10.23.2008

Mimi, Aunt Mellie and Caitlyn

Mimi, Aunt Mellie and Caitlyn came over to our house when Ellie was about a week old.

Caitlyn even got to leave school early to come!
Ellie slept almost the entire time - snuggled with Mimi!
Hands always by her face....

10.21.2008

Days 1 & 2- In the hospital

Here are the pictures from our two days in the hospital. Papa was the first one to come see us on Tuesday, but somehow we missed getting a picture of him. I think we caught one of everybody else though =)

Click on the play button to watch the slide show

Greg's Family

Greg's Dad (Grandad) and his family came to visit the weekend after Ellie was born.
Grandad:

Nana:


Uncle Brandon:
















I think Derek was a little nervous to hold Ellie. She started screaming and he quickly turned her over to Nana =)

Uncle Derek:



Caitlyn put make-up on Grandad =)

Ellie's First Week

Here are a bunch of pictures from Ellie's first week of life. We had lots of visitor:
Grammie; Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Emily; Aunt Melissa and Cousin Caitlyn; "Aunt" Lydia....and lots more!

Click on the play button to watch the slide show

The Room

Here are a few pictures of Ellie's room. I knew I didn't want anything babyish for her room, but it took me forever to find what I wanted! I knew I was looking for a modern, large scale floral print in bright colors - I finally found it!


The striped and floral fabric are Michael Miller designs that I fell in love with.



Mimi (Greg's mom) ordered the fabric for us as a shower gift and we finally found the time to use it!

Grammie (my mom) came over to help me make the bedskirt and the curtains.
I wanted the bedskirt to reach almost to the floor in the highest mattress position, so I added a second layer in a solid turquoise underneath the floral.

I made two throw pillows for the guest bed (which is in her room). I put little elephants
(Ellie-phants) with floppy ears on them. They're so cute!



Aunt Melissa gave us her glider, and I recovered it in chocolate brown corduroy and the stripe.




It was kind of difficult, but I'm really proud of it! I've never recovered anything and I did it myself! I just wish I had a before pic!


I still need to make the diaper stacker and make a cushion for the toybox, but that's all that's left. Hopefully I'll get to do that soon!




This is the paper mosaic that I did last spring - it's hanging above her crib.



It's called "Ellie's Garden"





Thanks Mimi and Grammie! We love it!

10.10.2008

Finally!

Well...I was due on August 19 and that day came and went with no sign of Ellie's arrival. I had been having contractions pretty regularly for a few weeks, but they just weren't very strong. I was dilated to 2 cm - for 3 weeks! So...we just kept waiting.

On Friday, August 22, my contractions starting getting stronger and we're 5-10 min apart. I called my doula, Charis, and told her that I thought I was finally in labor! She came over Friday night to wait with us. By Saturday morning, the contractions had lessened (again!). Charis and I decided to go to the mall to walk and try to get the contractions started again - walking was the only thing that ever seemed to help things along. Saturday afternoon the contractions were pretty strong and about 3 min apart while walking - but whenever I stopped they slowed down or disappeared! This went on all weekend!

I went back to the dr's office monday morning and my doctor advised me to take Cytotec to stimulate harder contractions. I took the drugs and Greg and I went to the mall to see a movie and wait for something to happen. A few hours later, I had been having back pain and contractions (again). Halfway through our movie, I felt something weird and I was pretty sure my water had broken! (It's not always like in the movies, most of the time it's just a small amount of fluid - not a huge gush) Just then my phone started ringing - it was the dr's office!

The nurse wanted to know how things were going since I had taken the Cytotec. I told her that I thought my water had broken and asked what we should do. She told us to wait until the contractions were 5 min apart for at least an hour, then call the office back. This was around 2 pm...

We left the mall and decided to go to Half-Price Books to wait for my mom and Charis to come meet us. Josh decided to come too, just 'cause he was bored =) I called the dr back at 3:30ish to tell them that the contractions were 3-5 min apart and had been for an hour and a half. We were now sitting in the cafe at the bookstore, just waiting. I didn't get through to the dr - I left a message with the receptionist. By 5 pm, we were still waiting on the dr to call us back! At 5:30, I got through to the answering service - the office was closed! We finally got a hold of the dr and she told us to come in to see her...again...

