So Ella is a pretty cool girl, she decided to start her arrival on a MONDAY! Making this technically a Mushy Monday post, just about almost 4 months over due! So Monday, September 9th, 2013, was a very pregnant day like the many others before it. My mom was off of work and came over at lunch to watch the boys so Kyle and I could go on one last date, out to eat, to my favorite restaurant - O'Charley's. The food was amazing - I got a Caesar Salad and half a BLT with french fries, and a cherry coke, with lots of refills (more than I probably should of since I was pregnant). It was seriously a gloriously delicious lunch! I love food and it made me extremely happy to have that time with my hubby, to have good service and good food, it made my heart happy! So we had fun at our date and came back to hang out with my mom for a bit. Then I put the boys down for the nap, etc. etc. nothing new. Mom went home only to return later that night. It was about 8:40 PM to be exact that I noticed my first contraction. I was putting Silas to bed, and on my way back popped my head in Kyle's office where he was playing a computer game with his friends, and just said, "Hey you may want to hold off on telling them you can work tomorrow, I'm having some weird cramps. They may be contractions, but they may go away." He shrugged me off and said I had told him I'd had contractions a hundred times and it was nothing, but I told him they were different this time. I went back out to the couch where Tom was playing on the IPad. We snuggled while he played and I soon realized they were contractions b/c there was a definite rhythm, but I didn't time them b/c they had just started. I just rested on the couch with Tom until it was past his bed time b/c I didn't feel like getting up, I wasn't in a lot of pain just tired. So at about 9:30ish I texted Kyle and let him know they were real contractions. I put Tommy to bed around 9:40 and started timing my contractions. They were about 4 minutes apart. Thinking that was weird b/c I hadn't been having them that long I just kept timing them, and they just kept getting closer together. I decided to get our stuff together and popped my head back in Kyle's office to let him know that should be his last game for the night b/c the contractions were pretty close together. He got off the computer and said, so how close are they, and I said well about 3 minutes apart, sometimes 2. He was a little shocked and told me to call our parents and let them know and to have my parents come stay with the boys. We started changing the sheet on our bed since his parents would be staying at our house and Kyle was timing my contractions, they were now 1-2 minutes apart. Kyle insisted I go lay on the couch and stop moving to try and slow my labor down. I explained I could still talk through them it wasn't anything to be worried about but he was most concerned if I kept doing stuff we wouldn't make it to the hospital in time.
My parents arrived, my dad stayed with the sleeping boys, and my mom went to the hospital with us, and Kyle's mom was on her way from Bowling Green. We got checked in a little before midnight, I was still having regular contractions every 2-3 minutes and I could breath through them fine. You could tell they didn't think I was in labor at the hospital but were shocked to find me at 5 cm when I arrived. We got all set up in the room, and shortly after they offered me an epidural - I felt torn b/c I didn't really want one yet but it was my one sure fire opportunity to get one and Kyle encouraged it, so I got it. In hindsight I wish I would have waited, it was more uncomfortable getting an epidural when I wasn't in constant pain (like I was when I got them with the boys from the Pitocin), and I loved laboring naturally it was a breeze compared to Pitocin induced labor. I really enjoyed getting to feel real contractions, may sound weird, but the contractions with the boys were induced and insufferable. The epidural slowed my labor so then they gave me Pitocin. They tried to break my water but couldn't b/c Ella's head was in the way. I progressed quickly. At 5:18 AM on September 10th, sweet Ella entered this world with one push! She was 8lbs 4.7oz and 20 inches long. Precious girl was beautiful, had the longest fingers I've ever seen on a baby, and was a champion nurser from day one. Having a baby after staying up all night was somewhat disorienting and I had a pretty decent headache from the lack of sleep. My mom and Kyle's mom left shortly after only to arrive at our house as the boys were waking up! They, as well as Pap Pap, took the best care of our kiddos!
In the past my recoveries from having my babies has been extremely smooth and quick, such a blessing! I never took any heavy pain medicine after having the boys, only Ibuprofen, I was up and walking around a couple of hours after they were born. This was not the same with Ella. It seemed to take longer for my epidural to wear off, I was clearly exhausted from lack of sleep, but then later that evening on the 10th my lower stomach started to really hurt. I got up to use the restroom and I could barely walk. I was doubled over holding onto the furniture and had tears in my eyes and I told Kyle this isn't normal. We called the nurses b/c it just kept getting worse. They were a little perplexed b/c clearly they don't know my pain tolerance, I obviously just had a baby so cramping is normal, etc. I asked if they could give me something for nausea if I wanted to take the heavy pain meds, so they gave me shot of Phenegran and then some pain medicine. It dulled the pain but I was still having pain and it was very tender. I kept telling them, this is my third baby, I know what nursing cramps feel like, that's not what this is, it's not normal. Kyle and I agreed if the pain meds didn't help enough then we would just give Ella formula for a feeding, to try and keep it from getting worse b/c of nursing cramps. I remember telling him I didn't even feel like I could lay her on my stomach it hurt so bad. Well then I started getting a fever off and on. I had chills and would start shivering, teeth chattering which they said was a side effect from the epidural. I would get extremely cold and could not get warm, my body would get achey. Just a bunch of weird things kept happening and it would happen in waves. I'd feel fine, not great, for a while and then it would hit me - chills, cold, fever, stomach pain. They decided to give me a very strong antibiotic via IV just to be safe b/c my symptoms were somewhat unusual. Once I was fever free for 24 hours from the antibiotic and feeling better they released us to go home but told me to keep an eye out for a temperature over 100.4.
