Derek made a photography website with some great pictures of Eli =) I figured posting the link was faster and easier than me trying to upload the pictures myself....enjoy!
http://derekcoller.zenfolio.com/
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Elijah Daniel was born =)
I will post pictures, but haven't had time to look through them all yet....so I thought while Eli is napping, I'd jot down some thoughts and put up pictures later today.
*The big news: MY BABY'S HERE! We feel so extremely blessed to have this tiny baby. He is beautiful. 7 lbs 15.6 oz, 20 inches long.
A little bit about my labor.....
*I've been saying all pregnancy how completely different this pregnancy was compared to my pregnancy with Jaden. Labor wise, that has been true also.
*My labors I think are just going to be long. LOL. I labored with Eli for 24 hours. Most of it was at home, which was a huge blessing.
*Contractions started at 2 am Monday. I walked, and rested, and ate Chick Fil A, and walked some more. By 3, my contractions were long and strong, but hadn't gotten closer together so my doula recommended me go to my ob's office to get my membranes swept. Derek took me over to their office and the nurse practitioner checked me. Low and behold, I was 5 cm and 90% effaced.....and she gave me the go-ahead to go to labor and delivery. I chose to labor for a few more hours at home with my doula and Derek...and by 7 we were headed to the hospital!
*Once I got admitted, I was 7 cm and completely effaced. I labored for another 8 hours, and finally Eli was born at 213 am Tuesday March 19th.
*I was able to do natural/drug free child birth this go round! Let me just say, labor is HARD. But there's this HUGE sense of accomplishment when it's all said and done without drugs. I felt empowered. I felt like I could conquer the world. Definitely, it was not easy. Especially at the end, during transition. I am thankful for the experience. I think the natural child birth has helped my recovery and definitely helped Eli when he was born =)
Getting home with the baby....
*I had planned for people to take Jaden while I was in labor.....and totally forgot to plan for the few days you spend in the hospital after delivery. Thankfully, we had faithful friends who were able to help out until we were able to come home with Eli.
*The first night at home went MUCH BETTER than I thought. I had this horrible picture in my mind.........and not to say bad nights aren't coming, but I was very thankful the first one went well. Jaden woke up this morning and said he didn't even hear Eli at all...and that must have been true because he didn't wake up at all.
*Eli nursed every 3 hours, but slept really well in between feedings, so both Derek and I were able to get solid rest. Also a huge blessing!
Some prayer requests......
*Continue to pray for our transition into a family of 4.
*Pray for Derek, as he prepares to go back to work while dealing with a newborn baby at home.
* Pray for Jaden, as we're trying to keep his schedule as routine as possible. Pray for his little heart to grow to love Eli and want to help with him. Pray for him to remember that we still love him, and he is still important.
*Pray for me.....as I adjust to staying home with 2 kiddos. As I try to figure out the nursing baby/5 year old life. Pray for my hormones, they're all over the map right now. Pray for me to allow myself grace to rest and not be GOGOGOGO all the time.
Thanks, friends! Updates will come soon.
*The big news: MY BABY'S HERE! We feel so extremely blessed to have this tiny baby. He is beautiful. 7 lbs 15.6 oz, 20 inches long.
A little bit about my labor.....
*I've been saying all pregnancy how completely different this pregnancy was compared to my pregnancy with Jaden. Labor wise, that has been true also.
*My labors I think are just going to be long. LOL. I labored with Eli for 24 hours. Most of it was at home, which was a huge blessing.
*Contractions started at 2 am Monday. I walked, and rested, and ate Chick Fil A, and walked some more. By 3, my contractions were long and strong, but hadn't gotten closer together so my doula recommended me go to my ob's office to get my membranes swept. Derek took me over to their office and the nurse practitioner checked me. Low and behold, I was 5 cm and 90% effaced.....and she gave me the go-ahead to go to labor and delivery. I chose to labor for a few more hours at home with my doula and Derek...and by 7 we were headed to the hospital!
*Once I got admitted, I was 7 cm and completely effaced. I labored for another 8 hours, and finally Eli was born at 213 am Tuesday March 19th.
*I was able to do natural/drug free child birth this go round! Let me just say, labor is HARD. But there's this HUGE sense of accomplishment when it's all said and done without drugs. I felt empowered. I felt like I could conquer the world. Definitely, it was not easy. Especially at the end, during transition. I am thankful for the experience. I think the natural child birth has helped my recovery and definitely helped Eli when he was born =)
Getting home with the baby....