As we were about to leave - all of a sudden there was a hollywood worthy whoosh! and I was standing in a puddle in the cafe! (right next to Josh eating a sandwich! sorry Josh!)







We got to the dr's office uneventfully and she sent us to the hospital. I was dilated 3 cm. It was now 7 pm!


We (me, greg, mom, charis, and josh!) checked into the hospital and they asked a million health history questions - not bothering to wait during contractions.

A nurse inserted a hep-loc (IV site). They let me walk around the hallway for 30 minutes at a time. This was a very small loop around the nurses station. The contractions began coming stronger and faster as a walked - now they were about a min apart. With every contraction, my back pain worsened and I needed someone to put pressure on my lower back to lessen the pain.
I think Josh left around 9.




By around 10 pm, I wasn't walking around anymore...I was now dilated to 5 cm. At some point, I started feeling sick and I threw up. Vomiting is not fun under normal circumstances - especially during contractions. I also started shaking - almost like chills, but I definitely wasn't cold!

I think it was around this time that my doctor was concerned that my contractions weren't in the right place and they weren't able to push the baby down into the birth canal. She wanted to give me pitocin to make the contractions harder. I didn't want to have the pitocin, but I knew she was right - nothing new was happening. The put the pitocin into the IV and also started a glucose IV for energy - I was very tired. The nurses had a really hard time getting the pitocin to drip correctly - she kept wiggling the IV trying to change the position! My hand did not appreciate this. (By this time, I think I'm having contractions every minute - at least - it seemed like they never stopped!)

When they started the pitocin, they made me get in the bed so that they could monitor the baby's heart rate and the strength of the contractions. (I had been standing, walking, and sitting on the birth ball until this point). While lying in the bed, the contractions got really bad really fast. At this point, in between every contraction, I told mom, charis and greg that I wanted an epidural. They all knew that I didn't really want one - and so they ignored my request. If was miserable in the bed - even on my side! I was still having bad back labor, and it was too difficult for them to put enough pressure on my lower back during contractions. After about 30 min, the doctor came in to see if I'd progressed - I had - it was now almost 8 cm. I realized that I had to pee, so I got out of bed and took the monitors off. I didn't get back in it. From this point on, I stood, next to the computer so that the monitors could be reconnected. We were practically in the doorway! I don't know how long we stayed there, but it seemed like a long time. At some point the dr came back and said I was finally to 10 cm! Soon after this, I started pushing - still standing in the doorway!



IV>Later, mom and charis both told me that they don't think I got much of the pitocin, if any. They said that the nurse kept wiggling it to get it to drip correctly, but they never saw it drip. I like to think that I didn't get any =)


I don't know how long this part lasted...all I knew is that it was almost over! Eventually, we finally convinced the nurses and the resident doctor that I really was going to have a baby - and soon! They called my doctor at this point and told her to come. I don't know how long it took her to get to the hospital, but when she showed up, she said "why are you standing in the doorway?" She told me I wasn't going to be able to push the baby out unless is got in the bed and leaned backward. I didn't want to but I think I was mostly concerned about finally not being pregnant anymore! I think it only took about 5 minutes for her to be born when I got into the bed. I think she (the doc) said that the baby couldn't turn correctly and descend all the way unless I leaned back. I guess it worked...all I know is that it started to hurt really bad.



I remember my mom saying "there's her head! reach down and touch her head!" and I said "No! I just want her out!" The doctor immediately saw that the cord was wrapped once around her neck, and she quickly unwound it. Everyone said that as soon as her head was out, there was a little hand right up next to it. The pain was less intense at that point, so I did hold her hand. I think she came right out with one more push - and then the pain was gone!!! They handed the baby to me and I don't remember much after that point. I do know that about 5 min after she was born, the doctor said "Do we even know if it's really a girl? Did anybody check?" I think I actually laughed because it hadn't even occured to me (or anyone else) to look! The baby was indeed a girl =)





Lauren Elyse Bolin - "Ellie" - August 26, 2008. 12:49 AM. 6lbs, 11oz, 20 inches






center>I was finally un-pregnant!

The belly!

We took pictures every week of my growing pregnant belly...It's amazing what 9 months can do!

Here are a few of the pics along the way:



^17 weeks^


^29 Weeks^


^34 weeks ^





^41 weeks! ^