Monday, October 18, 2010

Taylor Jayne Ellis

When Ben and I found out that we were expecting back in January we were told that our due date would be October 7th. From the start, I was expecting that I would have this little girl early and that she would be born in September. This made me happy from the standpoint that no one on my mom's side of the family or in Ben's family has a birthday in September. I knew from the start that I shouldn't expect this pregnancy to be like Logan's (I was induced at 37 weeks because of toxemia) but I didn't know what else to expect. So time moved on and so did September and no baby. I was a little disappointed but mostly just scared to be honest. I was very worried now about actually going into labor on my own. On top of being scared my doctor was also going out of town the very first part of October and I was not looking forward to going into labor while she was gone.

September came and went though and no baby. At my 37 and 38 week appointments I wasn't dilating at all so we just kept waiting. One Saturday I did have some contractions but they gradually went away. So we went to our 39 week appointment hoping to have made some progress. I was dilated to a 1 or 2 then and 50% effaced which was encouraging. Our doctor then also talked to us about being induced the next week because she didn't want us to go past our due date. Ben's parents were heading out of town on Wednesday the 6th so we decided to go with Monday the 4th. I guess a lot of other people chose this day as well because we were just put on the waiting list. They told us they would call us on Sunday with a better idea of what time to come in. So we tried to keep ourselves busy that weekend (helped my sister buy a crib and went to Silver Lake).

On Sunday night the 3rd at about 6:30 pm the hospital called us and told us to come in at 7:00 am tomorrow. I was definitely surprised they wanted us to come so early but also excited that we would get to meet our sweet little girl soon. So we tried to get some sleep and woke up the next morning and had Logan's favorite Uncle Jeff come and get him for the day. We then headed to the hospital and began to get checked in. By 8:30 am I was hooked up to the Pitocin and my doctor came in to check me. She said I was dilated to a 2.5 and the baby was at a +2 still. She made a comment about how we could be here awhile so we made ourselves comfortable. Ben and I passed the time by learning how to send pictures from our cell phones to facebook so we could keep people updated (silly I know). At about 10:30 I was starting to feel my contractions but was doing ok breathing through them. At 11:30 though I decided it was time to get an epidural. I am glad I did because the nurse said the anesthesiologist had to go do a C section at noon and wouldn't be done till 1 so I got him just in time. They checked me after my epidural and I was at a 4.
I then decided that it was time to take a nap so I dozed off. While I slept, Ben went to meet my parents who were coming up to the hospital for lunch down in the cafeteria. They left for lunch at 12:45. Meanwhile, I woke up in my room at about 1 because I was in a lot of pain. I was the only one in the room now. I breathed through a couple of the contractions and tried pushing my epidural button to see if that would give me any relief. I was doing ok but I could feel every contraction and the pain wasn't easing up. I was also feeling a ton of pressure. After 20 minutes or so I began to panic and paged the nurse and asked her to come check me cause I was feeling a lot of pressure and was in a lot of pain. She was tied up in another room and just sent the anesthesiologist over to give me a booster which they said would help.

My parents and Ben then returned from lunch finding me in lots of pain. I was also assigned a new nurse at this time who came in to check on me and asked how long it had been since I had been checked. I told her it was when they gave me my epidural. She said my contractions were right on top of each other so she turned my pitocin down and wanted to check me again since it had been awhile. It was now 1:50 and when she checked me she discovered that I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to push! No wonder I was in so much pain. We then waited for my doctor to come. However, she was caught up in another room delivering another baby that was having complications. She came over at 2:30 and broke my water which I couldn't even tell she did because Taylor's head was so low I think it acted like a cork. I then pushed through 4 contractions (those boosters had finally kicked in and I couldn't feel anything so it took me awhile to get the hang of it) and Taylor Jayne Ellis arrived at 2:53 pm. After Ben cut the cord they put Taylor right on to my chest while they checked some of her vitals.

After a view minutes they took her to be weighed and diapered. She weighed at 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches long. They returned her to me and let me hold her on my chest while they finished cleaning me up. It was so nice to be able to have her so close so quickly. My parents and Ben's parents were waiting in the hall and were able to come in and meet her. I think the look on my mom's face in this picture is so cute and sums up how excited they all were.
At about 4 pm they moved me over to my recovery room. My parents and Ben's parents were able to walk over to my room with me and Ben pushed Taylor over. Once in our recovery room they gave Taylor a bath right next to my bed and did her footprints as well. She also received a cute yellow bow.
Later that night, Logan made it up to the hospital to see his baby sister for the first time. He kept trying to show her his Buzz Lightyear shoes. He would lift his leg up in the air and try to put it in her face. He also tried to share his chicken nuggets with her. Such a cute big brother.

