look who turned six yesterday...

noah did!!!

 michael had to take one last picture of noah as a five year old (sleeping)

 happily opening presents 

ninjago related gifts were definitely his favorite

hartly, olive, bailey, hazel and noah

at the vet school open house

 noah about to blow out the trick candles on his angry birds cake

 olive chewing on an angry birds ring

 lots of blowing

 noah and hazel took turns

hitting the angry birds pig pinata

 grandma and grandpa kelly were here for the weekend

seeing eleanor

and helping celebrate noah's birthday

hazel fell asleep on grandpa

grandma reading to olive

happy birthday, noah!

newborn pictures

eleanor got her newborn pictures taken yesterday

at a week old

i wanted to make sure she didn't get any bigger before

they were taken

here are a few of the sneak peaks

eleanor's birth story

8 days past my due date

my water broke at 12:20am when i got up to go to the bathroom

i was so excited because water breaking means i'll have my baby

within the next day

and it had never happened to me before

plus my doctor told me it's all that it would take for the baby to engage

michael and i chatted for an hour or so

then he went back to bed

and i went and read a book in the living room for a few hours

i figured if labor wasn't going too strong

i could be at home until the morning

when we could get the kids up, dressed

and over to our neighbor charlene's without waking everyone up in the night

so i fell back asleep until just before 7:00am

and we got the kids ready

and took them over

then went to the hospital

 the nurses were not very happy that i'd waited at home so long

but it was fine and they got me all hooked up and monitored

including an iv in each arm, per v-bac regulations

and told me i was at a 1.5 and then eventually a 2.5

(side note: after this month our hospital won't be offering v-bacs 

so i felt extra lucky that i was getting to try)

i spent all day having contractions about 5-6 minutes apart

that grew in strength

my doctor was out of town but would be around by the evening

so i spent hours before i got checked again

and around 7:30pm (12 hours after i got to the hospital)

i finally saw my doctor and she told me i was dilated to a 4

which was good news

but although my water broke at home

it mended itself and was still a full bag of waters

so she decided she'd break my water in an hour

 by this point i was hooked up to fluid and antibiotics to help to decrease

the chance of infection since my water broke so long ago

when she re-broke my water there was a RIVER inside of me still

it soaked everything, and surprised all of us how much fluid there was

no wonder i was measuring so big

(well that and my giant baby)

so we assumed labor would just hurry right along

but instead my contractions kept getting stronger

and i didn't ever dilate more than 4.5

i was in terrible pain and by 12:30-1 i was pretty sure she wasn't coming

they figured she was sunny side up

so they had be get in different positions to try to move her

but it didn't help
(this picture was definitely from earlier in the day, i wasn't so happy at this point)

 finally i wanted to be put out of my misery

so they put some morphine in my iv

and i immediately fell asleep

out of exhaustion, it took the edge off but i could still feel the pain of the contractions

after that i felt like i wanted to die

when i woke up the doctor and i decided that i needed a c-section

so the OR team got me all prepped

 i could hardly keep my eyes open and felt like i needed to vomit

i was surprised they never gave me a drug to stop my contractions

 i had painful contractions all the way until my spinal was given to me on the operating table

so after 26 hours of labor

nine days overdue

i finally had my eleanor mae

via c-section

i feel like i gave it my absolute all

her head was apparently not sunny side up

but just plain sideways

and cock-eyed

so she was not coming out vaginally, ever

not to mention she was 9 lbs 5 oz

which is possibly just a little too big for my 

barely 5'1" body to handle

the birth was absolutely not what i was planning

at the end, before and during my c-section

i felt like i was having the worst experience of my life

my body was so tired, no progress was being made

my eyes wanted to shut, i started vomiting...

i just assumed it would've been different

i thought it would be quick and the result would be a successful v-bac

but that was not how it was supposed to be

and i don't have any regrets

i now know that i will have c-sections from now on

my doctor told me my uterus is super strong

and i hardly have any scar tissue

so i'm not worried about our family size being stunted by

the amount of c-sections i can or cannot have

 eleanor was of course worth every second of my labor

all 41+ weeks of pregnancy

and the c-section recovery i was hoping to avoid

 michael and i love being parents

there is no greater joy in life

i love how close it makes me feel to michael

every time we have another child

and how i feel the love in our family grow

 eleanor is so loved

everyone is adjusting well to her

and her siblings are just as in love with her

as we are

just a day at the park

it finally feels like spring around here

so we decided to take our first family-of-six outing to the park

for a picnic lunch

 if it looks like everyone is looking at my stomach, they are

a ladybug landed on me

 then it hopped on to noah's hand

 i think eleanor liked the park

 mmmm

 silly girl

 olive was eating potato salad two spoonfuls at a time

 olive kept calling the dinosaur an animal

hey look, i'm not pregnant anymore!

sadly we left the park pretty quickly after our picnic because some numb-nut

thought it was a good idea to let their unleashed dog attack hazel

they're just lucky it's hard for me to get up

or my hormones may have got the best of me

this mama bear was mad

little kitten

yesterday

my five day old 

outgrew her newborn diapers

and newborn clothes

all in one day

at least she got to wear a few newborn outfits

she also had her first doctors appointment yesterday

and weight 9lb 4 oz (down one oz from birth)

and grew an inch 

we love having a big baby

she is so content

we are all completely in love with her

easter saturday

easter baskets for all four kids 

 can you tell hazel was happy to find paint in her basket?

she just ran out so she was pretty excited

 noah was happy with everything he got

 olive was especially happy to find some candy in her basket

even though she looks mad in this picture...

michael and his parents took the kids to the stake primary easter activity

i was sad to miss it

but heard it was super fun 

 hazel's finally not afraid of the easter bunny

 just in time for olive to start being afraid

michael and his parents did an easter egg hunt at home, too

 the kids loved it

 i think they all had a really fun saturday

i spent most of the day in bed

cuddling eleanor

not a bad day for anyone

happy easter

 love, 

noah, hazel, olive, and eleanor

darling eleanor

we're home

with our sweet 2 day old girl

it's so fun to watch the kids with her

they love her so much already

eleanor mae olson

born april 4, 2012

(41 weeks, 2 days)

at 2:11am 

26 hours after my water broke

and lots of hard laboring

she was born via c-section

weighing 9 lbs 5 oz

and 21 inches long

41 weeks + a new resolve

passing my due date was hard

and passing march was, also

but i am resolved not to have that c-section wednesday

there are a few reasons why

like the fact that i won't have seen my doctor since last thursday

and it seems weird to go straight to a c-section

how will i know if i'm progressing?

instead i have an appointment to see my doctor wednesday

and we'll discuss my options then

unless it's medically the best option for baby

i really don't want a c-section

and i'm trying to have faith that my body will go in to labor

on it's own

before too much time passes

this is definitely my last chance at a v-bac

no doctor would support me trying after 3 c-sections

and i won't question it after this

but i have to feel like i've given it my all

and i'm doing surprisingly well physically 

so even if my c-section is only rescheduled a day or two

or three

i will feel better about that

than having her wednesday

when that may be premature

come on labor!

depressing

my march baby 

apparently isn't a march baby

and i am now six days overdue

i'm pretty sure she'll be born via c-section wednesday

because she just does not seem to be coming any other way

ho hum

i will be pleasantly surprised if i happen to go into labor

before wednesday

but it definitely isn't happening yet

and i'll admit

i'm getting more and more grumpy

every morning that i wake up still pregnant