Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Ella's First Birthday Party!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Because I still feel like reminscing...
This time last year I was concerned because Ella hadn't nursed well all night, and refused to nurse at all in the morning. Then while the lactation nurse was in the room, and we were trying to get her to eat, she spit up bile. Things moved pretty quickly after that. She had ultrasounds and x-rays, and we were told (what felt like years later) that she had a meconium plug. She had her stomach suctioned out, a tube inserted in her nose and down to her stomach, an IV in her foot and then later in her arm, and so many sticks in her heels that they ran out of places to take blood. :( But the absolute worst part of the whole thing was that she was starving, and every time I came around she was miserable because all she wanted was for me to pick her up and feed her. And I couldn't. My presence made her feel worse, and that was almost more than I could bear. She was born on a Wednesday morning, ate last Wednesday night late, spit up bile Thursday morning, went to the NICU then, and they finally let me nurse her Friday at 6:00 PM. After that she was so much more content. We were able to move into a room inside the NICU on Sunday where we could keep her in the room with us that day and that night. Then we came home Monday morning! We were so very blessed that Ella's meconium plug was not a result of something more serious, and that with treatment she was able to pass the blockage on her own. I cannot even being to express the gratitude I feel towards the nurses in the NICU who held my baby for me when my holding her made her more upset, who held me when I cried and reassured Chris and me that everything would be okay, who brought Cooper a hot dog from the cafeteria because they had been out the day before when he wanted one, who made a scary, sad, miserable situation as comfortable for us all as they could.
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| Sanitizing before entering the NICU. |
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| Face all red and raw from the tape used to hold her nose tube. |
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| Coming home outfit! |
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| We're home! |
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Ella Kate is 1 year old!
Ella is one year old today! She is so much fun! She has started responding to things we say more. She understands (but doesn't always comply haha) when you ask her to give you something she has, or to come to you, or tell her no. She will look for family members if you say, "Where is Cooper?" "Where is Daddy?" etc. She shakes her head no in answer to most questions, and loves to say, "Nah, nah, nah." when you are doing something she doesn't like (ex: take her out of the bathtub, change her diaper, take a toy away). Occasionally she will nod, but most of the time she hasn't mastered the difference between nodding and shaking her head. She still makes her mad face where she pushes her lips out like a duck. Her sad face is the most pitiful face ever! She sticks her bottom lip out and makes a circle out of her sweet little mouth. So precious!
She waves, blows kisses, claps, motions "come here", stands alone well, crawls fast as lightning, takes several steps on her own, and has finally mastered drinking from a cup all of the time. She says, "Dada, bye bye, nah (no), bah (ball), duck, and dah (dog).
She loves to look at books, but only when she can hold the book, turn the pages, and close the book whenever she feels like it. She would follow her brother to the ends of the earth. She adores him and wants to do anything and everything he does. She can take several steps at a time now, but if she realizes she is moving away from a place to hold on to, she will squat down to the floor and crawl. She loves to eat! Some favorites are cheerios, vanilla wafers, any kind of fruit, rice cakes, cheesy grits, corn, chicken, and green beans.
As quickly as this year has flown by, it seems like Ella has always been a part of our lives. She is such a blessing in our family! I can't even describe how much I love her and her dimpled little grin!
She waves, blows kisses, claps, motions "come here", stands alone well, crawls fast as lightning, takes several steps on her own, and has finally mastered drinking from a cup all of the time. She says, "Dada, bye bye, nah (no), bah (ball), duck, and dah (dog).
She loves to look at books, but only when she can hold the book, turn the pages, and close the book whenever she feels like it. She would follow her brother to the ends of the earth. She adores him and wants to do anything and everything he does. She can take several steps at a time now, but if she realizes she is moving away from a place to hold on to, she will squat down to the floor and crawl. She loves to eat! Some favorites are cheerios, vanilla wafers, any kind of fruit, rice cakes, cheesy grits, corn, chicken, and green beans.
As quickly as this year has flown by, it seems like Ella has always been a part of our lives. She is such a blessing in our family! I can't even describe how much I love her and her dimpled little grin!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
How is this possible?
Tomorrow my baby will be one year old. How did this happen? It seems like just yesterday we were coming home from the hospital! I can't believe she is already a year old! I am sort of blue thinking about how quickly her baby-hood has flown by, how it seems likes last week Cooper was a year old, how I wish they would both SLOW DOWN!
