Ella Malia

I’ve now made it through my first Christmas. I got my picture taken with my cousins. I got to visit several groups from Daddy’s family and Mommy’s family. People spoiled me with lots of presents. Thank you everyone for the gifts! Pictures and Videos of my events have been posted.

So I’m now over three months old. Approaching four. Everyday I reach new milestones that make my Mommy and Daddy happy. I’m drinking bigger bottles, less often. I’m sleeping longer during the night. I grab things with my little fingers. When placed on my tummy, I can left my head up (even though it frustrates me). I like to smile at people. I like to experiment trying to make different noises and see how mommy and daddy react. Life is good.

I’ve seen my first snow. I’ve had my first Halloween. I wore a onsie that said, “My first Halloween” and a cap that looked like a jack-o-lantern. I had my first thanksgiving in which I got to meet lots of relatives I hadn’t had an opportunity to meet yet. I keep hearing everyone talk about Christmas but I don’t understand what the fuss is all about. Guess I’ll find out soon.

My Daddy added a new section of photos today on my website for me. They are [HERE].

Bye for now,
Ella

Sorry for the delay!  Ella is teaching us so much about how to be mommy and daddy that we seem to run out of time to keep up on everything!  We are enjoying our time with her, watching her grow and change every minute.  We don’t want to miss a moment :)  We want to thank everyone for their love and support during this transition in our lives and we are happy that we get to share our love and joy of Ella with each of you.  We are very blessed to have her in our lives and we couldn’t have asked for a better baby :)  (We will just have to remind ourselves of that when she is a teenager haha)  Keep checking back as we will continue to add new things as we have time to do so!

-Mommy aka Amy

Ella Elizabeth Malia was born August 22nd, 2008 @ 1:21pm at Wesley Hospital, in Wichita KS.

Weight: 10 lbs 2oz

Length: 22.5 inches

Head: 15 Inches (She’s gonna be smart)

Chest: 15 inches

Abdomen: 13.5 inches

—————————————–

New Pics Here
New Videos Here

—————————————–

Our own labor horror story!

After about 2 hours of painful contractions less than 5 minutes apart, Amy and I checked into Wesley Hospital around 11:00AM Thursday morning (August 21st).  Measuring at 3 centimeters, where previously at 1, was a very good sign that things were about to start happening.  And that’s when the pain got worse.  As Ella made her way into the birth canal, she put a lot of pressure on Amy’s sciatic nerve.  Amy had planned to attempt a natural childbirth, but the sciatic nerve pain was too intense, so we gave the hospital staff the nod of approval to perform an epidural block.  After the block, things seemed to get better, but there was still some pain.  6 hours after checking into the hospital, Amy was now dilated to a 6.  As the hours went by, the pain increased and the dilatation stayed the same.  Anesthesiologists had tried adjusting Amy’s epidural medicine.  They tried giving her a second (and third) epidural block but nothing seemed to take the pain away for longer than about an hour.  To get things going, we approved the induction by breaking the amniotic sac.  Within the next two hours, Amy had dilated to a 9.5.  And.. Stayed there for 2 more painfully excruciating hours until we approved the use of Pitocin to get that final section of cervix dilated.  Then the pushing began!  3 hours of pushing later… Amy was sleep deprived, not in the best of attitude, and Ella was still not here.  The doctor then attempted to use forceps to help Ella down the birth canal but had no success and said that Ella was too big to fit and a C-Section was needed.  We rolled Amy down to the operating room and found that in addition to the epidural block not working previously during the labor, the final epidural block they were trying to use for the C-Section was not working either, because Amy said she was able to feel them cutting into her!  At that point, I was told to leave and wait back in the labor room.  The doctor administered general anethesia to knock Amy completely out so they could perform an emergency C-section.  About 20 minutes later, I had Ella in my arms.  And within the next 20 or so minutes Amy was able to meet Ella as well.   It was rough, but the 26 hours of labor was worth the wonderful bundle of joyous baby girl Ella!

-Brad

So Amy’s contractions got strong and lasted for over an hour and had dropped to less than two minutes apart.. So we rush off to the hospital at 3:00AM, only to get sent back home at 6:00AM.  False Labor is no joke!  Any day now though

Through Pre-Ecalmpsia tests, false labor, 1 centimeter dilation, beginnings of effacement, due date just a week away, and other tale-tell signs of end of pregnancy we are totally ready for the day to come and can hardly wait for Ella to be here.  It just hasn’t happened yet!

Daddy decided to save web host space, and place our photos on Picasa.   Check them out!

My favorite activity these days is to roll around in mommy’s tummy and Mommy and Daddy get a kick out of watching me make mommy’s tummy move.  I tend to move the most after mommy drinks a root beer or when mommy lays down to bed.

Also I keep having a lot of hiccups.  It’s supposed to help strengthen my diaphragm so I can take a big first breath.  Mommy can feel it when I have hiccups and Daddy can hear my hiccups.  Says I make a thumping noise when he puts his ear to mommy’s tummy.

For the Fourth of July, Aunt Laura played a joke on Daddy.  Mommy and Aunt Laura were at the house and Daddy was in the garage looking at Uncle Jason’s race car.  Aunt Laura came on the intercom and announced that Mommy’s water had broke.  Daddy came running to find Aunt Laura and Mommy with a big grin on their face.

New pictures have been posted in the family gallery and a baby shower gallery has been added.

Thank you so much to everyone who came to celebrate Ella’s upcoming birth!  Brad and I greatly appreciate all the love and support everyone has shared with us and we cannot wait for all of you to meet her!  Pictures will be posted soon