ThOrNtOn ThOuGhTs: Baby Love

Ellis Grace Thornton
6 lbs 7 oz | 19.5 inches long
Sept. 26th 2013

So great finally being able to call our princess by her name. We somehow kept her name a secret.

JT and I decided on a name 4 months into the pregnancy. Boy or girl the name we loved was Ellis. When you look up meaning of names it says this name is more for boys, but I disagree. Before deciding upon Ellis for sure I had to know what it meant. When I found out that the meaning was "The Lord is my God" http://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/ellis I knew it was the one. So happy JT agreed. I also saw that Ellis means "benevolent" which is also pretty fitting and special.

I knew for sure I wanted Grace to be the middle name if it were a girl.

I wanted to do something "clever" to announce her name so I had my friend Cami (owner of Cami Cake Co.) https://www.facebook.com/camiscakeco make sugar cookies announcing her name. We had these cookies for anyone in the waiting room and for our doctor, nurses and visitors. They turned out SO perfect! I think I was the most popular patient in the mother/baby unit because of these cookies.

The big/day night- Sept. 26th
I went to work in the am to keep my mind off of contractions. Already dilated at a 5 I knew our time was near. Around 11:30am I headed home to relax incase I needed to conserve energy. I sent JT a text around 12:30 telling him to wrap up what he could at work, I thought it was "time" After timing contractions for over an hour I called my doctor who told me to go in. Once I got to the hospital I was checked and told to walk to see if there was change in my cervix. After an hour of increasingly painful contractions and walking my cervix had changed SO I got to stay!! The plan...break my water at 8pm if it didn't break on it's own. 8pm came and my water was broke. About 4 minutes after my water was broke I felt really really sick. I got so worried... I had never experienced a feeling like it. My BP dropped to 53/30. Although Ellis' heart rate dropped, after some oxygen and deep breaths the nurse was able to get both back to normal. I was so scared.

Around midnight I felt a lot of pressure, the nurse checked me and said quickly "going to call Larisa she's ready and right there" Shelby (the nurse) said let's try some practice pushes. After doing one practice she said "ok, no more practice, I don't want to deliver a baby tonight" I then eagerly was waiting on my doctor to arrive. After 3 pushes at 12:28am, Ellis Grace was born. She came out so quickly/easily compared to her brother who needed 2 hours worth of pushing. She was screaming and PERFECT! I'll never forget the love and feeling of relief from delivering happy, healthy babies. I immediately held her and was overwhelmed with emotions.

The not so fun part...Sorry for details (this blog is after all for me/my family to remember our life) After Ellis' delivery, my placenta wasn't cooperating. It didn't come out as one piece as it should. It was abnormally attached. I knew something wasn't right by the look on the nurses/doctor face. She handled the situation perfectly and called for a second opinion. The doctor that came was NOT happy to be woke up but he did a good job. My stitches were pulled out by him during his "help" and it was a lot of aggressive "work" I feared for waking up the next morning. The amount of pain afterwards is three times worse than it was the first time around. Complications that come with not removing all of the placenta are dangerous and I was/still am a bit uneasy about it, but just have to trust God and take one day at a time. I have the best doctor and trust her judgement.

Day six postpartum and I am tired, sore, and tired but SO IN LOVE. Big brother Isaiah is kind of oblivious to Ellis (he has already smacked her in the face a couple of times) He also gives her kisses with Curious George and his Jayhawk. So funny. No idea how I have time to do this blog...I definitely am running on 2.5 hours of sleep (if I had to guess I'd say I've slept maybe 9 hours over the last 6 days) I will definitely be sleeping when she sleeps. Learned the hard way the first time, but now I need it more than ever.

Thank you so much for the prayers and support as we embrace being a family of four. We are beyond amazed and gracious for how God continues to provide and take care of us.

YAY for maternity leave! So excited to spend lots of time with my kids.

Last belly pic 38.5 weeks

This makes me laugh. I asked JT to go home for Ahli while I was laboring he sent me this... :)

My text/pic to announce her arrival

Aw :) She has his hair/skin but I think my eyes.

Gotta get use to all the pink :)

First Family of 4 photo

Rock Chalk Baby Girl!

BIG thanks to my dad, Kim and the Turpin's for helping with Isaiah. He was my biggest concern during all the hospital time. I missed him so much. He had lots of fun with family.