Ella Rose

On November 16th we finally welcomed our beautiful daughter Ella Rose Poulsen! Though she was due on Nov 6th, she must have just been too comfortable in my tummy because this little lady did NOT want to come out. I tried pretty much every labor induction trick out there: walking, spicy food, lemon, pineapple, red raspberry leaf tea, sex, evening primrose oil, getting my membranes stripped, castor oil...and while I did have contractions on and off for over a week they just never progressed into active labor. 
So on Nov 15th I was admitted for an induction and after a grueling, painful, traumatic 20 hours of labor (thanks in part to a failed epidural), and one and half hours of pushing, our daughter made her grand entrance on Nov 16th at 12:32pm, a full 10 days past her due date!

She weighed 7lbs 7oz, was 19 and 3/4inches long and boasted an impressive head circumference in the 95th percentile--which caused mom three 3rd degree tears, ouch!

This post is so late in coming, because while Ella is sweet and beautiful and precious, she has also been very challenging, tiring, and difficult. We have had lots of feeding issues, in the beginning Ella was unable to latch thanks to a tongue tie which was snipped when she was just 10 days old, and we've also been dealing with a little reflux which makes for very fussy feedings and sometimes fussy hours after a feeding and very restless sleeping. And thanks to my severe tearing, my recovery has also been very slow and painful. At 3+ weeks out from delivery I can still only stand/walk for about 20mins before it gets very painful, luckily just in the last few days sitting has become more comfortable.

However, despite all the challenges we are very grateful for our darling daughter and the opportunity we have to be her parents, and here are some pictures from Ella's first 3 weeks!

*These pictures are out of order, since blogger makes it so difficult to move them around

25 Days Old

She loves cuddling with Daddy

But she also loves mommy:)

One Week Old

Hanging with her new bunny friend--thanks Lace!

This was at the beginning of my induction--I wasn't smiling for long... 

Shortly after Ella was born

Snug like a bug:)

Daddy and Daughter

5 Days Old

Smiley Girl:)

8 Days Old

First Bath--she loved it! Never cried, just relaxed in the warm water.

Mommy and Ella on Thanksgiving Day

10 Days Old

First Family Photo

Uncle Chris and Aunt Amanda loved snuggling with their new niece

Thanksgiving weekend with Liz's Family

Ella and Grandma Poulsen hanging out

Ella napping on Grandpa Poulsen

Grandma Jenson was a HUGE help to us that first week home from the hospital
and Ella loved having her there!

24 Days Old

And all bundled up for the cold Galveston weather

40 Weeks Pregnant / When Does This End??

 Well, today's the day. The day we've been counting down to almost all year. My due date! It's finally here! ahhhnnnd no baby. It's okay, I never expected her to come early. But now that I'm full, full term, it's time. I'm getting antsy and excited and impatient and even bigger, and swollen and people are calling and texting to see if I have had that baby YET and everywhere I go strangers are commenting and asking me when I'm due and saying I'm about to burst...and this JUST NEEDS TO END NOW!

At 40 Weeks Pregnant:

The Good:
- I cannot stress enough how much better I am feeling now that I'm taking iron supplements! I have gotten more done in the past 3 weeks, than in the past 4 months, even though I am getting bigger and more uncomfortable by the day I just have so much more energy!
-NESTING!! It's a good thing I have all that energy because I have been cleaning and organizing like crazy around here! It's awesome. If vacuuming and doing laundry and going up and down my stairs and cleaning bathrooms would put me into labor, then I would've had this baby days ago!
-Also I had a GREAT birthday week last week! I guess it started the Friday before with a fun date where we made caramel apples, then Saturday we had our ward Halloween party, I hung out with friends pretty much every day during the day and Wednesday a bunch of us decorated Halloween cookies. Wednesday night our good friends had us over for a delicious dinner where we got to play with their new puppy! Thursday/Halloween/My Birthday Kyle made me a yummy breakfast and we watched a couple episodes of one of my birthday presents, the 6th season of the big bang theory! Then, I went out to lunch with a bunch of my friends, lunch was a ton of fun and I am just so thankful for the great friends I've made since moving here:) And that night we went to a Halloween party hosted by more of our friends and had a great time there!

This was at our Ward Party.
You can't see the bottom of Kyle's shirt, but he has a hamburger and chicken wing:)
And I have a very happy skeleton baby!

Our good friends Sean and Carlee showed up wearing almost the exact same costumes haha,
except they wore theirs to announce their pregnancy, so exciting!!

The Bad:
- Sleeping really sucks. I hate going to bed right now, I just always feel so uncomfortable in bed, no matter how many pillows or different positions I try and I don't sleep well and I just always want the night to be over already so I can get outta there!
- Oh also, my feet are definitely swelling now. And it's getting worse every day. Whenever I take my sandals off now I can always see the straps imprint on my feet:( And sometimes even my new ring bling feels too tight!
- My life is kinda at a stand still right now, I really can't make any plans or think ahead much. Now that my due date is here, every day is just waiting around, hoping something happens sometime soon.
- Overall, I'm just feeling really big and uncomfortable, and things hurt, like my back, and my feet, and all my inside organs that my baby likes to push against, and the magical journey that has been my pregnancy just needs to end now. Have I said that enough yet? But I am still happy these days, and getting very excited to meet my daughter!

Last Week at my Dr Appt, my Dr said I had a cervix of steel haha, this week i was dilated to a 1, so things are slowly happening, however I will be induced sometime next week if Baby doesn't exit on her own soon, so send good thoughts, vibes, and prayers my way over the next few days!

Oh and I couldn't resist taking a couple more belly shots, scroll down if you dare!

