Ella's Birth Story

One last bump picture

We arrived at the hospital at 5:55, were admitted quickly, and then headed to our room. I changed into the lovely hospital gown and they quickly began having me sign paperwork on their fancy little tablet. I had two nurses checking me in because one was being trained for labor and delivery (Laura and Shanda). The trainee complimented how awesome my veins are as she went to put in my IV and then messed it up the first time which left me with a huge swollen forearm that remained bruised and tender for another week. The experienced nurse then did the IV on the inside of my arm and started fluids.

As if it was an ode to my entire pregnancy I started to get super light headed and a bit nauseous during this IV process because my blood pressure dropped way low. Laura began fanning me to hopefully help and after probably a solid 15 minutes my color began to return and my blood pressure leveled back to normal. By 6:30 they started me on pitocin and checked me to find out that I was dilated to about a 4. Contractions started soon after and were definitely uncomfortable, but the machine wasn't really picking them up so the nurses kept coming in to adjust the monitors.

At 9 my midwife, Natalie Taylor, came in to check on me and see where we were at. She checked me and said that I was still at a 4. At this point I was a bit disappointed because the contractions hadn't done much yet. She broke my water (Which feels so gross by the way. I had my epidural with Hudson before they broke my water, so I didn't know how it felt.) Thankfully, they paged the anesthesiologist just after my water was broken, so I didn't have to deal with the stronger contractions for too terribly long before getting my epidural.

My epidural hurt way more than I remembered it hurting when I was in labor with Hudson.. Although it was done by the same guy (Bo). It worked quickly, and I was happy to not be feeling the pain anymore. This time I could feel the pressure of the contractions which with Hudson I felt absolutely nothing. They had me propped to lean on my left side to keep the epidural even or something like that. By 10 I was dilated to a 5 and about 70% effaced, and I found out that Laura was off at 12 so the hope was to have the baby before she got off work. Unfortunately these hopes were quickly dashed when by 11:15 there were no signs that I was nearing time to push and closer to 12 I was introduced to a new nurse who would be taking over Laura's place and continuing to train Shanda.

The new nurse and Shanda came in and rotated me to my right side sometime around 12:15. After they left I quickly began to feel light headed again. I tried to sleep it off hoping it would go away. By about 12:40 I accepted that it wasn't going to go away, and I paged the nurses to help me rotate back to my left side. I almost immediately started to feel better once I switched sides. While they were updating my chart on the computer I all of a sudden felt a pain low down. I ignored it at first, but knowing that I didn't want my epidural to wear off I figured it was best that I mentioned it to them when it happened again since they were standing right there anyway. Since it had been a while they decided to check me before doing anything else about it. Much to everyone's surprise Shanda said that she didn't feel any cervix anymore only baby's head. It was time to push!

They immediately called my midwife and spoke to the anesthesiologist since I had felt some pain. While waiting for my midwife to get there Bo came in and administered some more drugs which left me feeling nothing- not even pressure. More nurses came into the room for the baby as we waited for my midwife to arrive. (Rosemark is maybe 3 minutes from the hospital, but she said that she had 3 patients who all needed something before she could leave.)

Once my midwife got there it was immediately go time. Because I could no longer feel my contractions at all she told me when to push. I started pushing at about 1, possibly a minute or two after, and after 3 sets of 3 pushes little Ella entered the world at 1:08 PM. The love was instant as she was placed on me. She took a few seconds before she let out her first cry, but she was absolutely perfect. They took her away to wipe her off and weigh her and as they had her on the other side of the room I couldn't help but ask if she really was a girl (I was so worried the whole pregnancy that she was going to come out a boy even after 3 ultrasounds that all said girl). Everyone laughed as they said yes and brought her back to me.

My midwife finished her job and I was ecstatic to hear that there weren't any problems. The delivery went better than what I could have imagined and it made me like my midwife more than I already did. It seemed like hardly any time passed at all before Taylor and I were left alone with our sweet girl to wait for the numbness to wear off so we could switch rooms. My nurses changed again as the two nurses I had during the delivery went to go help someone else deliver. I now had a BYU-I student and another nurse who had both helped with Ella after she was born.

My sister, Rebekah, watched Hudson for us and they were the first to come visit. Hudson was very intrigued with Ella. He kept standing on her bassinet to peek in at her when she was in it. He didn't want to hold her very much, but he did always want to be near her. Hudson quickly claimed the rocking chair as his and loved running around the hospital room. Taylor's family stopped by a little while later to meet Ella.

