First Favorite Moments

We're working on getting into a routine here at the Chapman household. We love Ellie so much and feel so blessed to have brought her home, healthy and beautiful. We are very much in love with our little girl.

I have found myself extremely weepy at moments, probably due to a lot of hormones, but I am also just in awe and so grateful to have been given such a precious gift. I think the last 12 days since we had Ellie have gone by faster than the last couple months of my pregnancy! That could be because we are on a three-hour continuous cycle of feeding, sleeping, and trying to function on little sleep. Either way, time is flying and I already get sad at moments thinking about how fast she's changing and growing. (Such a cliche mom-thing to say, I know).

Here are pictures to highlight a few of my first favorite moments:

These first three are some of my favorites. I was a total mess from no sleep all night and surgery, and was weeping like crazy, but this was the first chance I had to hold Ellie. After my C-section Michael went with Ellie into the nursery while I was sewed up and taken to post-op. She was born at 9:13 and I didn't get to hold her or see her again until after 11. I sat in a room by myself in bed, legs completely numb and completely groggy and literally couldn't keep my eyes open, waiting to hold her. As soon as they placed her in my arms I couldn't stop crying. She was so beautiful, and perfect, and I was so thankful to be holding her. It had been a long road to get to this moment.




The hospital really encourages "skin-to-skin" time, where the parent (mom or dad) holds the baby on a bare chest while the baby is just in a diaper. It's all about stimulating the baby and creating that special bond. I have surprised myself with how much I love this time with Ellie. She's so little right now, and fits perfectly on my chest, and I get sad thinking that at some point she'll be too big for this. Some days when I'm feeling extra emotional, or Ellie's had a rough feeding or just can't settle down, I just head to the bedroom and spend quality skin time with her. I can't put into words how special that time is.



Ellie loves to hold her fists by her chin. The other day I looked at her 20-week ultrasound picture, and she is holding her fist right next to her face. I guess she's been doing that for a while!



We had read that newborns will mimic right from birth, so I started sticking my tongue out, and she responded right away by sticking her tongue back at me.



Daddy has the magic touch.



I absolutely love this picture. She loves her daddy so much already, and loves to sleep on his chest. This is a common site around home these days, especially at 2am.



We've taken lots of pictures, so we'll try to post more soon. I had to laugh at myself the other day when Ellie was gripping the side of her car seat and I pulled my camera out to take a picture. She is definitely a first child, as we take pictures of every little thing! We are such proud parents. :)

The Many Blankets of Ellie Grace

Ellie loves the many blankets she's received so far. Here are some of them in no particular order:

This one was given by our good friend Denise. Thanks Denise!

Michael's mom quilted this one.

And Melissa's mom this one.

Michael's coworker picked this interactive one up from a great store.

And finally, this one was made by another MCC co-worker.
She's is going to love them all!

Ellie's Birth Story-As seen through Melissa's Eyes

(This is Part 2 of Ellie's Birth Story. Be sure to read Michael's version, below, first.)

I don't have much to add to Michael's version of what happened at the hospital, except to say I couldn't have done it all without him by my side every moment!

I think God always finds poignant moments to teach me about his love and grace, and this experience was one of them. I had had three ideals about giving birth: no induction, no epidural, and no c-section. All three of these ended up happening, but I have zero regrets. All I could think about and focus on was having a healthy baby at the end of this process, and that's what I have.

I couldn't believe how quickly my contractions started on Sunday night, and how quickly they became painful. They were about every 3 minutes beginning about 9 or 10pm and lasting all night. Michael said he was my pain management tool, and that's an understatement. He stood next to my bed and rubbed my back through each contraction, coaching me and talking me through each breath. I wanted to give up many times in the night, but he was there, encouraging me and helping me. This was a team effort, and he did this for hours and hours, all through the night, with no sleep.

As the clock neared 6am, my "goal" time to hopefully have progressed, my contractions were so bad that I couldn't relax. The hospital always asks, "How's your pain, on a scale of 1 to 10?" and I HATE that question. It seems so arbitrary to me. I always want to say, "compared to what?" Plus, how do I know if I'm just being a wuss? Maybe my perception of really painful contractions is really not as bad as what was coming. But, that's what worried me. When I found out I was only at 4 cm and it was going to still be many hours of labor, I knew I was going to need something to help me relax.

When the nurse came in and told us that Ellie's heart rate was dropping during contractions, we were both obviously alarmed. They refused to give me any narcotics, and this is when the big epidural question came into play. After debating and talking about it with family and the nurses, and after checking me again and seeing no more progress, I decided the best thing for the baby truly would be for me to have an epidural. My hope was that it would help me relax enough and that that would in turn help her heart rate. I don't regret the epidural at all. The moment I got it I began to relax and calm down. My only regret is that maybe I should have gotten it an hour or two before, instead of trying to be so "tough" and push through.