We went home and after being home for a day or so the waves of symptoms started again, I could feel it coming, I'd check my temp and it was always borderline. I'd rest and then it would be better. My parents and mother in law took the boys to my parents house for a couple nights to try and help me recover b/c they knew I was having a difficult time recovering. The boys came back Sunday afternoon and by Sunday evening I was back in the hospital with 103.something fever. When we left the house to go to the hospital my temp was 100.4. It rose quickly and I was sweating my fever was so hot. They ran lots of tests in the ER, did some kind of scan where they pumped dye in my veins, did an ultrasound, took my labs, and some other exams. I had to pump in the hospital and Ella got formula at home. Once we were admitted, since there was clearly something wrong, Kyle went home and brought Ella and her formula to our room. I had to pump and dump from the antibiotics and dye in my veins. We ended up being in the hospital for four days and I was sent home with a PICC line in my arm so I could continue heavy antibiotics. They ended up thinking I had Endometritis, which is an infection from labor. They were just very confused by my case b/c I had a quick labor and delivery and everything looked healthy. To have this bad of an infection, it is usually only seen in a C-section, or extremely long labor. So it's a mystery. We are just very grateful that we knew to look out for a fever otherwise things could have gotten bad very quickly. Thankfully I never felt worse then I did that first night in the hospital, apart from one exam in the ER where the doctor pushed on my left side, that was the most pain I was in. The Lord was so kind to us and preserved us and protected us. It was definitely trying emotionally to be separated from my boys, to have to pump dump and bottle feed in the hospital, and it was hard on Kyle being stretched thin between the hospital, home, and caring for me and our family.
The PICC line was very scary to me to do at home so after my 10 days of that was up, I felt like a new woman! My mom, my mother in law, my dad, and Kyle were incredibly helpful during this whole time! We/I could not have survived it without them! My mom's work was very gracious to allow her to continue to care for the boys longer than anticipated and longer than she had taken off, this gave me a HUGE sense of relief. And my mother in law ended up staying almost a month with us! I love her, she's a wonderful mother in law, not like the ones you see in the movies! My dad took extra time off of work and came to visit me in the hospital to check on me. So thankful for my family!
So shortly after I started feeling better Kyle got super sick, he had a really bad case of strep and was the sickest he had been since we've known each other for over 7 or 8 years. Insane, so I had about a week of caring for all three kids on my own b/c he wasn't allowed to touch them. Praise the Lord, none of us got strep! God was so kind in that! Then as Kyle was recovering I broke a pipe in our kitchen sink, and we had to have a plumber come out, we couldn't use the sink for a couple of days. I cried on the kitchen floor and told Kyle I could never be Job, from the plumbing problems before Ella until that moment I felt like we couldn't catch a break (even though clearly there were many things the Lord protected us from like having three kids with strep along with daddy). And then shortly after my mom got SUPER sick and was in the hospital for a week and stayed in the exact same room I was in in the hospital. I couldn't go see her for several days b/c we didn't know if what she had was contagious. Sheeweee it was a rough couple of months.
Sorry if you're getting bored at this point, this is mainly for my memory and that's why I'm being so detailed. Now let me talk about Ella. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this girl! I felt an instant bond with her, something I didn't experience with the boys. We think it's probably b/c we knew her gender, we called her by name, we felt closer to her. I do definitely prefer knowing the gender as opposed to being surprised at birth. I felt so protective of Ella, my heart ached the hours I was in the ER away from her. Oh she is precious! She is a sweet sweet girl! She is now almost 4 months old, she is so interactive, she smiles and coos, she thinks she's like 9 months old - putting all her weight on her legs, playing in the exercauser, sitting in the bumbo, and she can roll belly to back. Ella is just the sweetest little girl in all the world. She LOVES her daddy, he just looks at her and she lights up, and then if he talks to her she just grins ear to ear and talks right back. Out of all three she has been the quickest to interact and the most responsive, especially to Kyle. She is a daddy's girl. Ella is a big girl, they did sugar checks on her for the first 12 hours of her life b/c of her size. At her 2 month check up she was 13 lbs something oz and 24 inches long - the 95th percentile! Kyle hopes she stays big to scare off potential suitors in the future. She is our quickest to sleep through the night - I think she started sleeping about 10 hours right before her 2 months. But she does revert back every now and then for an extra feeding really early in the morning but goes right back to sleep. Her "schedule" I use that word loosely b/c it really changes daily but there's a goal - she's up at 8 eats, goes back down about 1 - 1 1/2 hours later and eats at 11, goes down about 1 1/2-2 hours later, eats at 2 same with the nap, eats at 5 same with nap, eats at 8 no nap, and then again at 9:30 before bed at 10 pm. We aren't quite sure where her permanent place to sleep is, she sleeps in her bouncy seat in the family room at night but is quickly out growing it. She loves to be swaddled, praise the Lord for Miracle blankets! My sister Julie is letting us borrow hers and it rocks! Ella started out sleeping in the bouncy seat b/c she was very refluxy and spit up a lot in the beginning, now she's over that and praise God she was not a fussy reflux baby. The Lord blessed us with a sweet mannered and well tempered baby girl - He knew what was ahead of us and if she had been a handful it would have made it much more trying. Okay I think that's plenty for now. If you read all of this HIGH FIVE!
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