Picutres, Homework and Nails

I figure it is time for an update and a couple of pictures. We are doing well and adjusting to our family of 5. I am much more rested than I was at the end of my pregnancy. Ellie has been a little angel when it comes to sleeping. She had a couple of night where she was up for a few hours. But, for the most part, she has been great. She goes down at about 10 or 11 and will go from 4 to 5 hours before she wakes up to eat. Most of the time she goes right back to sleep in her cradle and sleeps until it is time for someone in our house to get up. She also sleeps away a lot of the day. The one issue she is having is she spits up a lot. She does not do it every time she eats, but when she does it is a large amount. She has spit up more in 2 weeks than Carson and Macie combined. I am going to have to make sure I always have a change of clothes for both Ellie and me when we go out.
Here she is sleeping in the pack n play. She does great sleeping with the noise of everyone else. This is actually just a few minutes ago.
I love this picture of Carson working on his home work. He was writing a final draft for a book he is writing for school. I think it is a little funny to think about having a rough draft of anything in Kindergarten.
Last Saturday, Jeff had a special morning with Macie. He took her to the nail salon and had her finger nails and toe nails painted. I know I am a little biased, but I really think she gets prettier every day. If she would let us do something with her hair, it would be even better.

It has been so warm, we pulled out the baby pool last week. This is after Jeff came home from work and found the older ones in their bathing suits.
And one final picture of a sweet little sleeping angel.

Sleep, Done, and Tooth

We have been home from the hospital since Saturday evening. It of course took longer than it should have to get us out the door, but we made it home.

Ellie has done great. She went to the doctor yesterday and checked out well. She weighed 8# 1 oz. She is eating well, and she is sleeping wonderfully. She is really only waking up once in the middle of the night. The bigger thing is she goes right back to sleep. I certainly can not complain.

Macie and Carson are adjusting. Macie is having some challenges. She told me yesterday we could take Ellie back now. I asked her where and she said to the hospital. A few hours later (after a nap in my lap) she seemed to be happy with her sister again.

I actually have to go to the dentist today. I have a tooth that is hurting like crazy. I was hoping it would go away, but it is just as bad this morning. Thankfully the dentist could see me today. Joan is here so I can get there and still have someone take care of the kids. Hopefully they will figure it out and it feel better quickly.

Pictures coming soon!

Meeting the family

Macie and Carson got to meet Ellie yesterday. They were both very excited. I don't think Macie understands she is coming home to stay, but she loved holding her. Here are the pictures.

Hope they will have a great sister relationship!

All Smiles

Can you believe we got a picture with three kids looking at the camera with their eyes open?

Now a couple of just Ellie. It is amazing how easy it seems to be in the hospital with just one baby when you are use to going at the pace of a 3 and 6 year old. We will be back to that pace in a few hours.

Ellie has done great. She passed her hearing test this morning. She was tested yesterday but did not pass in the right ear. This morning, she did great. She is also in the middle of about a 4 hour nap. I am going to have to wake her up to eat!

Day 1 Pictures

Here are a couple pictures of Ellie from yesterday. Once she had her bath, she started with her breathing issues. So, all of our pictures from yesterday are pre bath. We will try to get some better ones today. Hopefully the kids will get back and be able to meet her in person rather than through the nursery window.

Ellie with mom and dad

Figuring out what has just happened to her.

She had a good night. They gave her a little formula up in the nursery and then let her come back down to us. She slept a while in the nursery, so Jeff and I could get several hours of sleep. Then she came in and nursed around 3 AM ate great and went back to sleep in her little bed. The doctor said she looked and sounded great this morning.

I am doing well this morning. All the tubes they stuck in me yesterday are gone. I have a ton of fluid. My hands and feet look awful, but the swelling should go down soon. We are going to try for a much quieter day today!

Like brother like sister

Last night about 11:20 I was just getting ready to go to bed. Jeff had just gotten home from his softball game. All of a sudden I felt something funny and the next thing I knew my water had broken. Being in my bed was a lot messier than when my water broke with Carson in the tub. Once again, I am strep B positive so we got some stuff together, had Mitzi come stay with the kids and headed to the hospital.

We arrived just after midnight and were admitted. I was having fairly good contractions, but baby was still very high and I had not dilated. I was scheduled to go in to the doctor today and with those results I might have been home crying tonight that she decided not to induce on the 16th. But, since my water broke I knew they would have to get the baby out some time today.