38 Weeks Pregnant + Ma Big Bare Behlly

At 38 weeks pregnant every time I look in the mirror I'm always a little shocked at just how big I am! This belly is getting out of control! I always forget how far it sticks out now and when I go to open a door or a cupboard I don't leave enough room and I always hit myself in the stomach. A lot of my maternity shirts are starting to get just a little too short, and my belly button has completely popped!

The Good:
- I have so much more energy and feel so much better now, and I mean just in the last few days!
Reason: At my 36 week blood work they discovered that I was anemic and in looking back at my old blood work we realized I'd been anemic for a while, probably since about halfway through my pregnancy, which explains why I always felt so drained and exhausted and had no energy ever. So I began taking iron supplements about 2 weeks ago and just in the last 6 days or so I've really begun to feel so much better! Yay! Too bad we didn't discover that earlier...
- Since I have so much more energy I've gotten a lot done in the past week, we pretty much have everything now, all her clothes are washed and put away, things are unpacked and sorted, whenever she decides to arrive I'm finally ready for her!
- It's almost over. 13 days till d-day...
-I don't weigh as much as Kyle. Yet. Close, really close but I might just make it to the end without catching up with him.

The Bad:
- I feel so much better this week that it's hard to really complain, but when you get this big you can't expect to feel too comfortable so:
- Sciatica pain has gotten a lot worse lately
- My feet continue to KILLLL
- Back Pain is getting worse
- I am so hungryyy

Ma Big Behlly:
-I think its pretty cool/a little scary how much my stomach has grown and stretched over the last 9 months so I decided to document what it looks like before this baby shows up!
-In the closer up picture you can really see how vein-y it is, especially around my belly button where the skin is thinner you can see a ton of veins, it almost looks like bruising.

Warning: Bare Belly Shots Below!

36 Weeks + New Bling on My Ring Fing

Remember how last time I posted I said that I hadn't had any swelling and could still wear my wedding ring? Ha, well that's over! In fact the very next day after that post I started to notice my ring feeling just a little tight and uncomfortable and about a week later it was off for good. I had to jam it on my finger for my maternity pictures! But a trip to Macy's and $15 bucks later I've got some new bling--and I'm loving it! It's just so big and sparkly!

In other news, I'm in the home stretch now! Only 4 weeks or so to go! Although I've had a few friends and a sister-in-law who naturally went into labor and gave birth at 37 weeks, so I could have a baby as early as next week--eek! But probably not, so I'm not getting my hopes up:)

36 Weeks Pregnant!!

The Good:
- While my fingers have decided to turn into sausages, I still have not had any swelling in my legs or feet. Of course because I typed that they'll probably start swelling tmrw...
- We had our Dr. Appt yesterday and everything's looking great, good blood pressure, baby is head down, good heart beat, and when my OB was prodding and poking my baby she said that "she's a small baby" which is good news for me because smaller babies are a lot easier to push out! Of course at this point baby is suppose to be putting on 1/2 a pound every week, so depending on when she decides to come she may not be so small anymore.
- Since I'm now pretty big and obviously pregnant, I feel like people in general are nicer and friendlier to me, which is really nice:)
-We had a cold front move in on Sunday and the temperature actually dropped into the 70s!! It was glorious, we opened our windows and went for a walk during the day. This pregnant girl was in heaven!

The Bad:
-I'm still so tired and exhausted all the time
-and it doesn't help that at this point sleep sucks. It's so hard to get comfortable and fall asleep, and then I wake up either because I'm uncomfortable or I have to pee, and then I can't get back to sleep.
- It's often very uncomfortable to walk, it feel likes there's a bowling ball in my stomach that's pushing out and down at the same time.
-my feet kill. this one has gotten really bad lately. I'll stand in my kitchen making dinner or something and within 5-7 minutes my feet will hurt and ache so bad that i have to sit down, same thing in the shower I can only last on that hard surface for a few minutes before it just hurts too bad! Kyle has been great though and has been giving me foot rubs lately:)
-back pain. and stomach pain = growing pains and indigestion and important organs that are being squished/kicked.
-I get dizzy and see spots really bad if I move too much or too fast, or get too hot, or get up too fast.
-also i still have heartburn, acid reflux, and hormones that make me cry easily.

Cravings
-food.
-all food. I am SO hungry all the time now. I always can and want to eat. and just about everything sounds good.
-also if I don't eat regularly or enough I'll start to feel really sick and dizzy/light-headed.
-I'm especially enjoying spicy food right now, lately I've made some spicier chili, curry and fajitas and I loved it, even though it gave me heart burn and I knew it would, they were worth it!
-also ice cream. and fruit. and salads. and beans, and lentils, and cheese, and cereal, and cookies and bread and pancakes and eggs and i think you get the point. i love food right now.

I think that's about it. Overall I feel fine. Not great, but not too bad usually. My goal for this week is to finally decide on and buy/order all the baby things I've been procrastinating on like: crib mattress, changing pad, diapers, diaper pail, diaper bag, baby creams and such, nursing bras and nursing equipment and bottles, and baby detergent so I can finally wash all her clothes, sheets, and blankets, whew! That way I can be all ready for baby girl just in case she decides to come early!

For some reason I thought it'd be fun to get a front view too, but with the shirt i'm wearing you cant really see anything from the front. 

maternity shoot

My friend Sarah took some maternity pictures of me, and they turned out so cute! Of course we had to take advantage of the beach, because how often are you gonna live across the street from one?!

But I also love the simple photos taken in my apartment. Especially the ones with some of my baby girl's clothes, because I really will just go in her room, and look at and hold her clothes and imagine what it'll be like once she's here.

Thanks again Sarah!
Here's a few of my favorites: