contractions picked up IMMEDIATELY!!! They started coming ever 2-3 minutes, lasting 1- 1.5 minutes at a time getting stronger with each one. By four I had an epidural going. What heaven!!! Around 5:30 I would say the doctor came to check me before he ended his day, and asked if I felt like I could start pushing. I said I felt like she was further down. Well, I was at a 10 and ready to go! Baby's heartrate dropped to 70/80 as she descended into my pelvis, and as soon as he could get his labor delivery outfit on I was pushing to get her out quickly. It happened so fast. My first push was mid contraction, like what, push now?!? So, she came out second push. See, I told you she was ready to be born!!! My doctor again complimented me on being an ideal OB patient. No complications and no complaints, and a speedy delivery. Thanks, but no more babies for me! Labor contractions are PAINFUL!!! I love my two girls, and I'm done! (knock on wood)



Thinking how much she looks like Whitney when she was a newborn.

Whitney seeing Ellison for the first time. She was pretty interested in her and wasn't too concerned about getting to me.

Proud Grandparents. My parents came to watch Whitney and will help out until Sunday. Thankfully Whitney loves her grandparents and is doing just fine without me. I am surprisingly not thinking about her too much and concentrating on the new baby.

Grandma Cathy

A family of four!

Big sister kisses. Whitney has been to the hospital twice and is doing really well with baby sister. She doesn't seem to miss me too much and eagerly waves goodbye to me when she is ready to go. It's nice to be at the hospital to bond with Ellison and give her the attention she deserves, but man, there is somebody in here ALL... THE.... TIME!!!! And with that initial rush of adrenaline of having the baby it is impossible to sleep at night. Then when I was ready to sleep Ellison wanted to be awake and nurse for about two hours straight! She wasn't upset when she was up, she was just up! I can already tell my milk is coming in, so hopefully her tummy will be nice and full and she'll sleep longer tonight.

40 Weeks

Today is my due date. Today I am 40 weeks, but who's counting? LOL!! I'm trying to laugh on the inside, really. It's no secret I expected to go early with this pregnancy so I'm bit frustrated/annoyed I haven't had this baby yet. I had a docotor's appt monday and I was still dilated at a 3 and they stripped my membranes. Obviously that did nothing to trigger labor, go figure!! I go back to the doctor tuesday and they will either break my water at that time or we will set up a date to have it done. I hope it doesn't go that far, but right now I have little faith that I will go into labor on my own, especially given the fact that I have had no more than random braxton hicks contractions. I am still struggling with committing to a name, I told you I hate making decisions! I guess I'll have to wait to see her before I can decide. I hate that I don't have a name I just love and have to have. Or maybe it's that Wade doesn't love the names that I love and I have to compromise with another person. Until next time.....

10 Things

My friend over at The Story of Us did a blog post about 10 random things about yourself. I thought it was a cute idea since I always post about Whitney or this current pregnancy. So enjoy, and if your a blogger please repost!

1. I am about to have my second daughter any day now. (I hope!)

2. I will be 31 on Saturday, YIKES!

3. My favorite soap opera is One Life to Live, I hate when I miss it.

4. I could do laundrey all day, just don't ask me to put it away!

5. I am very grumpy in the morning if I didn't get enough sleep and please don't try to talk to me when I am in one of these "moods".

6. I hate making decisions and second guess myself all the time.

7. I was on the swim team growing up and it's the only sport I was ever any good at. I prefer to work out on my own and go on walks or runs for exercise. Hopefully I will start that back up some time in the near future!

8. Since I have been married I have lived in 7 different houses in three different states. Two different houses in Kansas, then to Missouri, then to Iowa, then back to Missouri, and now we are back in Iowa. I don't mind moving and actually kind of like it. I would love it if we could get stationed at Ft Carson, CO.

9. I love wine and can't wait to drink it again. I usually prefer red.

10. I prefer fall to any other season.

39 Weeks

I'm here another week. I just hope I don't do a 40 week post. I had it in my head that this baby was coming as early as Whitney did or even earlier. HUGE mistake, because as soon as we flipped the calendar over to February I have been expecting a baby and every day that goes by I get a little more irritable. I know she can't stay in there forever, but 9 months is a LONG time and these last few days of waiting are excruciating!! Yesterday we had a false alarm. I was certain my water broke so we went into the clinic to be tested. The test came back negative for amniotic fluid, but we did find out that I was dilitated to a 3, yay!!! It took a lot of time and a lot of pain to get to a 3 with Whitney, so I'm excited about that!! Last night I had about an hour and a half of pretty consistent light contractions, and then of course nothing. At least I got another night of sleep. So, I feel like a bit of a retard that I thought my water broke (no, I didn't pee my pants!) Since my water broke with Whitney I thought I was pretty confident as to what had happened. I'm trying hard to be patient about the end of this pregnancy, and to be thankful for the extra time I have with Whitney. When I'm cuddling Whitney I remind myself to enjoy the uninterrupted snuggles. Even though I would rather sit at home on the couch and wait, I am still taking her to the library and to the gym in subzero temperatures because she enjoys it, not to mention to keep both of our sanity.

Other than having a ginormous belly that obstructs my movement, my health is fine. No swelling, no high BP, heartburn, backache, etc. Just mentally ready to be done.

Another Winter Weekend

My intuition is a bit rusty, and we did not have our baby girl on saturday. (I was predicting Feb 5) In fact, labor does not seem to be any where in sight. ughhh!!! Any way, we still had a nice weekend with a visit from Grandma Cathy and family friend Denise on Saturday. Sorry, didn't get any pictures of the visit. Whitney had fun making Valentine crafts that Grandma "Cassie" brought. After they left we heard Whitney in the kitchen and I said to Wade, I think she's at the table and found the twizzlers. Sure enough, seconds later we heard them spill all over the floor!

she has started to "smile" for pictures

Saturday afternoon after company left we took Whitney to the park behind our house for a little sledding, since it was a balmy 30 degrees and this poor little girl doesn't get out much lately with the cold weather and an akward mommy.

taking a nap with Whitney sunday afternoon. A nice perk of having her in a big bed! Even though I thought I desperately needed sleep, it turned out to be a horrible idea. I could not sleep AT ALL sunday night. And neither could Whitney, more confirmation that she doesn't need much of a nap durning the day. (we slept for 2 hrs!)

Playing with Play Doh before the game Sunday night, and Wade made a volcano. Whitney was surprisingly not that impressed.

21 Months

Whitney turned 21 months on the 1st. She is turning into quite the character. Just a few milestones to note....

her vocabulary is astounding right now. I don't think there is anything she can't say or repeat. She speaks in a minimum of two word sentences. Here favorite expression lately is "what you doing here?" As in, if something is out of place she will say, "phone, what you doing here?" One night Wade was dancing with her and she looked at him and said "oh no Daddy, what u do?" So funny what she comes up with! She is getting a little better with colors. Everything used to be green, but now she has expanded her color vocabulary. Maybe half the time she will actually get them right. She is learning shapes and does really well at putting them in the right slots. We got some alphabet flash cards and I am amazed that she knows all but 2 or 3 of the pictures. She uses possesion, she'll say daddy's hat, mommy's purse, etc. For herself she says Nee Nee. She can't say Whitney, so everything is Nee Nee's. When she is labeling things she will say right afterwards. like she'll say "spoon, right." We were looking at blogs and she saw her cousin Grant- "Grant, right!" When she asks for something she puts okay at the end. Like, "milk? okay!" If she wants us to follow her she says "come on mommy, or come on daddy".
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She still doesn't sleep real well. I shouldn't say that. She sleeps just fine without waking, she just doesn't sleep for very long. Her night time sleep is about 9 hrs, maybe 10. She has been in her twin bed for a month now and did amazing with the transition. She does seem to be fazing out her nap. She wants to go down later and she doesn't nap as long. What used to be a 2-3 hr nap is now about an hour. Just in time for new baby, right?!?! She is for sure at the minimum range of sleep for her age. I am so jealous of people whose toddlers sleep 11-13 hrs at night and still nap. I don't know what I would do with all that time!! Maybe she is why I have only gained 20lbs this pregnancy!!!
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She still loves her liquids, but is getting a little better with eating. She is surprisingly into meat right now, and likes chicken, which she calls kitchen. Not sure of her height, but I think she is about 24lbs. I think she will be a bit on the petite side. She wears a size 5 shoe and 18-24 month clothes. She has a complex when her sleeves ride up, so she is in a lot of 2t shirts as her 18 month tops are getting too short. 18 month pants still fit fine. She is in size 3 diaper. No sign of potty training, but I'm not about to attempt that with a newborn any way. I would like to have her potty trained by two, but I'll let her lead the way. She has all of her teeth now, minus the two year molars, but I swear I can feel one of them coming in, and she has been teething again.
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She still loves Dora and Curious George, which is fine by me! I have little energy by the end of the day to continue to play with her, especially on her short nap days. She now loves the library and story time. She really likes it when Daddy can come with us too! Speaking of Daddy, I really love that she is warming up to him and loves to play with Daddy when he gets home from school. He has so much more energy than me at the end of the day, and Whitney is sick of me too. She still prefers me for comfort and cuddling, but she has come a long way in her relationship with Daddy and adores his attention. I LOVE it!!
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I could go on forever about all the cute things she does, but I don't want to bore/annoy you.

38 Weeks

Getting a little impatient here. Any day now?? SO ready for delivery day and to be a family of four. I think Whitney finally gets it that there is a baby in my tummy. We, or I rather, has finally started referring to her with a name. Not telling yet, because I am non commital and won't commit to a name probably until hours after she is born just like I did with Whitney.
So for now, just waiting!!!