Almost immediately after giving birth I got a terrible headache. I asked for some tylenol, but it never seemed to help. I later got motrin and that didn't help either. The only thing that helped was laying down flat. I continued to have this headache the whole time we were in the hospital and put myself on "bed rest" once we got home because doing anything but laying down hurt my head too much. I was prescribed motrin and caffeine pills before leaving the hospital which are both things that are supposed to relieve spinal headaches. Neither of these things helped at all. I realized on Wednesday that I needed to do some research because sitting up to feed Ella was more than I could handle. It didn't take long to realize I had a spinal headache. Around 2 I called my doctor's office to talk with them and by 3 Taylor and I were back in the hospital for an epidural blood patch while Rebekah watched both kids. I learned that spinal headaches happen in less than 1% of epidurals, and that there was a 97% chance that the blood patch would fix it. They did the epidural again (it sucked just as much as the first time), a nurse put an IV in my arm to draw my blood, handed it to the anesthesiologist, he injected it into the epidural, he took the needle out, and then I had to lay there and not move for an hour while a bag of fluids was given to me. It was the most boring hour ever as I couldn't really play on my phone because the IV was in my right arm, so I couldn't bend it, and I couldn't watch TV because I couldn't lift my head at all since I had to be flat. After the hour was up Taylor and I were sent to walk the halls for close to 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes were up I talked with the nurse again and much to my dismay the blood patch didn't completely work. She said that they could do it again and that should definitely fix it, but I didn't want to go through the pain of getting an epidural again. Thankfully, the blood patch coupled with motrin and the caffeine pills gave me enough relief to be able to function again and enjoy my new baby which I felt like I hadn't previously fully been able to do. My headache has gotten progressively better, and now I only get one occasionally which could be for any number of reasons besides what happened.

Some comparisons because I can't help myself..

Life with Ella is better than I ever dreamed it would be. My recovery from childbirth is better than I knew it could be after having a rough time after Hudson was born (other than the headache issue). I can't believe how much more I can do this time without any pain compared to after he was born. Taylor has been back at work and we are all doing our best to adjust to this huge change in our lives. There is no doubt in my mind that this little girl was truly meant to be with our family at this time.

Ella Lynne Lloyd

It's about time I make it official on the blog.

Introducing...

Ella Lynne Lloyd

Born October 3rd 2016

6 pounds 14 ounces

20 inches long

Birth story to come..

Baby Number 2: Week 39 Bumpdate

This picture definitely makes me look smaller than I actually am, but it started to rain outside and so this was the best we were going to get.

And how cute is that freshly bathed photo bomber?!

How far along? 39 weeks. 

Total weight gain: +18 I haven't gained any weight in the last 3ish weeks

Maternity clothes: I've given up on getting dressed for the most part, so I pretty much just grab a shirt from Taylor's side of the closet and throw on some basketball shorts. Why did I not wear his shirts more when I was pregnant with Hudson?! They're so much comfier and longer than mine haha.

Sleep: I wake up around 2 and then 4:30 to pee. Usually I don't sleep good at all after the 4:30 wake up, and I tend to wake up multiple times before giving up and getting up for the day around 7:30.

Best moment this week: Going to Yellowstone and the Star Valley temple open house. Receiving a package of adorable girl things from Taylor's grandparents.

Miss anything? Being able to bend over and breath at the same time.

Movement: I am surprised with how active this little one is considering she has to be pretty much out of room. 

Food cravings: Fruit smoothies. I really wanted Jamba Juice, and thankfully I got it :) Not that it is food, but I have really been loving the smell of certain things like one of my face washes or some cleaning products. I don't remember this with Hudson, but it's been kind of like a craving this time.

Anything making you sick or queasy: Still having issues with getting super light headed and still no real answer as to why it keeps happening. I've been getting headaches lately.

Gender: Girl.

Labor signs: My belly definitely dropped at 38+2 days (I never had this happen with Hudson). It was so crazy how I could tell that day while getting dressed that the shirt I put on fit different because of the lower belly. I was dilated to a 3 at my appointment last Tuesday. Random contractions mainly when I go on my walks. 

Symptoms: I sound like a broken record putting this on every single bumpdate, but heartburn. I'm SO excited for this to go away after she is born haha. Round ligament pain. 

Belly button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On. 

Happy or moody most of the time: 

Looking forward to: Becoming a family of four and seeing how Hudson reacts and interacts with his sister. 

I've tried so hard to be a person who loves being pregnant, but I'm just not. I'm so grateful to be able to get pregnant and carry children to full term, and I am so grateful that pregnancy is not any longer than it is. There are definitely things that I am going to miss about being pregnant: the movements, the big round belly that is a human being, the specialness of the journey, the bond that I have been able to share with this baby, etc. But oh man and I glad that this is almost over haha.

I've kept up with my daily walks which I am quite proud of. The gorgeous fall weather that we have had has certainly helped with my motivation to continue with these walks. Here's to hoping they make a difference when it comes to delivery!