The next day in the hospital was pretty quite which was nice as we got to just enjoy our new little addition to our family. I enjoyed trying to put some hats on her (but unfortunately they were all too big). I did get one picture of her with one of the cute bows and blanket I made her but then the headband kept falling off so we decided to stick with the cute hospital bows. Speaking of bows, I loved the bow they gave Taylor the day we went home.

We were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and came home to the real world. Here are a few pictures of us before we were sent home.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Pregnany Pictures

Ok so I know I have been a horrible blogger this year. I keep thinking I will get caught up but it never happens so for now we are just going to start with what is going on now.


In January of this year, Ben and I found out that we were expecting another baby. It's amazing how fast a pregnancy can go by. I tried to capture my growth better this time (not sure why really) so here you go. I got many comments this pregnancy on how huge I was, which I am not denying. I seem to go straight out. Regardless, our little girl was growing healthy and strong and we feel lucky we encountered no issues besides me being emotional.











Our starting point
7 Weeks
















20 Weeks



















26 Weeks




















35 Weeks
























Our ending point
39 weeks and 4 days

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Christmas 2009

So I know I am a little late (ok more than a little) but still want to have this documented. We spent Christmas Eve up at my parents house and had dinner with our friends. We never see each other expect for this event and its always fun to catch up. Logan loved playing with their girls and was hamming it up big time. We had them all sit and Logan just kept saying "cheese" as loudly and as silly as he could.
He also got a special visit from Santa that evening. He hadn't met the jolly man yet and was definitely unsure as every 2 year old is. He did warm up to him after Santa revealed his candy cane treats.
Hanging out with his favorite Aunt Roo! Ben and I have started a tradition of giving eachother pajamas on Christmas Eve so that we have new jamies to wear on Christmas morning. Here is a picture of Logan opening his pajamas from the Christmas Elves. My favorite part was that he held the shirt up to himself and said cute without any help from us.

One of my other favorite traditions is Ben gets Logan and I a Christmas tree ornament each year. This year he gave me one with a graduation cap to symbolize both of us being all done with school in 2009. He gave Logan a Snoopy camping ornament since he just loves Snoopy and camping.

I then went to the Christmas Eve service at my parents church while Ben stayed home with Logan. We stayed the nights at my parents house this year and woke up in the morning to open up our stockings. I think some of Logan's favorite toys came from his stocking including his nemo phone....
and a Thomas the train engine named Ben.....
When we were done with stockings we went to see what Santa brought us. Logan got a basketball hoop and a little table (that we didn't give him till the next day since he got so spoiled). Ben got a smoker and I got a sewing machine. We decided this year to give eachother a much needed new camera. We purchased a Canon XS20 IS which is a glorified digital camera with some SLR functions. Our old camera wouldn't stay charged so it has been nice to have a camera to capture moments and one of my resolutions for 2010 is to be better at taking pictures.

Here is Logan helping his daddy open presents. He definitely lost interest after awhile and just wanted to go play with some of the toys he had opened.
I love this picture of him playing with his puppets!
After we were done with presents, Logan and Cayman both crashed before we headed down to Ben's family for more festivities.

We hung out with Ben's family for part of the afternoon. Logan loved seeing all of his cousins and their cool toys including this cool toy....
We got him to sit still to catch a few shots of us with him. We then went back up to Ogden to enjoy Christmas dinner and more presents with the cousins.
Logan was so wired by this point. I couldn't get him to hold still for a picture. He loved helping with paper control and just running around. This is the best shot I could get of him and its still a bit mid action.
When we finally made it home after all the festivities Logan cuddeled up with my mom's new cat Mike. He was so excited that Mike would sit next to him. He is such a sweet cat.
The day after Christmas we took it easy and just played with all of our toys. Logan broke out his playdough and opened some gifts that we didn't open on Chritmas.

We are so grateful to all of our wonderful family. We had such a wonderful Christmas. I know the day can be crazy but we enjoy getting to see everyone.