one

Ellery is 1!

I feel like I blinked, and our precious newborn turned 1.  While some days, and nights for that matter, can be so long...time is something you can't get back.  5 kids in 8 years has been a state of perpetual busy, and happy chaos....and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I feel so blessed.  Sure, sometimes I think it would have been nice to space our kids out a bit more, so we could enjoy them to their fullest....but this is God's plan for our family.  And I now have a 1 and 2 year old on my hands :)

We knew before Ellery was born that she would be a bit of a handful, considering all the drama she caused in-utero and during her delivery.  She has definately lived up to our expectations :), and I know God has big plans for her.  We look forward to seeing how her little personality begins to unfold, and watching her develop the gifts that God has given to her. 

While I know both in my head and heart that Ellery is our final child, it still makes me sad.  I know, I'm ridiculous.  There is nothing more amazing than being pregnant and delivering a child.  I think it gets sweeter every time.  I often wonder if this desire ever goes away?  Perhaps it's just this time of year that does me in.  The memories of bringing my first and last babies home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day and the day prior bring it out of me.

Some thoughts @1....

*She LOVES her pink stuffed pig, and is often found standing by her crib trying to pull it through the slats.
*She still owns the 3:00am hour
*She has 2 bottom teeth
*I'm certain she will take her bottle to school with her :)
*She crawls very well, and walks around the furniture....but real walking is a little ways off yet.
*Says dadda, mamma, babba...I'm sure a few more, if i could focus on who the noise is coming from around here :)
*Loves to be held, and she screams when I put her down.  I pretty much spend most days camped out on the living room floor while she's awake.
*She is adored by all of her siblings.
*Household names include...."babes", "Elles", and "Ewee" compliments of Stella.

We love you Ellery.  Happy Birthday! You are beautiful gift from God.
I re-read her birth story, and I thought I would repost it.....because it is such a reminder to me of God's goodness.

ok, here goes...
We found out the good news that we were expecting again on March 24, 2009. After dropping the kids off at school that Tuesday morning, I ran through Target and bought a pregnancy test. The night before I had mentioned to Tim that I thought I may indeed be pregnant.

He was quite certain that I was crazy. But I just knew. The next morning I called him at work to tell him “I told you so” after I took the test. We were quite surprised, and Tim was thrilled! He had always wanted a 5th.

My due date calculated out to be November 28. When we got over the shock, our daily conversations were consumed with topics of bussing, suburbans, bedroom arrangements, and the like.

Well, everything seemed to progress normally. We wanted to see how long we could keep this our little secret. My bloodwork results came back, and my progesterone levels were low so I had to go on supplements. My dr. said I was measuring big, so she sent me in for an ultra sound when I told her about our family history of twins. Everything looked perfect at the ultra sound, and only one sweet beating heart was detected.

On Sunday, May 3, I was 10 weeks pregnant. While making lunch that afternoon, I felt really ill. I finally just had to sit down b/c I thought I was going to faint. During lunch I thought I was peeing my pants, but it turned out I was bleeding pretty heavy. I began to have what felt like contractions. I laid down for a while, quite certain I was having a miscarriage. We finally decided to head to the ER, b/c I had these same symptoms with the blessing that we named Syndey.

An ultra sound in the ER confirmed that the baby was alive and well. However, there was a giant hematoma (blood clot) that the baby was resting on…about 2x the size of the baby.

I was told to go home and take it really easy. The chances of my miscarrying this baby were great, but was told that there was really nothing that could be done.

The following Sunday was Mothers Day. We decided we would tell the world about this little blessing, since I would need some help “taking it easy”.

Everyone was surprised and excited! We told Tims mom by putting the ultra sound picture in her mothers day card. I went in for another ultra sound that week and was officially put on bedrest because there was no improvement. The risk being, if the blood clot was to let go it would take the baby with it.

For the next 6 weeks I sat around. Wonderful family and friends blessed us with their time, meals, childcare, and domestic skills. I was truly humbled by everyones generosity. We re-arranged a lot of our summer plans. By the end of July my hematoma had begun to shrink and I was allowed to resume light activity. All continued to progress normally, and when I reached 30 weeks of pregnancy, my hemotoma was completely gone!

I began having non-stress tests 2 times a week once I reached 32 weeks. Everything was always fine, and I convinced my dr. that I only needed to go 1x a week.

Fastforward to my 38 week apt. After having an exam, it proved the baby was breech. What I had thought was a little butt that i liked to poke at, turned out to be a head! My dr. scheduled an aversion to try to turn the baby on Monday Nov 23. If she was unable to turn the babe, I would have a c-section.

I prayed a lot that week that the baby would turn. I really did not want to have a c-section on my 5th and final pregnancy. I went in for another apt. the following week and the baby had indeed turned! My dr. said she was still “floating” but was now head down.

She gave me a choice. I could either ride it out and see what happens, or she would just break my water on Monday, Nov 23 and I would have the baby.
I was torn. I very much enjoy when things happen naturally. I also thoroughly disliked my induction with Dylan and wanted to avoid that again.

