Introducing Ella!

The whole reason we started this blog has finally become a reality! We are so proud to introduce our little girl, Ella Grace Lamens, to the blog. She was born September 23, 2010 (2 days early!), weighing 8 lbs. 1 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. Of course I wanted to document the labor process and for those of you who asked, here it is...

We had a doctor's appointment last Monday and found out I was 4 cm. dilated and about 80% effaced. We were thrilled to hear my body was starting to get this baby moving! Our doctor told us it could be any time and to stay close to home. At that time, I still hadn't had any contractions, so we were patiently waiting for those to start. I woke up Wednesday night at about 1:00am having an unfamiliar pain and I remember wondering if that was what a contraction felt like. Sure enough, I had the same feeling an hour later, and then again around 4:00am. I decided to wake Cody up, and at that time the contractions started getting stronger and closer together. We called my doctor when the contractions were about 6 minutes apart and got in the car to head to the hospital. We were admitted right away and were told that we would be having a baby that day! My doctor broke my water to get the contractions moving along and sure enough they started increasing to every 2-3 minutes apart. I was so thankful to get the epidural before the more intense contractions started.

Here I am enjoying the epidural!

At about noon it was time to start pushing...which was not an easy process!  After a few hours of pushing, my doctor started getting concerned that the baby's heart rate was dropping and that the baby needed to come out soon.  She later told us she had a hunch that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck, which turned out to be true.  We were also concerned because the baby had swallowed some meconium, so their was a team of people ready to help her out as soon as she arrived.  After about 3.5 hours of pushing, Ella Grace finally decided to make her appearance into our world at 3:40pm.  She was given to the "meconium team" right away and they confirmed that she was fine and was breathing and looking healthy.  I'll never forget the moment I heard Ella cry for the first time - truly the best sound I've ever heard!  The nurses then gave Ella to me so we had skin-to-skin contact right away.  I cry happy tears every time I think of that moment and how blessed we are to have such a healthy, beautiful baby girl.  Here are some pictures from shortly after Ella's birth...

 We were so excited to introduce our new baby to our families who had waited patiently in the waiting room at the hospital all day!  

Grandma Patty

 Grandma Linda

 Grandpa Bob

 My good friend Rebekah

 Our first family photo with all three of us

Uncle Tom

Grandpa Ed

Ella passed all her screenings and tests at the hospital with flying colors and we were discharged from the hospital the next day.  We are so blessed to have this little miracle in our lives and are so thankful that we get to be her parents!  Let the real adventure begin!