Ella's Birthday

Ella arrived at 8:14 PM on 8/14 by cesarean! We have been so excited to have her in our lives! Her story starts with us (John and I) arriving at the hospital at 1:30 last Friday. Our c-section was scheduled for 3:30 but we kept getting pushed back to some some emergencies and low staff at the hospital. Finally after waiting around for quite some time they wheel me into the OR at 7:30. The epidural was pretty painful and they had to try 5 different times to get the needle in and that's not including all the numbing shots they gave me. The worst part about it was that John wasn't allowed in during the epidural. I really needed his support the most at that point and he couldn't be there. But finally they lay me down and announce that he's coming in. He arrives in his scrubs and I couldn't stop smiling. He sat down next to me and comforted me by rubbing my head and holding my hand while I felt quite a bit of tugging and pulling when they were opening me up. Then I felt this immense pressure on my ribs and chest. My midwife tells John to stand up and watch as Ella gets pulled out. Apparently she was kicking and squirming all over the place. They swooped her away and John tells me how beautiful she is. I was very calm throughout the whole operation and I couldn't stop smiling. I was so excited to meet our little girl. They asked John to go into the other room where they had taken Ella to clean her up and weigh her and give her some medicine. I could hear her crying the whole time. John finally comes out with Ella in his arms and I got to kiss her a few times. She was so beautiful. The first thing I noticed is that she had John's lips. It was such an emotional moment that I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Afterward I get carted up to the postpartum room where I spent the weekend. I got discharged Tuesday night. Everything went by so fast for us. Ella has been doing great and we visit her everyday in the NICU. I'm attempting breastfeeding and so far it is going very well. Since Ella is a preemie she still has to get the bottle after I feed her just because we need to make sure she gets enough. We can't wait to bring her home and the rumor is that will be happening on Tuesday! So soon!

Here's a picture to leave you with. John's blog is updated more often but only includes pics, they are all very adorable.http://ellalynn.blogspot.com/
(I promise I'm not choking her :) )