Amazing

This man is AMAZING!! I can not even begin to imagine what I would do without him. Not that I didn't think that he would be a great dad but, I have to say that he is the most amazing daddy to Ella. He is always willing to take on diaper duty, make bottles, give baths, feed her, get up with her in the middle of the night, anything that she needs. All of this is done on top of helping me recover from a major surgery and dealing with my crazy post pregnancy hormones. I'm completely weepy and cry all the time and all the while he just sticks by me and tells me everyday that he loves me and thinks that I'm beautiful.

Babe - Thank you so much for being the most amazingly wonderful husband and dad!! I'm so grateful that you have been able to spend this time at home with me and Ella. I could never get through this without you. You are my best friend and I love you more than I could ever tell you. I know that Ella does too!

Ella's Journey

Now that our little one has finally arrived, and many have wanted to know the story, I thought I would document her rough journey to get here.

It started Sunday Feb, 13th. I had been having some crampy feelings and lower back pain all day. I thought that they were contractions but since the pain was pretty much constant I was having trouble timing them. At around 5:00 I told Taylor that I was packing the bag and we needed to head to the hospital. We packed the bag and headed to Jordan Valley. When we got there, I got hooked up to all of the machines so they could properly monitor my contractions. After 2 hours of being monitored I was sent home because I was not dilated and my contractions were just not close enough together. I was frustrated to say the least. We made it home and I was in labor all night long. I couldn't sleep and the pain was crazy. When I woke up the next morning I went to the bathroom and noticed that I was bleeding. I looked at Taylor and said "I think we are going to have to go back." After a quick call to the hospital to confirm that I should really go back in, after all I didn't want to get sent back home again, we were off. When we got to the hospital I was checked in again and once again hooked up to all of the machines. This time my contractions were much more consistent. This was it!! It had to be!! Then two nurses walked in the room. I was confused as to why there were two nurses but quickly found out that one was still in training and the other one was there to supervise. So the nurse in training checked me and said that I wasn't dilated at all. How could that be?? I mean my Dr. had at least been giving me a 1/2 a centimeter for over a month now. I couldn't have closed up. So they agreed to monitor me for an hour and then check me again. After an hour the same nurse checked a and said that I was 1 centimeter dilated. I was so upset. I couldn't be sent home again. This had to be the real deal. I was in a ton of pain and had been since the day before. Before they could send me home the supervising nurse had to check me and when she did she said I was dilated to 5 centimeters!! Are you kidding me?? How could the other nurse not tell that I was a 5!! This seems like it should be a pretty standard thing right? The nurse in training then looked at me and said "is it possible that you have a second cervix?" Um what?? don't you think that after being pregnant for 9 months that if I had a second cervix my Dr. would have noticed that?? All I could do was stare at her with a completely irritated look on my face. Obviously she needs a lot more training. Anyway, at that point I asked if I could please have my epideral. This was it after all. We were going to have a Valentines baby. I got my epideral and things were good but I was progressing slowly. It took me from 9:30 in the morning until about 6:00 at night to go from a 5 to a 9.5. Even though I was not quite a 10 they decided to have me start pushing. At this point I was physically exhausted. I had been up for over 24 hours and had been in labor for most of that time. I hadn't eaten anything since 10:00 the night before I was just done. I had a fever of 102 and Ella's heart rate had started jumping. At this point the decision was made to do a C-section. They wheeled me into the operating room and got started. I was told I would feel pressure but I was feeling something more. It was painful. I don't know if the drugs didn't kick in properly or if I am a wuss but it was really painful. The next thing I heard was my Dr. saying "put her under." Two hours later I woke up to find an extremely worried family. After they got Ella out my uterus would not contract back down and therefore I wouldn't stop bleeding. I lost a ton of blood. I found out later that they almost had to do a complete hysterectomy to get the bleeding to stop. I can't even imagine how I would have felt if I had to wake up to that news. While they were able to get the bleeding to stop, I had to be monitored very closely. Of course my mom and dad were freaking out! I'm just glad I was knocked out and don't remember any of it. Once I woke up I was still pretty out of it and didn't have enough strength to hold Ella until she was about 12 hours old. I didn't get to see her first bath, hear her first cries, I didn't even know what she looked like. All I knew was that she was here and she was completely happy and healthy. That was enough for me! I've had a rough recovery and I'm still in it. Before I could even leave the hospital I had to have a blood transfusion due to the amount of blood I lost. My Dr. told me that this was the worst possible situation that could have ever happened but I made it through. For the first time in my life I feel tough!! Maybe I'm not as big of a wuss as I thought I was! I will say this... She is totally worth it and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Here are some pics of our crazy experience.

Our Finished Product!

Holding Daddy's Hands

Seeing Ella for the First Time

After My C-Section. Still Out of it! Lookin Hot!