I'm going to write down Ella's birth story because I want to reminisce and because I want to have it written down so I can always remember. It will be realllllly loooooong - just giving ya fair warning. :) So one year ago tonight...
My water had been leaking slowly (just a teeny bit every once in a while) since about 9:00 - just enough to make me think maybe it really wasn't my water. I refused to go to the hospital and have them say it was nothing. Chris had gone to the grocery store to stock up on a bunch of stuff we needed. When he got home about 10:30 I was reorganizing the DVDs in our TV cabinet (nesting much?). I told him I was pretty sure my water was broken, and of course he freaked out. With Cooper my water broke after I was in the hospital once labor had really started, and it was the kind of water breaking that you picture in your mind - no mistaking what that was. This time I was unsure. I messaged friends on facebook to see what it was like when their water broke to gather information (gotta love technology). Then I laid down on the couch (like the books tell you to) to see if it would leak any faster, but it didn't change at all. So about 11:30 we went to sleep. I woke up about 1:30 wet and yucky and knew for sure then that my water had broken.
I woke Chris up, called the doctor, took a shower, called my mother in law to come stay with Cooper, poked around as long as possible, and then headed to the hospital. We arrived there about 3:30. I was having no contractions so the nurse recommended I walk, sway back and forth, and do other embarrassing things, to try to get labor going. She said if I had not had any contractions by 12 hours after my water had broken, the doctors would not want me to try for a VBAC. So I walked and swayed and did other embarrassing things while Chris slept in the chair. Around 7:00 Dr. L came to see me. He knew I really wanted to try for a VBAC, but that I ultimately wanted to do whatever was safest for Ella. He said, keep doing what you're doing, and let's hope some contractions start soon. He left until 9:00. At that time I still had not had any contractions, but I was dilated to 7 cm. He agreed to let me wait another hour, but wanted me to go ahead and get the epidural in case we needed to move quickly for a c-section. He was concerned about my lack of contractions, even with my water being broken and the dilation. At 10:00 nothing had changed, and he sat down and told me that it was his advice to go ahead and have a c-section. He understood how I felt, and was very kind. He said that he was concerned there was some reason labor wasn't progressing, and he wasn't willing to take any risks with mine or Ella's health.
So off we went for a c-section. I was begging, and I literally mean begging, the anesthesiologist to make sure I was numb, and that the epidural would not wear off during the c-section this time. Our nurse anesthetist was so sweet to us and so funny! He was telling jokes and keeping me distracted from worrying while they got started. During the c-section my blood pressure kept "bottoming out" (his words, not mine), and I would get really nauseous. After the first time, he would act and give me something in my IV almost as soon as it started and put a cool washcloth on my forehead. That cool washcloth was a Godsend. I remember he kept flipping it to the cool side, and I thought he was a genius because he knew to flip it before I even realized it would feel nice to have it flipped to the cool side.
At 10:56 AM on April 21, 2011, two weeks before her due date of May 5, Ella Kate Boyles was born. Unlike with Cooper, I heard her first cry, was fully aware of everything that was going on. The nurse anesthetist kept wiping my tears for me. :) Chris brought her over to see me and the same wonderful nurse anesthetist snapped this photo.
I was so shocked at how much I loved her just from this quick little glimpse. I loved her while she was in my tummy, and I worried about her, prayed for her, longed to see her, but it's totally different when she is right beside you. I was confused when I was pregnant about how I could love another baby as much as I loved Cooper, but I shouldn't have been concerned. Miss Ella has always been the most wonderful blessing. She made our family even more full of love, and I adore her!
I'm going to write down Ella's birth story because I want to reminisce and because I want to have it written down so I can always remember. It will be realllllly loooooong - just giving ya fair warning. :) So one year ago tonight...
My water had been leaking slowly (just a teeny bit every once in a while) since about 9:00 - just enough to make me think maybe it really wasn't my water. I refused to go to the hospital and have them say it was nothing. Chris had gone to the grocery store to stock up on a bunch of stuff we needed. When he got home about 10:30 I was reorganizing the DVDs in our TV cabinet (nesting much?). I told him I was pretty sure my water was broken, and of course he freaked out. With Cooper my water broke after I was in the hospital once labor had really started, and it was the kind of water breaking that you picture in your mind - no mistaking what that was. This time I was unsure. I messaged friends on facebook to see what it was like when their water broke to gather information (gotta love technology). Then I laid down on the couch (like the books tell you to) to see if it would leak any faster, but it didn't change at all. So about 11:30 we went to sleep. I woke up about 1:30 wet and yucky and knew for sure then that my water had broken.
