Ellery's Nursery Tour

we have been so very busy enjoying our sweet girl! we can hardly believe she's finally here - it seems like such a long time ago that she was in my belly and we were counting down the days until we would meet her!

we've taken about a million pictures. we sit around for hours and just stare at her. we have been "initiated" into parenthood (several times) by ellery - by getting peed on pooped on :) but even when she does that, she's so stinkin' adorable. kyle and i are both definitely in love.

so as we sort through all the pictures, and get them up on the blog, we thought you would enjoy a little tour of ellery's nursery! we actually made this as i went into labor, and i was having contractions at home. it was a great distraction :) but it is also a bit long - 7 minutes - so i don't blame you if you don't watch it all! but you get a peak at her whole room and the background stories behind a lot of pieces in the room.

hope you enjoy you enjoy our sweet girl's room as much as the three of us do!





(if video is not working, please check it out here)

she's here!

it wasn't much longer after i wrote the last post that we got down to business to get this baby into the world! at about 4:30am, it was time to start pushing. what's funny is kyle told me while i was pregnant that he always imagined me with pigtails while i was giving birth. so i quickly re-did my hair and put in my contacts, and was ready to go!

telling my mom, it's time to get this little girl out here!!

pigtails... check!

our last picture of just the two of us!

our nurse, barbara (who i loved!), had me push a few times, and ellery's head quickly scooted on down! again, we thought this wasn't going to take long at all! barbara called dr. mccann to tell him it was go-time, and he was soon in the room.

so things didn't go as quickly as we had hoped... it was pretty slow-going. what was nice was even with the epidural, i was still able to feel when contractions were coming and when i should push. but being like her momma, ellery just needed a little bit more time to get ready before she made her big debut :) . after quite a bit of pushing, contractions starting picking up to every 2 minutes, and we soon were able to see our little daughter had a full head of hair! she also kept dr, mccaan laughing because through the whole pushing process, she was a little wiggle worm. i guess most babies stay put and don't move a lot, but ellery must have been doing a happy dance, knowing she was finally going to meet us, too! :) i also remember doing this, but kyle thought it was hilarious - as i would push, i would look up at kyle, and every once in a while, wink at him. in my mind, i wanted him to know i was still doing great, and i was just so excited this all was happening! i guess kyle initially thought i had a twitch, then when he found out i was intentionally doing it, he just laughed :)

soon, contractions started to get even closer together and i was working a lot harder... before, between contractions, me kyle barbara and dr. mccann would casually talk and laugh. like i said, truly enjoy and take in the moment. but as the contractions got closer together, i was almost falling asleep between them because i was just tired. i remember kyle & dr. mccann were "doctor-talking," discussing residency, life as a doctor, etc. i really tried to stay apart of the conversation, with the occasional, "uh huh" and "yeah," but really, i had no idea what they were talking about...

finally, at about 7:05am (after 2 1/2 hours of some serious pushing!) dr. mccann said only a few more pushes and he would break down the bed to prepare for ellery to make her way out. well, i meant business people, and with one more push, our sweet girl's head was almost out! dr. mccann & the nurses freaked out and quickly got ready for this baby to be out just seconds later. at this point, i just couldn't stop pushing! and moments later, at 7:08am, our sweet ellery annabelle was welcomed into the world...

ellery annabelle morgan

born november 28, 2011 at 7:08 am

7pounds 6 ounces 20.5 inches

as she came out, dr. mccann greeted her with the words, "oh she's a cutie. and she's got a little meconium popping out!" a little poop and all, our little girl was such a cutie :) and a trooper - she cried for a few seconds, and that was it. her coloring was absolutely beautiful. and her little head was only slightly misshapen, even after 2 1/2 hours of pushing. and as they put ellery on my chest, we snuggled together and she latched on right away (a huge answered prayer - we had prayed a lot about breastfeeding the last trimester of our pregnancy).

i'm sure most woman who have birthed a child feel this way, but it was such an amazing, surreal experience. one we waited over 9 months for. an experience that i actually loved, even if it was painful. it was absolutely worth is. it all seemed to happen in an instant - there, finally, was our little girl. a little piece of me and a little piece of kyle. so absolutely in awe. so very nice to finally meet you, ellery. our sweet girl.

she's on her way!!

it all started at the grocery store.... with my maternity pants almost falling off (major problem when your maternity pants are too small for your big belly!!), i wandered the aisle feeling pain in my lower abdomen. i shuffled out, holding my pants & groceries and hurried home.

that was about 1pm. the pain kept on coming, but no contractions. that all changed about 4-4:30. I got contractions with the pain, what a fun combo!! kyle and i were both filled with a nervous excitement... could this be labor? is our sweet girl ready to come out?