Jeff and I tried to sleep. I did not want anything to happen until 9AM when the mid-wife would be on duty. The contractions were frequent and painful enough that I was not getting any sleep. They gave me something at one point, but it did not really help. This was after 5AM. At some point I asked for the epidural. I was actually dilating, but baby was still very high (just like it was with Carson). Renee (the midwife) come over about 9 and checked in with me. By then I almost fully dilated, but baby was still not dropping. So, Renee went to the office to see patients and I waited for something to happen. Well, around 12:30 Renee came back and baby was still hanging out higher than they like. So, we decided to go ahead and start pushing (just like with Carson)

Before we get to those detail there are some other similarities to Carson's birth. We had several episodes of dropping heart rate. There was a little fear about how baby would handle the delivery. The doctor was called over just in case and the NICU was on stand by. Since Carson turned out fine and I am not one to worry before its time I figured all would be fine.

So we decided to start pushing at 1:04. Elliott Grace arrived with a sweet little cry 10 minutes later at 1:14. Thankfully she did not follow in her big brothers footsteps with that. I pushed a long time with him. She, like her brother, is 21 inches. She is a full pound heavier than him at 8 pounds 7 ounces. (Macie was 7#15 right in the middle)

Ellie was a little trooper, she nursed very quickly and very well. But, she had a hard time with her breathing so she is spending some time in the transitional nursery. Jeff has gone down to give her a bottle. They have not decided if they will let her come to our room or admit her to the NICU for the night. She is not too bad, but she keeps doing some funny breathing they want to keep monitoring her.

I have not seen her since she left the delivery room. When we left the delivery room, I had a few issues. When we arrived upstairs in my room, I had some scary moments. I lost a ton of blood and ended up passing out. They got some smelling salts to wake me up and got me into the bed. There were people in here from everywhere. We had several regular floor nurses and tech, the urgent response team, someone from the ICU, someone from labor and delivery. They are all working frantically. Once I got into the bed, I really felt fine. With all the blood loss and of course the lack of sleep, I have been wiped out. My nurse was not comfortable letting me get up. She came in and said "you know a few hours ago you were about to bleed to death." I don't think it was that bad, I never got any blood and my counts have been good. But, I guess I need to make sure I take care of myself too.

We will get some pictures up soon. I have to get them from the camera and it is on the other side of the room! I promise we will get you pictures of out tax day baby by tomorrow. Unless of course tonight has as much drama as the afternoon.

38 weeks

By this time next week, I am hoping we will have a baby. I went to the doctor yesterday, and the plan is still to try to induce next Friday the 16th. I am hoping I some how find a way to make it come sooner. But, if my appointment yesterday is any indication, it will not be happening!

The mid-wife is still concerned about the size of baby. I measured ahead with Macie, and she was not 8 pounds. But, I am measuring farther ahead this time. I feel like it too. People tell me I only look pregnant from the front, but the front certainly makes up for anything missing in other places!

I have been avoiding having another ultra-sound. I don't want to have to pay the money if it isn't going to make any difference. I had a late one with Macie and they were way off on the size estimate. But, I found out yesterday the man who I saw with Macie is not good at estimating size. I was specifically told not to see him. That makes me feel better about going back and paying the money. I really like the doctor I have seen this time, but he is not in at the right time. Hopefully I will like this one too.

So, Thursday morning, I have an ultra sound at 8:30 AM. It should be fun trying to get through traffic at that time of day. I then have to go over to my doctors office for a 10:15 appointment. As long as the ultra sound is not guessing we have a 10 pound baby they will plan the induction. If I have not shown more progress I will go to the hospital Thursday night. They will give me cervidil and let me sleep through the night. Then at about 6 AM they will start pitocin. If I have made a lot of progress by then, they will just have me come in Friday morning. Its funny how spending an extra night in the hospital and getting sleep does not sound so bad to me!

I am ready to be done with the swollen hands and feet, waking up to roll over, carpal tunnel syndrom, heart burn, carrying Macie on a shelf, and lots of other pregnancy woes. It is sad when I am looking forward to sleep habits of a new born compared to what it is like now. I do admit I feel a little better with it being more Spring like temps rather than almost 90!

I hope to get some Easter pictures up soon. But, really I am off to find some Tums and rest while the TV babysits my kids. And if I am really lucky my water will break on its own tonight and we will start the next phase of our life! (Jeff is going to the Hawks game tonight, so he would rather it wait until tomorrow.)

Ball player

We don't have a game for the next two weeks for Spring Break. This is from Carson's first game. I think he is actually starting to look like he knows what he is doing. Now if we can just get a little meat on his bones!

We took the kids to the Braves game last night. It was fun, but my feet were very swollen when we got home. And, all the walking brought on a lot of contractions. But, they did not go anywhere.

Not missing this...

This week has been beautiful. Maybe even a little too warm for this extra large pregnant lady. But, I never shared this picture and wanted you to see it. I can not say I would like to see this kind of snow for a lot of months! In case you can not tell, it is of Macie and Addison.