Once the epidural was going, and the heartrate continued to be a major concern, all I could think about is, "Please God, I don't care how she gets here, I just want a healthy, safe baby." Once the decision was made to go through with the c-section, I felt relief, and just hope, that she'd be here soon and safe.

The c-section was very quick, and suddenly I was face-to-face with the most beautiful site I'd ever seen. She was alive, and crying, and so was I.

The entire process was exhausting, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. That being said, every time I look at our precious baby girl I know I'd do it all again in a heartbeat, no questions asked. I have been overwhelmed by how much love I feel for our daughter. She's produced such intense, protectionist emotions in me. During the first 24 hours I kept thinking, "I can't believe how much I love this little girl." But now, after she's been here for 74 hours, I know I love her even more.

God has been so good to us and we are so thankful for Ellie Grace Chapman.

Click here to see some pictures of Ellie Grace. We'll upload more soon.

Born on October 18, 2010 at 9:13 am. 7 lbs 4 ozs, 20 1/4 inches long.

Ellie's Birth Story - as seen from Michael's eyes

Sunday afternoon arrived, and we packed and prepared to head to the hospital. It was a bit weird to just take our time and head in as though nothing was happening. You always picture yourself frantically finding your keys, rushing to the hospital, and timing contractions as you go. But this was different, we strolled into the front doors of the hospital, checked ourselves in, and got ready for the ride. We’re separating this post into three sections, since our labor experience split itself naturally into three different parts.

Induction

The nurse started the induction process around 5:30 pm Sunday night. This meant that a suppository that helps dilate the cervix was given to Melissa and was supposed to work for about twelve hours. For many women it takes the full twelve hours for the suppository to work. By 7:30 pm, two hours after it was administered, Melissa was feeling contractions about every three minutes. The contractions got stronger and stronger, and by 11:00 pm Melissa was feeling full strength contractions that were lasting 30 - 45 seconds. They continued to come every two to three minutes all night long, and progressively got stronger and stronger. By 2:00am Melissa was dilated to 1 cm. The contractions continued. By 6:00am Melissa was in quite a bit of pain, so the nurse checked her progress again. She was at 4cm. I was the pain management tool, since Melissa didn’t take any medication. It was a long, but exciting night of watching the baby’s heartbeat on the monitor, helping Melissa get through each contraction, and doing whatever I could to help her be comfortable. Melissa quickly got more and more tense during each contraction. Soon she was asking for some narcotics to take the edge off the pain. The nurse was going to get the medication when she thought to review the heart rate monitor logs. The nurse noticed that Ellie’s heart rate was dropping during each contraction. It would return to normal pretty quickly, but it was progressively getting a bit worse during each contraction. So she informed us that Melissa could not go on any narcotics since they affect the baby and would reduce her heart rate (which is bad since it was already going too low.) Being the trooper she is, Melissa managed to make it through another hour, to 7:00am without any medication. She went to the restroom and I noticed that her bed was pretty wet. She noticed some leaking as well and we were excited to see that her water had broken. Things seemed to be moving along pretty well now. Melissa’s doctor came in, checked her out, and decided she was still at 4cm and that in fact her water had broken. I called the grandparents and told them it might be time to come.

On Edge

Right around 8:00am, Melissa decided she would get an epidural since she was so tense during each contraction. This was a tough decision for us, as she really did not want an epidural, but she had worked so hard and with the baby’s heart rate struggling a bit she was concerned that the tension was causing distress in Ellie. The epidural was administered and Melissa began feeling much better and was only slightly noticing the contractions. Ellie’s heart rate continued to drop during each contraction, and started taking longer and longer to come back to normal. The nurse tried changing Melissa’s sitting positions, to see if that helped, but it didn’t. Ellie continued to struggle a bit. The baby heart monitor that was strapped to Melissa’s stomach wasn’t picking up Ellie’s heart rate very well, so they inserted an electrode monitor that attached itself to Ellie’s scalp. By 8:45am the nurses were concerned about Ellie enough that they pulled our doctor out of a surgery to get his opinion and talk with us. It was clear that Melissa was not making much progress, and so the remainder of labor would be long and painful, and since Ellie’s little heart was struggling, and even just a few more hours might put her into true fetal distress, causing other problems. The other option would be an emergency C-Section to get Ellie out quickly before any other problems occurred. We decided that all we wanted was a safe and healthy baby regardless of how she got here. We told this to the doctor and we all decided a C-Section would be the best. We prayed over Melissa and Ellie with the nurses bustling about. Once we were done Melissa was wheeled off to the operating room. I put my ridiculous scrubs on, and waited in the empty room we had occupied for twelve hours. Twenty minutes felt like an hour. I was worried they forgot to come and get me.