However, I didn’t want to risk the baby turning around again, or going way overdue as is usually the case with me. With 3 kids in school now, it also settled well with me to have it planned out and the kids where they needed to be.

So, after much thought and prayer, i decided to keep my apt....and it turned out to be an amazing blessing.

I didn’t feel much movement over the weekend before I was to be induced, and I was quite concerned. All day Sunday I had contractions off and on. I was excited, hoping maybe I wouldn’t need to be induced in the morning after all. Our induction was planned for 6am Monday morning, but I was told to call @ 5am just to make sure they had a bed for me.

Well, my contractions didn’t continue, b/c I woke up just fine @ 4am the next morning. We called @ 5 and they told us to not to come in until 7am.

Well, if you know my Tim, it doesn’t surprise you that we had to quick make a stop @ the jobsite on the way to the hospital. He liked to think of it as nostalgia, b/c the jobsite was the site of the hospital where our first 3 children were born.
Long story short, we had an extra hour on our hands, so we had breakfast @ the Red Geranium across the street from the hospital. It was weird. The excitement and nervousness knowing that we were heading over to have our baby in an hour. We once again discussed names, b/c we were only really certain of our boys name, Elliot. Tim reassured me we were having a boy and we didn’t need to worry about a girls name.

We arrived in our hospital room around 7:30, and the nurse informed me that they wouldn’t break my water until the baby was more engaged, b/c they didn’t want to risk having the cord come out first. I was dialated to 4. They did a quick ultra sound to see if the baby was still head down. Success! However, the babe was also sunny side up.

They hooked me up to the monitors and right away could tell that the baby was in distress. They came to take blood and put my iv line in. After 4 tries they were able to get it in, and the blood they needed. They took my blood pressure and it was pretty high. Did I pass my glucose test they asked? Fail. They could never get any blood from me @ the test. So, they sent the lab up to get more bloodwork. After 3 tries the first nurse gave up. They sent up another and after 4 tries they finally got it out of my hand.

They started the pitocin, and shut it off after a little bit. Every time I would have a contraction the babys heart rate would drop significantly. They gave me an oxygen mask to wear and had me lay on my side. This helped a little. When the heart rate would drop, they would have me flip over.

Well, the heart rate continued to drop and they began discussing the possibility of having a c-section. They decided to break my water after all so that they could put an internal monitor on the baby to get a better idea of what was causing the distress. They did, and it was filled with meconium. They informed me that after the baby was born they would take her right away to suck her out. They didn’t want her to cry before they did this.

The contractions started to get REALLY bad, especially since they would only let me lay on my side. I usually like to walk contractions off :)

Well, the heart rate continued to drop, and we once again found ourselves discussing c-sections. They checked and I was dialted to 6. They said once I got to 8 they would let me try pushing. They just wanted this baby out! I’ve never had so many nurses and doctors in my room while in labor before! My "main nurse" never left.

Well, I started to get a little panicked and decided I wanted an epidural…now! I just about missed my window to get it. I get so impatient waiting.....once I make up my mind to get one, I have no patience to wait., and apparantly get a little whiny :) Well, they didn’t want me to sit up b/c the baby seemed to be stable when I layed on my left side, so the anesthesiologist administered it that way. I was dialated to 7 right before I got the epidural. They gave me a catheter then, b/c by now I had 2 bags of iv fluid in me. By doing this, I dialted to 8! They had me push and I dialted to 10 just like that! My epidural hadn’t totally kicked in yet(which deep down I was really pleased about b/c I like to feel it), so I felt the pressure to push. It took a few pushes just to get her head out, because she came out facing sideways.

Once her head was out, they had me stop pushing b/c the cord was wrapped around her neck 4 times. It was pretty tight, so they couldn't just yank it off over her head....b/c both ends were still inside of me. The dr. was able to wedge her fingers in between her neck and the cord and unroll the first loop, and after that she unrolled the rest. After they unwound her neck, they had me push the rest of her out. There was a knot in her cord as well. They said they had never seen so much drama with the cord before!

Well they finally(which was probably only a couple seconds :) held her up so that I could see what she was. A girl! We were both surprised! Tim cut the cord and they whisked her away. This made me sad, b/c I’ve been blessed to be able to hold my babies before Tim even cut the cord in the past. As they stiched me up I sat there trying to get a view of her. They put a tube down her throat to suck all the meconium out. After about 5 minutes they brought her back to me to hold.

Ellery Margaret was born @ 12:17pm. 6lbs 9oz. 21 inches long, with a head full of poopy black hair, and absolutely perfect!


When i think back about my pregnancy with her, I marvel and praise God for all that He has given to us. For the blessing of our sweet Ellery. For all of the answered prayers. For the way He watched over and protected her before we even knew of her. I think back about the "what if's" had i not gone in on what is now her birthday. God is good, and He carries her in the palm of His hands.