Prayers for little Ella

So when Ella was born the pediatrician heard a heart murmur. She said that it was no big deal that when babies are in the womb they have a valve in their heart that bypasses the lungs because they don't use their lungs inutero and when they are born the valve closes off to push the blood to the lungs, pretty incredible! Anyway, she said that it should clear up in a few days. Well, by the time we left the hospital Dr. Camp couldn't hear it anymore. So, today we went in for our 2 week checkup and besides her weighing 11 lbs and 12 oz and being 23 inches long, yes that means she grew 3 inches in 3 weeks, she's trying to catch her daddy, Dr. Camp also heard the murmur. She said that she didn't think it was anything to worry about and that it should close on its own but that we should probably check with the pediatric cardiologist to make sure there wasn't a problem that needed fixing. I am very optimistic as Dr. Camp said that she thought it was a murmur that is very common in newborns and clears up well. Our appointment with the cardiologist is October 16 so please just pray that our little ones heart is OK. That's a road I don't even want to think about going down!!

Our new bundle

So Miss Ella is HERE!! On Sunday morning around 8:00am I went into labor. However, being the stubborn one that I am I decided that I wanted to go to church. So, as Jim and I sat through Bible class I realize that my contractions were getting stronger and closer together. Which, we also had to drive 90 miles to the hospital. So, after talking with Jim's aunt I decided that we should probably go. We got to the hospital about 1 pm and I was only dilated to a 1 so they made me walk around for about an hour and a half. After that the Dr. came in and said I was a two and that they would admit me to the hospital. Anyway, I won't bore you with the entire labor details however, I had decided to do this birth naturally with no pain killers and I did! 30 hours with no pain killers! Then after 2 hours of pushing the Dr. says "she's not coming out this way, we need to do a c-section." Although I was thoroughly bummed that I had to have a c-section, if I had one more contraction I was seriously going to hurt someone. So very quickly and efficiently they wheeled me into the OR and only when she came out did we realize why she wasn't coming out. She weighed 10 lbs. 11.5 oz. and was 20 inches long- big baby! But she got here safely and healthy and that is all that we care about. I got released from the hospital on Thursday and we are settling into home life quite nicely. Here are some pics of our new bundle!!

I'll tyr to explain a little about each one- they're kind of out of order:

1. Here is Ella as they weighed her- Dad got a good shot of the scale, I think he was a little in shock also.

2. This is the most recent picture- one I took today

3. Here is Ella with her great-grandparents, Jim's dad's parents, Ella is named after this man's mother.

4. This is a lovely picture of me and Ella right after she was delivered

5. Ella and her proud dad!