*I had planned for people to take Jaden while I was in labor.....and totally forgot to plan for the few days you spend in the hospital after delivery. Thankfully, we had faithful friends who were able to help out until we were able to come home with Eli.
*The first night at home went MUCH BETTER than I thought. I had this horrible picture in my mind.........and not to say bad nights aren't coming, but I was very thankful the first one went well. Jaden woke up this morning and said he didn't even hear Eli at all...and that must have been true because he didn't wake up at all.
*Eli nursed every 3 hours, but slept really well in between feedings, so both Derek and I were able to get solid rest. Also a huge blessing!
Some prayer requests......
*Continue to pray for our transition into a family of 4.
*Pray for Derek, as he prepares to go back to work while dealing with a newborn baby at home.
* Pray for Jaden, as we're trying to keep his schedule as routine as possible. Pray for his little heart to grow to love Eli and want to help with him. Pray for him to remember that we still love him, and he is still important.
*Pray for me.....as I adjust to staying home with 2 kiddos. As I try to figure out the nursing baby/5 year old life. Pray for my hormones, they're all over the map right now. Pray for me to allow myself grace to rest and not be GOGOGOGO all the time.
Thanks, friends! Updates will come soon.
Monday, March 11, 2013
preggo update
38 weeks!!!!
Full term! =) Wahoo! Just a few updates:
*all our bags are packed and ready
*our birth plan is written and a copy is in our hospital bag too
*a list of all our "on call" friends is posted on the fridge
*Eli's the size of a pumpkin....which freaks me out a little bit to know something that size is growing inside my uterus =)
*I'm still sleeping fairly well at night....occasionally I'll have to get up, but most nights I'm able to sleep through
*I'm also still power walking...although my "power" walk is more like "stroll"
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
a baking morning
The weather cannot make up it's mind. We got just enough snow to cover the ground, and enough to cancel the county schools, but not enough to last. It was all melted by mid morning. I thought today would be a great day to get some baking done!
My mom gave me her old bread machine, and I have spent the past few days trying to find a recipe that looked yummy. I found several! It's always hard to choose a recipe when you have 3 or 4 that look delicious.
After 2 failed attempts at making this loaf, the third time finally worked! (I think the first 2 loaves I tried to make I was using dead yeast).
Ingredients:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons honey
3 cups of bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Combine ingredients in bread machine (for mine, wet ingredients go first, then dry, with yeast going last). Select setting and crust, and hit start. Easy peasy!
*Some notes*
-I used bread flour this time, but all purpose flour would work well too.
-It is possible to make this bread by hand. If you wanted to do that, dissolve the yeast in the liquid, add other wet ingredients, then dry ingredients. Combine and knead the dough. Let it rise in the bowl until doubled. Punch the dough down, knead it a few more times, and move it a loaf pan. Let it rise until doubled. Then bake it at 350 for 30 ish minutes or until the crust is golden and sounds hollow.
Since my bread machine takes 3 hours to make bread, I had some time to kill before Jaden and I could eat it. We decided to make cookies!
My house definitely smells like a bakery! =)
My mom gave me her old bread machine, and I have spent the past few days trying to find a recipe that looked yummy. I found several! It's always hard to choose a recipe when you have 3 or 4 that look delicious.
After 2 failed attempts at making this loaf, the third time finally worked! (I think the first 2 loaves I tried to make I was using dead yeast).
Milk and Honey Bread
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons honey
3 cups of bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Combine ingredients in bread machine (for mine, wet ingredients go first, then dry, with yeast going last). Select setting and crust, and hit start. Easy peasy!
*Some notes*
-I used bread flour this time, but all purpose flour would work well too.
-It is possible to make this bread by hand. If you wanted to do that, dissolve the yeast in the liquid, add other wet ingredients, then dry ingredients. Combine and knead the dough. Let it rise in the bowl until doubled. Punch the dough down, knead it a few more times, and move it a loaf pan. Let it rise until doubled. Then bake it at 350 for 30 ish minutes or until the crust is golden and sounds hollow.
Since my bread machine takes 3 hours to make bread, I had some time to kill before Jaden and I could eat it. We decided to make cookies!
My house definitely smells like a bakery! =)
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