I woke Chris up, called the doctor, took a shower, called my mother in law to come stay with Cooper, poked around as long as possible, and then headed to the hospital. We arrived there about 3:30. I was having no contractions so the nurse recommended I walk, sway back and forth, and do other embarrassing things, to try to get labor going. She said if I had not had any contractions by 12 hours after my water had broken, the doctors would not want me to try for a VBAC. So I walked and swayed and did other embarrassing things while Chris slept in the chair. Around 7:00 Dr. L came to see me. He knew I really wanted to try for a VBAC, but that I ultimately wanted to do whatever was safest for Ella. He said, keep doing what you're doing, and let's hope some contractions start soon. He left until 9:00. At that time I still had not had any contractions, but I was dilated to 7 cm. He agreed to let me wait another hour, but wanted me to go ahead and get the epidural in case we needed to move quickly for a c-section. He was concerned about my lack of contractions, even with my water being broken and the dilation. At 10:00 nothing had changed, and he sat down and told me that it was his advice to go ahead and have a c-section. He understood how I felt, and was very kind. He said that he was concerned there was some reason labor wasn't progressing, and he wasn't willing to take any risks with mine or Ella's health.
So off we went for a c-section. I was begging, and I literally mean begging, the anesthesiologist to make sure I was numb, and that the epidural would not wear off during the c-section this time. Our nurse anesthetist was so sweet to us and so funny! He was telling jokes and keeping me distracted from worrying while they got started. During the c-section my blood pressure kept "bottoming out" (his words, not mine), and I would get really nauseous. After the first time, he would act and give me something in my IV almost as soon as it started and put a cool washcloth on my forehead. That cool washcloth was a Godsend. I remember he kept flipping it to the cool side, and I thought he was a genius because he knew to flip it before I even realized it would feel nice to have it flipped to the cool side.
At 10:56 AM on April 21, 2011, two weeks before her due date of May 5, Ella Kate Boyles was born. Unlike with Cooper, I heard her first cry, was fully aware of everything that was going on. The nurse anesthetist kept wiping my tears for me. :) Chris brought her over to see me and the same wonderful nurse anesthetist snapped this photo.
Cooper's Special Day
For the last 3 years we've taken Cooper to the zoo one day over Spring Break. For this year's trip, we decided to let Ella stay home with Nana so that we could have a special day with our little man. Since tomorrow will be Ella's first birthday, and her party is Saturday, it was great to have some time to focus on him. Any time I get a chance to spend some time with him like this, I am reminded of how easy going, funny, and just generally fun to be with he is! We had a great time today! Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo today...
Monday, April 18, 2011
1st Wee Ball Game!
Cooper's first wee ball game was Friday. So so so so so so so so so cute! And hilarious! And all of these pictures that follow are taken by Jami except 2. And one of those was taken by my sister-in-law Anna. By the way, I WAS doing something important instead of taking pictures... I was taking videos! Whenever I go through the 800 minutes of video on my flip, I'll post some of those too.
Look at your own risk...
This is what I looked like 1 year ago today. How is it even possible for a belly to get that big? Wow.
Cooper's got jokes!
Cooper is into telling jokes lately. 99.9% of the time they make absolutely no sense, but when he follows whatever he says with a huge laugh, it's hard not to laugh along with him! Some of his best...
(To Hunter when we were eating out the other night)
C: Knock, knock
H: Who's there?
C: Banana
H: Banana who?
C: Banana who's allergic to Hunter! BAHAHAHAHA!
Why did the ice pack cross the road? To get more ice!
Why did the dinosaur go over the house? To get some more steak!
Knock, knock
Who's there?
A boy
A boy who?
A boy who loves his mama!
(To Hunter when we were eating out the other night)
C: Knock, knock
H: Who's there?
C: Banana
H: Banana who?
C: Banana who's allergic to Hunter! BAHAHAHAHA!
Why did the ice pack cross the road? To get more ice!
Why did the dinosaur go over the house? To get some more steak!
Knock, knock
Who's there?
A boy
A boy who?
A boy who loves his mama!
A night out? What is this thing you speak of?
Saturday we went out for a grown ups night out (no kids!) to Ace and TJ's Second Chance Prom. We stayed at a hotel, danced all night, laughed, sweated, laughed some more, and had so much fun!
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