She's Here: Ella's Birth Story

Our sweet baby girl is here! She was fashionably late, by three days but so worth the wait! Here she is, Miss Ella Rose. She is such a love bug!

 I love hearing birth stories, as each is so unique to each baby and mom. I also want to record Ella's birth story while its fresh in my mind.
With Jack, my labor started with my water breaking at 38 weeks 1 day. My contractions never started so I did the whole thing on Pitocin which was very difficult, leading to an epidural, a long time pushing with an eventual assisted delivery, and a long recovery. With Henry, I wanted an all natural birth. Well, he was too cozy, so we induced 12 days past our due date. I did go natural, but had to have Pitocin again. With Ella, my goal was to go into labor naturally, labor without drugs and deliver her naturally. I am so excited that I had the experience I was hoping for!
The whole week leading up to Ella, I was having a lot of Braxton Hicks. On Thursday, they went on for a couple of hours and on a regular pattern. I told Matt to not get excited, and not to time them, but he secretly did. I went to bed, and they stopped. When I woke up Friday, I felt crampy. I told Matt, I think today is the day. I had this sense of calm about me all day. My body seemed to be preparing because I was spotting a little and my body was clearing itself out.
Luckily, I had a midwife appointment. I went in and the midwife decided to check me. The previous week I was not dilated and was 50% effaced. This appointment I was 1cm and 50% effaced, but Ella's head was super low. I measured 36 weeks, where the previous week I was 38 weeks. She was getting ready!
I got home and we went for a walk. Matt was super antsy for things to get going. I felt so calm and relaxed about it. We had lunch, relaxed and enjoyed a quiet day.
Around 4, I decided to run some errands. I had bought a couple of Christmas outfits just in case, so I needed to return those. I went to Carters and shopped around. I started getting more cramps. I bought my stuff. The ladies who worked there were surprised I was 3 days overdue. They joked they needed to get me out before I went into labor! Little did I know, I was in labor!
I walked over to Target, grabbed some random things I had needed. I remember feeling more cramps and thinking, "this is it!"
I texted my sister and said I think Ella is on her way, called my mom to make sure they were close by in case it was time. I got home and told Matt I thought I was in labor, which was around 5:15. The contractions were building and coming pretty fast! We made a pasta dinner while I had contractions. They started to get more serious so we got our final things for our hospital bag. I started to really need to focus during the contractions. I knew I was only a 1 in the morning, so I was nervous to go to the hospital too soon. Matt was insisting it was time. My mom heard it in my voice, so they started to make their way to our house. Jack was asking, "Why is momma breathing like that?"
We left around 7. Contractions were every 3-4 minutes. They were super uncomfortable, especially in the car. We got to the hospital and checked into the ER. It felt like an eternity, and felt like every person there was staring at the lady in labor. Finally we made it up into labor and delivery. I had tons of contractions on our way up, so we skipped triage and went straight to a room. They checked me at 8:30 and I was a 4 and 50% effaced. They hooked me up to the monitors which was not fun, because I was experiencing a lot of back pain and it hurt to sit.
I continued to labor, and had a lot of back labor. I worked on swaying, standing, and working through each contraction. Matt was awesome throughout. The midwife came in and we chatted. Contractions seemed shorter but were still coming quick. They checked me again at 11ish and I was a 5-6 with 80% effacement.
The midwife filled up the bath tub for me to relax in. I got into the tub and the contractions became very difficult. At that point I could feel a lot of pressure. The midwife could sense that I was moving through transition. She insisted I get out. I felt like I couldn't move. She said that she had birthed a baby in a tub that small, but it is hard. Finally, I got out of the tub, onto the table. She examined me and I was complete!
The urge to push was crazy! I pushed and my water broke around 11:35. It was crazy!
I pushed a few times and Ella came into this world at 11:46 p.m. on January 2, 2015. She was so tiny and perfect! She came out pink and healthy, an answer to so many prayers.

Ella was 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 inches long

Our hospital stay was short. Ella took to nursing quickly, and my recovery has been great. I was so excited for the boys to meet their sister! They were too. I thought Jack would be the first to want to hold her, but Henry surprised me. He was so excited and in awe of his little sister. He was reaching for her. It was so cute. He was trying to tickle her.

Checking out their new baby sister. She was smiling

I can't believe we are now a family of 5! I knew my heart was full of love, but it just exploded with love again for my sweet Ella Rose.

First Picture as a Family of 5!

First Bath! Look at all that hair!

We love you Ella Rose, and we can't wait to watch you grow! Thank you Lord, for a healthy baby!

2014 in Review

It's New Year's Eve! Wow! I can't believe the year 2014 is over tonight. It has been an incredible year with blessings we were not expecting! I decided to make a countdown of some of our top five events from the year!
5. We got a new car (finally!)
After talking about it forever, and then finding out #3 was on the way, we went for it and bought our Honda Pilot. I am so glad we did! I love my car!

4. We had a great summer full of adventure, including our first camping trip. We took the boys on their first camping trip to Ohanapecosh in Mt. Rainier park. They loved it, especially hiking! One day we took two large hikes.

We also did our annual trip to Leavenworth! We had a blast the whole week. We did some hiking, floated the river, swam at the pool, and relaxed as a family! It was a great trip!

Jack floated the river this year in his own tube!

3.Matt got promoted!
This was probably one of the biggest things that happened for our family this year! Matt went through the long and arduous process of interviewing to be the high school Principal of the school he was at. We weren't expecting his principal to resign, but Matt had talked about wanting the job. It opened up, he interviewed, and he got it! I am so proud of him! This led into the next biggest event!

2. I quit my job!
I had a great year working in fourth grade. In fact, my career was flourishing. I was put in leadership positions in my building, and in the district. I even led professional development twice over the summer. Yet, when Matt got the job, it opened the possibility for me to stay home, something I had wanted since before we had kids. I put my career on hold for a bit and resigned from my position. It was scary at first, but it is the best decision I made for our family. 

1. We found out we were pregnant, and that baby was a girl!
This was the BIGGEST event of the year for us. When I look back, I see how God worked through everything to bring us to this point. I was so surprised when we found out we were pregnant, and even more surprised that we were going to have a little girl. What an amazing blessing! 

The picture we used to announce our pregnancy!

2014 was a great year. As I sit and reflect, I am so grateful for all that has happened. I am so thankful. Now we wait for this baby girl to make her way into the world. What a great way to begin our 2015! Cheers, friends!

Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas!

 

 
Can you believe that Christmas has come and gone? What a fun Christmas we had! It was a bit different this year being 39 weeks pregnant and waiting for baby girl. Last year, we traveled to Matt's parents' house, but it is over an hour away. I was nervous to be that far from the hospital, especially with this being my third baby, so we stuck close to home.
All day Christmas Eve I felt off. I woke up feeling emotional and tired. I laid back down for a nap and woke up much more refreshed. We went to the store and bought our vegan roast for Christmas day. I felt so sick all of a sudden. When I got home I vomited and felt so much better. I thought maybe we were starting labor! I started having contractions throughout the day. We got ready for church and went. I continued having contractions, but nothing painful.
We came home and made Shepard's pie, and a birthday cake for Jesus. It was a fun night! The boys were really excited. We put on Christmas jammies, and opened a new game. It was time for bed. We put the kids to bed and Matt and I relaxed on the couch and watched Home Alone. At that point, the contractions died down.

We woke up early for Christmas morning. The boys were so excited, they were shaking. They tore into their presents so fast! The highlight of this Christmas was tiny garbage cans and a garbage truck. Matt and I made breakfast while the boys played. I continued to have other signs labor may be on the way, but again my body decided to stop. I was glad on one hand to be home with my boys on Christmas, and a little bummed we weren't meeting our baby.

We headed over to my parents' house for Christmas dinner. It was a relaxed afternoon/evening. My brother and his wife were there, along with my grandma. We had to get a picture of Holly and me together with our bumps! Next year there will be two little girls crawling/walking around!

We opened presents, skyped my sister, ate delicious food and of course played cards. It was a lovely, peaceful Christmas.

When we got home, Matt and I snuggled on the couch by the Christmas tree. I love that!
The day after Christmas we had Matt's parents and brother over. We did more presents and more food! I think we had our fill of Christmas!

Now we wait for our sweet baby girl!

2014 Christmas Tree Hunt!

We have a tradition of getting our Christmas tree the weekend of Thanksgiving. We always go to the same, wonderful tree farm, with my parents and sometimes my Aunt and Uncle. This year my parents were in Alaska visiting my brother and sister-in-law, so we decided to go the Sunday they were back. Jack had other plans! He is so into Christmas this year! We woke up Sunday morning and saw the snow clouds, and then it started snowing! We were so excited, especially the kids. 

Jack checking out the new snow falling.

The boys searching for the perfect tree!

This kid was so pumped!

I was feeling a little sick and really wanted to wait until Sunday to get the tree, but the magic of snow and  the persistence of a five year old made us decide to go Saturday. We bundled up, and headed out to Alpine U Cut!Jack was so excited! Christmas is so magical for him this year! He was so excited to find the perfect tree. He was insistent on picking it out. I surprised myself and found the perfect tree right away! We searched around some more, but came back to the first tree we liked. It was perfect!

Next year we will have 3 kiddos!

Matt cutting down our tree. I have one like this from all of our Christmases together!

 When we got home, we set up the tree. It was a tiny bit tall! Oops! We just trimmed the top and it was perfect!

 The boys were so excited to decorate! But first I had to put on the lights. I love tons of lights on my tree. It took me over an hour to put the lights on. There are probably 1,000 lights on the tree.

This year we didn't have any ornaments break, luckily! They were so intrigued by all the ornaments. Finally it was time to decorate!

 We had a little adjustments to do to even out some of the ornaments, but it was perfect! I love this Christmasy time of year!