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Monday, August 17, 2009

Welcome Baby Ella

Ella Renee Stewart was born on Friday August 14th, 2009. Weighing in at 9 pounds 3 ounces. 20.5 inches long.

The Birth Story
I was one week late so we went to the hospital Friday morning at 8 am for me to be induced. I wasn't feeling any of the contractions at that point and I was dialated 4 cm (out of 10). They broke my water at 9 am and started me on a small dose of pitocin, after which I began to feel some of the contractions, but the pain was not too bad. At 11 am I was dialated 5 cm and they estimated I would continue to dialate 1 cm per hour. They gave me the epidural *life saver* and after that I was completely numb and could hardly feel a thing. At 1 pm the contractions were getting closer together and a little more painful so I asked if I could push the button for more juice from the epidural. They checked to see how far along I was and I was surprisingly dialated to 9.5! Time to get pushing! ...However, my doctor had yet to arrive! We started pushing anyway and the doctor came running in around 2 pm. Ella showed up at 2:55 and Brandon and I were so elated! It was so amazing to see her face.

We were going to have to share a room with another patient and Brandon was not able to stay the night according to the hospital policy, however, they ran out of the shared rooms so we got a private room that they normally charge $300 for, for free! The room was great and I was SO glad Brandon could stay the night with me. The first night was pretty rough as Ella did not sleep at all from 8:30pm to 6:30am. It was great to have him there as we were both feeling pretty overwhelmed by morning!

It was really helpful to have my mom and Brandon there to help me push and get through it all. Brandon was such a great "coach" and was so sweet to me the whole time. He is the best daddy and loves his girls so much!

Ella is wonderful and having a great time eating, sleeping, working out her lungs, and making us guess what she wants :)
Thanks so much to everyone for the visits, meals, and support. I know that things would not have gone so smoothly if not for all the prayers that were said for us. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends and a wonderful new piece of heaven to add to our lives.

11 comments:

Lisa and Mark said...

congratulations!!!!

Jessica Martiele said...

Congrats, you three! Though it's usually a lie (because let's face it, new babies kinda look like aliens!) we can HONESTLY say that she is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Sorry about the sleep issues, but you'd be amazed how quick you can flip their schedules, and please let us know when you'd like a home-cooked meal...that you didn't cook!

The Parkers said...

I love all her Hair!!! Congrats you guys!!

Emily said...

She is so cute!!!! And, the hair....jealous. Gwen had nothing to work with till now (18 months later). I am glad everything went okay for you. She will get a good schedule down soon.

Leanna said...

Congrats! What a beautiful baby! I love the name too!

Elise said...

Thanks for sharing your story! I'm with YOU on the epidurals. To each their own, but to me it's a no brainer!

Elise said...

By the way. . . if you happen to have any feelings of inadequacy, of being overwhelmed, missing life with just you and Brandon, exhaustion, of "oh my gosh there's not turning back"--all despite how much you LOOOOOVE your baby. . . it's TOTALLY NORMAL!!! Congratulations! You're doing great! It only gets easier with time (ok, never really "easy" but more manageable) :) I hope we get to meet her sooner than later! Beautiful name!

Heidi said...

YAY! she is beautiful! Lovin the name!

danielnsoly said...

wow she is so beautiful! i still cant believe that brandon is a dad now! congrats!

Kim said...

congratulations. seems like labor and delivery went well.:)

C4 McKendrick said...

Beautiful baby Brandon! Congrats :)
-Calvin