C-Section

I walked into the delivery room. Melissa was wide awake and looking at me. I sat with her for a bit as the doctors worked their magic. At 9:13am I stood up, looked over the sheet between Melissa and the doctors and saw the most beautiful back end of a baby I have ever seen. I went over, grabbed Ellie as she coughed and gurgled, and carried her over to get a glimpse of her proud, tired mama. I think it was love at first sight. I put her down, cut the cord, and then went back and got our first family photo.

Ellie had a pretty severe angled cone head. The doctors informed us that this was because she was trying to come out slightly sideways, and at the same time her umbilical cord had somehow gotten placed across the top of her head, essentially blocking her from making any progress down the birth canal. This was also most likely causing Ellie’s reduced heart rate since each contraction put pressure on the cord. Had Melissa continued to labor naturally, most likely no progress would have been made and could have cause unthinkable damage to our little one.

When I walked into the nursery with Ellie to get her checked out, the pediatrician said to me (knowing that we really did not want to have a C-Section), “There are way too many unnecessary C-Sections in the world today, but this was not one of them.” We feel so lucky to have a safe and healthy baby, and we already love her so much.

Progress, or Lack of Progress

Today.

Today was my due date. (Well, I've had four due dates, one being tomorrow, so maybe I'll get lucky.) Today has come and gone.

I had my 40-week check-up today. They did an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid, and it was fun to see our baby at full-term. We learned a few things: what we've thought is her foot kicking me this whole time was her elbow stretching; she's predicted to be about 7 pounds 1 ounce; at her last ultrasound she was growing faster than average, and now she's a bit below average.

They also did a non-stress test where they hooked me up to a monitor to check her heartbeat, fetal movement, and contractions. I thought I was having contractions every time she was moving, because her heartbeat shot up from about 130 to 160 or 170, but apparently, there were no contractions to be had.

According to my doctor, everything looks good. I'm healthy, all my tests are normal, great blood pressure. Did I mention my total weight gain has reached 50 pounds!?!

The one slight concern (besides that I'm at my due date and still no baby) is that my amniotic fluid is on the low side, so they don't want me to wait much longer. Therefore, they scheduled me to go to the hospital on Sunday afternoon to begin the induction process. They will first attempt a cervical ripening agent (I won't go into detail), and then early Monday morning, if still no contractions, they will start me on Pitocin to help jumpstart contractions. As my doctor said, by Monday night, I should have my baby.

I was fairly frustrated and discouraged about this. I have really been hoping to deliver naturally, and specifically, do NOT want to be induced. But, Michael and I recently discussed how I need to hold some of my hopes and expectations of this process loosely, since anything can happen, so this is one of those situations. I am thankful that I've had such a healthy, relatively uneventful and pleasant pregnancy, even up to these last few days. I've been going on multiple walks every day, and am not sure I could be any more ready for this baby (as "ready" as one can be). My mom is here, and Michael's parents will be here on Friday.

I still have a few days to see if she comes on her own. Either way, the most important thing is ending this process with a healthy baby, regardless of how she gets here. That's my focus for the next few days, as I go on walks, eat spicy foods, and try all the other old wive's tales to get this baby motivated to leave her cozy home!

Ready

Cloth diapers are washed and folded and ready to use. Birth plan is written. BOB Revolution has been purchased (yes, we broke down and bought the stroller of our dreams, and we are super excited to start using it). Our house is unpacked and organized. My mom flies in tomorrow.

Our to-do list is finished. The last thing on my list was to finish packing for the hospital, and I finally did that. There are a few little items we still need to purchase, but we plan on waiting until after she's born.

10-10-10 came and went, with no sign of Ellie. Oh well, I heard the hospital was going to be packed with women scheduling C-sections and inductions on that date. I'd still prefer to have Ellie arrive in her own timing. I just hope that timing is soon!

We are considering today our last full day together, as family begins to arrive tomorrow, and then sometime soon, Ellie. So, we plan to make a day of it, our last full day as just the two of us.

Couples Photo Shoot

Our friend Kathleen came over to our house and took a few pictures for us. These are me at 38 1/2 weeks pregnant:

The Nursery of Ellie Grace

We are very happy and settled into our new home. Multiple times I day, I turn to Michael and just say, "I really like our house," or, "this little home will just be perfect for bringing Ellie home to."

We are really happy here and are so thankful for the way God provided this place for us. We'll try to post a few pictures of the whole place soon, but for now, here are some pictures of Ellie's room. The landlord told us we could paint the walls if we wanted to, but the colors were basically what we were thinking, so we just left them as they were.

I knew I wanted purple and brown in the room, but that's as far as I had thought through. I had also pictured her name up on the wall. I bought different purple scrapbook papers and put them on wooden letters.







Next are a couple pictures of the room. Michael bought a dresser we are refinishing and that will be the changing table as well. The other corner of the room (not pictured) has our new Pack 'N Play, which has a changing station on it. The quilt on the crib was made by one of Michael's co-workers at MCC.





We can't wait to welcome Ellie Grace to her new room and home!