September Shenanigans

We went camping for a night over Labor Day weekend at the same campground we went camping at last time. We were thinking about going for 2 nights, but that thought quickly disappeared as we tried going to sleep that first night.

Hudson refused to go to sleep. He was up until about midnight just climbing all over the bed and tent, which turned him into a cranky monster the next day.

We went hiking the next morning, but Hudson and my way too pregnant self did not make it very far, so we turned back a lot sooner than we expected to. 

He has learned the art of only eating the cream of oreos. 

If we give him an oreo he will more than likely eat the cream and throw the ends in the garbage. 

Before & after.

I wish I had a more decent before picture, but we redid our TV stand, kitchen table and chairs, and our counter stools. Hooray for furniture that matches!

It was a bit more frustrating and, of course, more hard work than I anticipated, but we love the way they turned out. 

Since we made our floors darker, it looks so much better to have some of our furniture lighter.

I am in love with how the table turned out.

Another day another Target trip.

The potato truck drove through town.

Guys, the potato isn't real!... 

It kind of breaks my heart that it's fake haha.

We went to Reed's Dairy for lunch one Saturday, so we had to stop and see the animals. 

Hudson kept mooing over and over again and then baaing over and over once we got to the sheep.

Also, Hudson grabbed that fedora hat when we were at Target and Taylor is a sucker for buying him things that he randomly grabs haha. 

We took advantage of September 24th being National Public Lands Day and headed up to Yellowstone since the admission was free for the day. We did the fast and condensed version because the weather wasn't the greatest, I was nearly 38 weeks pregnant, and we had a toddler who was so done with being in the car by the time we got home. (Though truthfully he did awesome in the car considering we drove for 8 hours that day, and I don't think he even slept for a full hour of it) I've always wanted to go to Yellowstone in the fall with the changing leaves, and it did not disappoint. It was great to have one last adventure with my little family before this baby is born.

We took the main loop around and hit as many sights as we could get in on our way. I forgot to grab our real camera, so these phone pictures will have to do. And let's be honest pictures that I would have taken with the real camera wouldn't have come out much better anyway ;)

Our first stop was at the Norris Geyser Basin.

We didn't walk down to the geysers because it had started to rain and we didn't have an umbrella, but the view was still beautiful.

This is how our little bookworm did the beginning of our drive in the park.

He loves to read and had no interest in the scenery at first haha.

Real life moment with a toddler.

Hudson is super into jumping right now, so every time we walked somewhere he wanted to jump the entire way.

This is how well our attempt at corralling him and actually getting somewhere at a normal pace went. 

Mooing at the bison.

He was so terrified to touch it at first.

We ate lunch at the restaurant inside Canyon Village.

How cute is my child?! The second picture about kills me :)

Lower falls and upper falls.

Yellowstone lake

We didn't take the time to stop, but it was one of my favorite parts with the snow topped mountains.

We arrived about 15 minutes after Old Faithful went off and ya know this was the fast and condensed version of Yellowstone so we didn't stick around to wait for it to go off again.

We did walk around and check it out and look at the gift shops.

Hudson burned off some serious energy here as he ran around like a wild man climbing on benches and logs.

Side note: Hudson in the gift shops might have actually been my favorite part of the whole trip. He kept walking around saying "woahhh" and "oh wow" and picking up every stuffed animal that they had. It was stinking adorable and he was so fascinated with everything that they had for sale.

We saw the most animals on our drive from Old Faithful to the outside of out of the park. 

There were multiple times that we were in essentially stop and go traffic from people slowing down to look at multiple groups of bison and elk. 

All of the animals were the perfect end to our time in the park.

Another thing to note is that unless you have a big fancy camera with a giant lense and a tripod, then you might as well not have a camera at all in Yellowstone. Everyone there was a photographer extraordinaire I tell ya haha.

I really love this little family of mine

This was my view a lot during the month of September as I attempted to bring on labor. 

Obviously it didn't work..

Hudson and I went on daily 2 mile walks every day that we could. 

I could count on 1 hand the number of days that we didn't go on our walk.

Our favorite days were the days that Taylor was able to join us.

I'm really going to miss our walks after the baby comes and the weather gets too cold.

We took a drive out to Afton to see the new Star Valley temple. 

It was the first temple open house that my sister and I had ever been to.

It is definitely a small temple, but definitely pretty.

I especially loved the colors of the stained glass window in the celestial room.

Hudson looked too cute with the little booties on while walking through the temple.

He was in awe of the very short coach bus ride from the church to the temple.

Sun in our eyes, a hungry toddler, and one great big 38 week belly.

The drive there and back was extra pretty with all of the fall leaves.

We stopped on our way home for some square ice cream and we were all ready for bed by the time we got home.

And just like that we are on to October.

Oh hey there baby month :)