Our 5th Daughter

First family picture with all 7 of us!! The girls came for a visit after church on Sunday. They sure are excited to have another sister and they all love to hold her. As always the previous baby, our Cassia, seems so much bigger now that she is a big sister. Ellia Charity Bryan and I both have come up with different meanings for her name, but since he was gracious enough to let me chose the spelling, I will go with his meaning which I think is, God is Jehovah. I hope that is right I will have to check with him! We discussed this name a lot before she was born, the spelling the meaning if it is truly a boys name or girls name. Despite our differences we now have an Ellia. I like that it is different but not strange!

She is such a precious babe, and just like her sisters. When she was born I right away thought she looked like Moriah. I still think so but she is getting more and more of her own look too. She has blonde hair and is fair like the first three, so Cassia will continue to be our only 'brown sheep'.

Notice the soother in this picture. I am so thankful I brought it with to the hospital as it was my life saver the first night. This girly kept me up all night she would cry off and on every 5 min. The soother really helped so that I didn't have to nurse all the time. The nurses kept asking me if I wanted them to take her and give her some formula but I refused and finally they stopped asking. Finally at 4am she went to sleep and slept for a long time I had to wake her up to nurse. I was afraid she had her days and nights mixed up and was not sure what I was in for the next night. After having only and hour and half of sleep the first night and a little nap in the afternoon I was so thankful that the second night she only woke up twice between 9pm and 7am. The nights have been much better and I feel like I am almost caught up on sleep!

I forgot to turn this picture! But she still looks cute even sideways! She is not a nice easy content baby like I was hoping for. She loves to be held and cries alot when not being held or nursed. She hates diaper changes and getting dressed. I am thankful for my wrap as I can see us getting lots of use out of that in the coming months. We have yet to have a nice content baby who just lays and looks around, I am very anxious for Bryan to buy some batteries for the swing, hopefully she likes that too!

Saturday April 2, 2011 I was induced at 9:30am. The Sunday before, which was my due date I decided I really didn't want to wait longer then neccessary, I wanted this baby out! So on Tuesday we scheduled me in at the hosptial to be induced. This picture was when I was sitting on the ball and it was inbetween contractions. The contractions were not too bad for a long time. I kept hoping that maybe they just wouldn't get too bad this time around. Ofcourse I was very wrong! At 3:30pm the contractions took on a whole new level and they were not pleasent. At around 3:45pm I jokingly said I was ready for the epideral, knowing it was too late! Ellia came into the world at 3:59 pm. The labor was very intense as her shoulders got stuck, I have never screamed before, but I did this time. Bryan got it all on video for me. I know it probably sounds very strange, but I really wanted to see how the baby comes out and it is not something I want to see of another woman, and it was really neat to see. But we will be deleating it not putting it on you tube for the world to see! I tried to watch her come out as they had a mirror there but the pain got too intense, so I was happy to see it later on video. Yes, I cried watching myself give birth! I must say I look much more calm then I feel! :-)

A very proud father with his 5th daughter! He told me he was actually nervous through the whole labor wondering if it was a boy!! He was relieved to have another girl!! :-)

My parents with their 10th grandchild!

Ellia in the same outfit her sister and mother all wore home from the hosptial.

I am enjoying a week with just Ellia and me at home. I did slip out this morning to see my other girls as we miss them so much. I am recovering very well. Depsite her shoulders getting stuck, I had no tearing and feel better then I ever have before. Just a little tired. We do look forward to this weekend when the girls come home and we really get to enjoy all 5 of our girls! It is hard to believe that God has given us 5 precious little girls to teach and love. We are so excited to live our life with these girls growing and learning. And we can't wait for spring to settle in and for us to get outside and enjoy our country house and all that yard work!! :-)