Ella has arrived

Jessica is fast asleep and I took a lucky guess at what her password was for her blog. I am happy to report that Ella Darlene Riley was born at 7:30 pm on Monday, February 14th, 2011. She is very healthy and weighed in at 7 pounds and 6 ounces. She was 19 and one half inches long. Jessica had some complications but is in high spirits. She had to wait 12+ hours to hold Ella for the first time.
The funniest moment of the evening was bringing Ella into the nursery. The blinds were drawn so I was able to take Ella to her station without the family watching. The nurse asked me if I was ready and then opened the shades. Our family came running like a pack of puppies at meal time. They were all bouncing like prairie dogs in excitement. It was a moment I will never forget.

Update

Just a little update. Last Friday I went to the Dr. for my regular 2 week appointment. I've been feeling pressure from this little one since the beginning of the third trimester but it had gotten worse since the new year. My dr. decided to check me and we found out that this little girl has already dropped, I'm 50% thinned out and dilated 1/2 a centimeter. I was not expecting to get checked and have my dr. say "Yep! There's her head right there." The good/bad news is that the dr. doesn't think that she will come early. The really bad news is that I'm really feeling the pain. I'm going to have to cut back my hours at work which totally bums me out. I wanted to work as long as I possibly could but we have to do what we have to do. In the mean time I'm staying off my feet as much as possible and taking the pain meds the dr. prescribed me.

Third Trimester

Well here we are!! I can't believe that I have already reached the third trimester of pregnancy! This little girl is going to be here before we know it. So far pregnancy has gone like this:

1st Trimester - ROUGH!! I had no idea that it was possible to feel that run down and tired all the time. Time was dragging on and it felt like pregnancy was going to last forever.

2nd Trimester - A BREEZE!! It was like a switch turned all the bad stuff off as soon as I hit my second trimester. I felt like I had more energy, I wasn't sick, and some days I even forgot that I was pregnant. Time flew by and I was feeling great.

3rd Trimester - Here are my predictions for the third trimester. ROUGH AGAIN!! I'm starting to feel achy. My hips and lower back hurt almost everyday. I don't sleep very well anymore because I'm uncomfortable the bigger my belly gets so, as a result I'm feeling more tired again. The crazy thing is everyone keeps telling me I'm tiny for how far along I am. Tell that to my hips!!

On a positive note, with the holidays, birthdays, and baby showers that are up and coming I'm thinking that this last trimester will fly by just as fast, if not faster then the last one. Which is good since everyone, especially her daddy, is getting excited and anxious to meet Ella.

Things I've Learned Since Being Pregnant

I have learned a few things since I've been pregnant and here is what I've learned...

1. You always think that you are bigger than everyone else does. People have started telling me that I've just started showing and I've felt like an enormous cow for 3 months now. I try to keep in mind that no one else sees me naked which is truly where it shows the most. Clothing can cover quite a bit!!

2. Feeling your baby move and kick is one of the coolest things ever!! Now I'm not saying that I'm one of those women who loves to be pregnant but, feeling her in there is unreal.

3. The movie "Juno" is 10 times funnier when you are pregnant. I loved the movie before I got pregnant but it has some pretty funny lines in it that you wouldn't find as funny if you had never been pregnant.

4. Random people will always touch your tummy. There is nothing that you can do about it. People will never stop. It just happens.

5. When you're about to get in the shower and your husband looks over at you and starts to giggle and says "your body looks like a roller coaster" try not to cry cause as soon as you look in a full length mirror you are just going to realize that he is right. Unfortunately!!

6. Picking a birth plan is hard. I'm currently under the dilemma of trying to decide on an elective C-section or a good old fashioned vag delivery (with drugs of course). I've always said that I wanted a C-section and my doctor is totally willing to do one if that's what I decide but, is it the right decision?? It's hard to say when you've never done it before.

7. This baby is completely stubborn. If I roll on to my side at night and she is on that side of my tummy, she will continuously kick me until I roll back over. Heaven forbid she move!! I shouldn't be surprised. She was bound to be stubborn since both her mommy and daddy are.

8. I'm already seeing a glimpse of this little one's personality and she is her father's daughter. Taylor is a huge Michael Jackson fan and we were watching "This Is It" on blu ray the other night. We had the surround sound going and every time a song came on this little girl would kick and move like crazy. As soon as the song was over she would stop and then start up again on the next song. Taylor thought that she might just like music but she has never done that before or since then even when I'm busting out the tunes in my car.

9. Overall pregnancy isn't as bad as I thought it would be. The first 12 weeks were rough but since then it's been pretty ok. I know that I haven't reached the miserable huge stage yet but for now I'm just kind of along for the ride.

10. People keep telling me that I'm all belly and that from behind I don't look pregnant at all. To them I just say "Thanks!!" Losing the belly is going to be hard enough. I would hate to have to lose a backside too! If I can keep this all in the belly then I'm doing good!!

11. Sneezing and peeing your pants is a real thing. People told me it could happen and I never believed them. Turns out it's true.

Those are my thoughts for now.

Coming Soon

I know that by now most of you know our big news but for those who don't let me start by apologizing for waiting so long to post about this. We had to wait until Cooper got home to post about our little secret. We were keeping the secret from him until he got home from his mission and he would read our blog on his "P" days. Now that he is home we have no more secrets. So now here it is....

COMING SOON:
BABY GIRL RILEY (Ella)
Due February 18th 2011!!

Taylor and I are both so excited to be welcoming a daughter to our family. She is already completely spoiled by all of her grandparents and she still has a ways to go before she gets here. She so loved by her mommy and daddy and we can't wait to meet her.

I'm 22 weeks and feeling great! Our little bean is quite active and kicks a ton. Taylor was finally able to feel her kick last week and it was one of the coolest experiences. The look on his face when he felt her was priceless. We had our full ultrasound last week and she is healthy and growing great. We got some pictures and I can already tell that she is going to be a little chunk. She has her mom's chubby cheeks and chunky looking legs. I can hardly wait to see who she will look like more.

So that's our news for now. I'm sure there will be plenty more pregnancy posts to come. It's been so hard to not be able to make a post until now.

Relief

Once again this post comes with mixed emotions. I found out that Matthew was rejected from the service due to a medical condition. Matt was born with no hearing in his left ear. He was told that this wouldn't hinder him from joining the army if he could get a doctors release. He got the release but was unsuccessful in making it into the army. I feel some what guilty at how relieved I was to hear this. He was so excited to do this and I feel terrible that he is not able to do something that he had his heart set on. On the other hand knowing that my brother isn't going to the middle east to blow up bombs feels really really good. My heart goes out to those with friends and family to serve in the military. It's an amazingly brave thing to be a soldier but it is also so hard to sit back and watch someone you love do it.

Accidents Can Be For The Better

Two and a half years ago, after a winter of pretty bad snow storms, I told Taylor that I wanted a 4wd vehicle. I was tired of sliding off the road and feeling unsafe. We decided to get a Honda Pilot. I loved the Pilot! It was great in the snow and had the potential to be a great long term vehicle for us. My only problem with the car was that I felt it was a little to big for me. I'm only 5 ft tall and that's really big car. Taylor assured me that with time I would get use to driving it and everything would be fine.

Turns out not so true. About 6 months ago I was leaving my Aunt Michelle's house on my way to sign some final paper work on my house, and I backed in to my Uncle Bob's car in the driveway. Luckily his car only had a scratch on it. Mine wasn't so lucky. No dents or anything but there was a good amount of paint taken off the bumper. Then last Tuesday I was leaving for work and I backed into Taylor's car in our driveway. His car was not as lucky as Uncle Bob's. The front end of his got a nice big dent right in the driver's side front fender. At that point I was done! Obviously I wasn't getting use to driving the Pilot. It was just too big for me!! Lucky for us we had leased the Pilot and our lease was up 3 1/2 months anyway. So we took the car in to Carmax to see what they would give us for it. I was totally expecting to maybe break even. Turns out we had $4000 in equity in the Pilot!! So we turned it in and after many, many years of waiting I FINALLY got the car that I have always wanted. Yesterday Taylor bought me a 2010 Honda CR-V!! I love it! I've wanted a CR-V since they very first came out in 1998. My Aunt Michelle had one and would always let me drive it. I've wanted one every since then but for one reason or another was never able to get one. But now it's mine!! It's still 4wd but is small enough that I don't feel like I'm going to take out anything and everything that comes near me when I'm driving it. It's still big enough to accomodate the size family that we plan on having and will hopefully be the last car that we buy for a very, very long time.

Mixed Emotions

A couple of days ago I found out the my baby bro Matt had gone and enlisted in the Army. I didn't know what to think about this. I mean we are living in a time where deployment to fight in the middle east is pretty much a guarantee. But, the more I thought about it the more I became proud of Matt. He's really excited to serve his country and just because he is in the army doesn't mean that he has to go out fighting in the front lines or anything. This could be a really good thing for him. He needs a little structure and responsibility in his life.

So last night we all went to my mom's house for dinner. Matt was super excited because he was going to tell us what he signed up to do. So we all gathered in the kitchen to hear Matt's news only to find out that he is going to be an E.O.D. If you are not familiar with what an E.O.D is, they are the people who go in to try and defuse bombs. It's a super dangerous job. My heart just sank. It was everything that I could do to hold back my tears, my mom was already crying enough for the both of us. I know that I need to be supportive and I'm really trying my best but I am so scared. He's only 18!! I'm soo close to my siblings that the thought of any of them being in a dangerous situation like that is just terrifying for me. I just don't know how to feel about this. When I think about it I just cry.