Ellie's photo shoot

Ellie had her pictures done by one of my good friends from high school. She did an amazing job and I love all the pictures she took of my little girl. Had some really good shots of Shane and Owen with Ellie. Here they are;

2 weeks old

Ellie had her two week check up this week. She gained 9 oz and now weighs 8 lbs. She is in the 50th percentile for her weight. I have a feeling that she will definitely be my fatty baby with rolls and all. She has also grown in length as well. She is a very healthy baby and all is going well with her.

It definitely has been an adjustment to having two kids. Owen wants to always be in her face, but he is very caring and loving towards his sister. He doesn't want to go to daycare either. He just wants to stay home with me and Ellie. But I have made him go to keep him on his schedule. Need to still have a routine or it will be that much harder when I go back to work at the end of August.

I forgot to mention that Shane has passed his NCLEX exam. He is now a licensed LPN. It has been such a blessing to get through this first year of nursing school. One more to go and he will have his RN and bachelors degree. Can't believe we are almost done with school. It will be so nice when it is all finished. YAY!!!!!

Days at home

Everything has gone really well since we have been home. We were released from the hospital Thursday at noon. Got home and Ellie just wanted to sleep. She was done really well with feeding. I am so happy that breast feeding is going really well. She has been a really quiet baby as well. She doesn't really make any noises. I have actually had to wake her up to fed her. She is sleeping at least 3-4 hours and then we fed. I have loved having Ellie here and she has been so a joy.

Owen has been really protective of his sister. It has been fun to watch him with her. He always wants to hold her and give her tons of kisses. The older boys have loved to hold her as well. It was been really nice to have Ellie out and see how all the boys have reacted to her. Shane has been especially sweet. I love watching him with her.

Sooooo Sweet!

Look at my hands

Dallin and Ellie taking a rest on the Love Sac

Nap time for everyone

First tubby tub

Ellie Lynn

So, I should of posted something like last week about the birth of our daughter but it has been busy and many things to do.

My last day of work was the 21st of May. I had planned on taking the last week off because I didn't want anything to happen if I was down in SLC. My last appt on the 19th, I wasn't even dilated. My Dr. said he would of started me on the 24th, but since the baby was still sitting too high he didn't want to take the chance of me ending up having a c-section. So I had another appt schedule for the 26th to see if I had made any progress.

Over the weekend I walked and walked and walked. Wanted to get her to drop and make something happen. I had been having contractions, but nothing close enough. Monday I woke up and thought it was going to be the day since my contractions were a little closer. We went to the mall and walked tons. Shane made me take the stairs over and over to see if that would help. Nothing happened.

Tuesday morning I woke up about 5 am with back contractions and I thought that was really weird. Never had that with Owen so it was a new experience. Got up and started to get things done around the house. My contractions kept coming and getting closer. I started to pack a bag and Shane asked me if it was going to be today. I told him that I thought it was because I never felt that way before.

Shane was cleaning Dallin's room and I was trying to get things together for Owen and me so that we would be ready to go. I think Shane was stalling on purpose because he wanted to make sure I was for real. My contractions were getting more intense as the time went on. Kept asking Shane is he was ready to go, but again he thought he was being funny. Said that he still wanted to mow the lawn and had a couple of other things to do.

I finally looked at him and said Shane Andrew we need to go. He finally agreed and we headed for the hospital. Got up there about 11 am and they were pretty busy up there. I was taken back into a room and had to put on the gown and get hooked up all the fun monitors. When my nurse came in she checked me and I was dilated to a 2 1/2. I was so excited to finally be dilated. They kept me there to see if I was going to progress to be admitted. In 45 minutes I was checked again and I was at a 4 1/2. My contractions were more intense at this point and I didn't know how much more I could handle.

At that point my nurse had moved me into a suite, which is where I would be to have the baby. I was able to get an epidural and I was dilated a little past a 5. Once I got my epidural I was pain free and I felt really good. My contractions were getting harder but I couldn't feel a thing. Soon after my water broke and it was time to have a baby.

Shane was able to deliver the baby and participate with a lot of the procedures since our nurse was really cool. It was a great experience for all of us. It was time to start pushing and everyone was able to stay in the room to experience the birth of our baby. My mom, Dallin, Stephen, Owen, Shannon and Alyssa were all in the room. I had the older boys up by my head so they couldn't see anything they shouldn't. It was just nice to have them all there to share in this moment.

I think I may of pushed like 5 times and she was out. Ellie Lynn Archibald was born at 3:50 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. She was a healthy little girl and everything went really well with the delivery. Here are some of the pictures that Dallin took of the birth;