Welcome to the World Ellasyn Grace

family of four

Ellasyn Grace was born Sunday April 12th, 2015 at 11:48am.  She weighed in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20.5 in long.

Early on in my pregnancy, I remember counting the weeks and studying the calendar.  I realized I would be considered full term (about 38 weeks) during the hubby's spring break.  The chance of bonus family time (read:extra help) swirled around in my head throughout my pregnancy, especially when the reality of a c-section set in.

When spring break arrived, Operation: Get the Baby Out commenced.  We walked every day, I ate P.F. Changs (my last meal before Sadie) and we crossed our fingers she would be cooperative.  The days came and went....no baby.  The last weekend of spring break, my parents were traveling four hours away for my little brother's mountain bike race and we planned to go to the Angel game on Sunday afternoon (do you see where this is going???).  I refused to get up from the couch most of the day on Saturday because my spring break baby hopes were gone and I just wanted her to stay put until my family was home!

Sunday morning I woke up about 6am to go to the restroom.  Towards the end of *ahem* doing my business, I felt a familiar sensation.  Not quite as dramatic as it was with Sadie, but definitely noticeable.  I tried to wait it out for a few minutes while the hubby slept, but within a short time it was clear what was happening.  I knew I needed to call my parents right away since they were currently sleeping four hours away...my mom picked up right away and promised to be on the road soon.  Then I called Labor and Delivery, they told me to come in right away.  Sadie woke up during the excitement, so we grabbed her some snacks, threw her in the car and headed to the hospital.  Luckily, the in-laws were about an hour away so they could take over Sadie duty.

While we were waiting for them to arrive, I had the hubby take Sadie outside to distract her (she was getting upset seeing mommy in the hospital bed).  It was really tough having to be alone, but the labor and delivery staff are always great.  After we had been there for about an hour, the in-laws arrived and my partner in crime was able to join me!  The doctors told me I could hold out until my mom arrived (about 11am) as long as my contractions didn't become more intense.

My mom arrived at 11am exactly and they started to prepare me for surgery.  Again I had to say goodbye to my hubster (I mean these c-section things are no joke!!!).  I had my spinal administered and boy is that just the weirdest thing, so different then my epidural experience! Soon after, they let the hubby in to the operating room, he put on some tunes for me (to help me calm down) and it was baby time! My three most favorite moments (not that there were that many to choose from while I was being sliced open....) Number one, panicking when we realized she was almost out and we were listening to Sun Daze (we don't want any teenager foreshadowing!). Number two, getting to see our sweet girl for the first time!! We snapped a quick picture and looked at it over and over while they were cleaning her up.  We couldn't believe how huge she looked! So number three....we decided to guess her weight and the hubster said eight pounds, so I went under and he asked if I meant like 7 lbs. 14 oz. which is exactly what she was! Mommy's intuition I guess :)

she's here!

After that, it was off to the recovery room.  By the time I arrived, the hubby and nurses had taken a million pictures and had decided she was ready to eat! I was able to feed her almost instantly and it was awesome! The recovery room was such a nice experience.  It was just the three of us and two nurses checking on us.  We didn't get any bonding time like that with Sadie, and boy we really didn't know what we were missing.

recovery room bonding

After about an hour, we were wheeled to our actual room and things started to go downhill.  We were able to visit with our family and introduce Sadie (which was the best thing ever!).  It was so great to see her after a few hours apart and she had THE biggest grin on her face.  She was thrilled to finally meet "the baby".  She opened her "big sister" present and gave her lots of kisses. But then I got really nauseous and threw up.  The pain started to set in and I knew Sadie wold have to leave soon.  The rest of the hospital experience was pretty bad.  I did everything in my power to get us out of there as soon as possible.  Thank God Ellasyn was thriving.  She was eating great, no signs of jaundice and pooping/peeing like a champ.  I started to walk as soon as they would let me and my incision was looking good.  They removed the catheter and I showered.  I pretty much did everything I could to get released on Tuesday.  I hated that hospital room and I couldn't wait to just be home! Of course when we got home Justin was sick and so Sadie ended up having a week long sleepover at grandma's.

going home!

The first two weeks after Ellasyn was born were some of the hardest in my life.  The pain was awful and my anxiety was at an all-time high.  I really struggled with the baby blues and I hated not feeling like myself.  I couldn't really eat or sleep, which was not helping.  Thank God, at two weeks things started to slowly get better.  My appetite returned and I slept in my own bed! I was allowed to drive again and getting out of the house felt amazing.  This recovery has been so much harder than I anticipated, but we couldn't love our new addition more.  Welcome to our family Ellasyn Grace!

our big girl!

we got to hold her right away!

swoon

Ronald Ellison holding Ellasyn Grace

the proudest big sister there ever was

late night cuddles

the sweetest part of the hospital

home!!!!

love my girls

sister kisses

the honeymoon phase

one week old

hospital pictures 

The Farewell Tour

Birthday brunch!

I just celebrated the big 2-9 which means, according to the hubster, that I am on my Farewell Tour of my 20s.  That also means that I have just one year left to finish my 30 before 30 list, yikes! I decided to check on my progress....

30 Before 30 List

1.   Go on an airplane- Check! We flew to Seattle over the summer and have plans to fly there again for our friend's wedding!

2.   Read all books on our 30 before 30 list- I am a little less than halfway there (ten and 1/2, the 1/2 being 51% of The Bible), time to get reading...super easy with two children under the age of two.

3.   Run a 5k- I will have to sign up for one, once I get cleared at my postpartum checkup.

4.   Take a cooking class- Maybe a date night this summer....

5.   Learn a new hobby- How to survive two children under two?? Just kidding, I will think of something.

6.   Eat something from our garden- Well I planted a new garden! And then it died...this one will be tough.

7.   Pay off student loan debt- Check-ish! We just paid off our last loan, but we still have an interest free one that we pay $100 each month on.  Since it is interest free, we are in no hurry to pay it off.

8.   Buy a car- Considering we just ended up leasing two new cars, this one is definitely not going to happen.  I can transfer it to my 40 before 40 list. 

9.   Plant a tree- Hopefully I have better luck with this than my garden...

10.                Donate blood- I think I have to wait until I finish breastfeeding, so this one could be cutting it close.

11.                Host Thanksgiving- Better start preparing for this now!

12.                Go to a concert- If I can get Ellasyn to take a bottle, then this could happen!

13.                Complete a 30-day challenge- We were soooo close to finishing an ab challenge when I found out I was pregnant...now we have to start all over!

14.                Order a produce box- I keep procrastinating on this!

15.                Go on a roadtrip- Middle of July we are driving up the coast of California for a wedding...twenty hours in the car with a toddler and infant, should be memorable!

16.                Go to Washington D.C.- I think this will have to be a transfer to 40 before 40...

17.                Have breakfast on the beach- Maybe on our road trip??

18.                 Plan a 30^th birthday bash- I think I have some time on this one...

19.                Go camping- Hmmmm not sure about this one with an infant!

20.                Go to Disneyland- Planning to for Sadie's second birthday!

21.                Visit an out of town stadium- We went to a Diamondback game last summer and this summer we are going to try and go to a Giants game when we are in San Fran.

22.                Carry out 30 random acts of kindness- I better start this now!

23.                Play a round of golf together- I put it on the list for this summer!

24.                Write a children’s book- Oh boy, I was really not planning on having another kiddo when I wrote this list....

25.                Go to the Grand Canyon- Another transfer I think...

26.                Go out on a boat- Well this will be fun! I wonder what kind of boat I should choose

27.                Go to a drive-in movie theater- Put it on the summer list!

28.                Join or start a book club- Working on this for the fall

29.                Watch a classic movie that we haven’t seen before- Summer list!

30.                Make a list of 40 things to do before 40- I will probably do this after I turn 30 and figure out what is left on this list!