Ella Joy has Arrived!!

Yesterday will be a day to always remember for Tim and I, the day that our daughter Ella Joy made her appearance, finally. We got to the hospital around 7:30am to start the induction process. Around 8:30am Dr. Epperson broke my water and started the pitocin. At 9am I started back labor, I made it until 11am with no pain meds, but the back labor was so intense and no stopping in between contractions so I decided to do an epidural since I had to be monitored anyway. I loved the epidural man, the doctor became my new favorite person in the whole world. :) With 5 minutes I was pain free and able to relax for an hour. The nurse checked me and I was at 4cm at 11:30am. Then I started to feel the pressure of contractions around 12:30pm, then I got checked again at 2:00pm and to our surprise I was 9 1/2cm and ready to push. Tim was a great support system for me through the labor process. At 3:14pm Ella made her appearance. I had no idea but her cord was around her neck which was causing her heart rate to lower after each contraction, but I pushed her out in such a short time that no other measures were needed. Also she did have her first bowel movement in the womb so they wanted to make sure they got all of it out of her system. Ella was great. She was 21 inches long and 7lbs.5oz and her lung function was amazing. Her apgar score was 7/9 out of 10. We do have to take her to get a small skin tag removed from her left ear. It is very common that babies have them and Dr. Biebel said that a plastic surgeon can remove it and it will not leave a scare at all. To a mom, that is music to my ears. Yesterday she maybe slept for a hour the whole day(Tim and I were nervous), but today she sleeping a normal amount and feeding well. Mom and baby are doing great and can't wait to get home. Here are some pictures of her.

Look at those long feet and toes. She has daddy's dry feet:)

Here is Tim Jr. As of right now the only thing she has of mine is her light eyes(which can change) and one little dimple.

Daddy giving Ella nose kisses. She is a daddy's girl already.

She loves to suckle on everything, her blanket, her fingers, and her binkie.

I will post more pictures of all the visitors, soon.

Love,

The Blaha Family