so, i did what any normal person would do... i started wrapping christmas presents. k had already put up the lights earlier that day. the tree was up & jackie was quietly asleep....

then the contractions started getting stronger and closer together - like crazy close, 2 1/2 minutes close. so i got a little freaked out. we called the doctor. he said we could wait it out or head to the hospital, but with them being so close, he leaned more toward going to the hospital to see how far along i was. so i told kyle it may be time to hit the road.

we were also supposed to have young life girls over for cabin time/Bible study. up until talked to dr. mccann i was all about still having them over, and having another leader do all the talking. but i soon realized these girls may get more than they bargained for if they came over... but what was fun was they all met at our place, then headed to another house to meet. i loved seeing them & just being encouraged by such beautiful ladies!

so... k and i went around the house picking up last minute things, making the bed, cleaning up wrapping paper. and i realized the contractions were further apart, though just as strong. i started to feel like i could stay home a bit more. we called the dr. and set out on an adventure of birthing pain relief techniques.

we said lots of prayers. i got in the bath tub - which was so great. kyle sat beside me in the bathroom and we talked. still wondering is this real labor?? he read me one of ellery's books - counting kisses - so sweet. then we laid down on the bed, which was nice but then i started to get stronger contractions and wasn't sure what to do for them. i feel like i squeezed kyle's hand so tight. i pulled on his fingers and arms. i just squirmed a lot. and i started to get a little nervous, thinking maybe we should have gone to the hospital a bi earlier. then, it was 10pm, so it had been about 5 1/2 hours since the contractions started. i told k i thought i was time... and as i attempted to throw last minute items in my bag, i had to stop every few minutes, call for kyle and basically bear hug him, hanging from his neck, until the contraction stopped. i thought we were never going to make it outta there!

finally we were all loaded up on our way to the hospital. i called & talked to my mom, which was so comforting. i only had 2 contractions in the car. once at the hospital & standing at admitting, i had several contractions that were pretty stinkin strong...

we went up to the birthing floor & we were lead to our room - the room that while we were on our tour, we were told it was the biggest & had the best view, thanks Lord for that little blessing :) they checked me - 5 cm!! they said that it normally takes the longest to get to that point, and were impressed i got to that point at home. again, thanks God, and kyle too!! At that point the contractions were picking up intensity. i could breath through them ok. but they were just uncomfortable...

so at that point i decided to get an epidural. it didnt take long for them to get me my fluids and soon the anesthesiologist was here. k asked if he could watch and the doctor was nice enough to let him. our sweet nurse barbara stayed with me while the "doctors" gave me a perfect epidural! i still feel the contractions and my legs - just feels like pressure instead of pain. i felt comfy, and so happy and excited i could fully focus on the fact that our sweet girl would be here oh so soon. i love the fact that i'm sitting here writing this, with kyle snoozing in a chair to my right, talking to ellery and i can feel her respond with a little kick or nudge. see you soon baby girl!

as of right now, 4:12am, i am 8cm and already feeling a decent amount of pressure to get pushing soon. our nurse thinks i won't be pushing long because ellery's head is so low. in awe of all of this, the amazing moments already created today and that sweet memory we will have of first holding our daughter. so amazing....

preggo update: 9 months

nine months!! can you believe it! it is hard to imagine sweet ellery will be here so soon, but we are just about ready for her. a last few purchases of diapers and wipes and this little girl's home is all set for her arrival!

many people have been asking lately, "wait, you're nine months? so why is your due date not until december 2nd?" well, what a lot of people don't know is the medical world plays a trick on you. you sneaky doctors. pregnancy isn't just 36 weeks, it goes all the way to 40 weeks. so, as of November 4th, i was 9 months along, but i could still be pregnant at 10 months, or even past that! (which is very common for first pregnancies). though now that i am 37 weeks pregnant, i am considered full-term and ellery is good to come out now whenever she's ready! (though she seems to be having a lot of fun in there pushing and squirming around. i'm sure she'll be a little sad to leave her cozy little home that's getting even smaller by the day!)

this past monday we went to the doctor for our check-up. now we'll be going in once a week until i go into labor. at this last appointment, the doctor checked me and i was 50% effaced and 1cm dilated! it was so exciting to know that the process is starting for ellery to be here! and though i am dilated, it could still be all the way to or past my due date until i'm ready for labor. or it could happen quickly (a lot of family members have guessed a thanksgiving baby!) ideally, dr. mccann said i would want to come in each week and be one more cm dilated. but you never know what will happen!

also, as dr. mccann was checking her heartbeat, i had a contraction! in my weekly email updates, it would say my contractions should be a bit stronger now... well, until that point i hadn't felt any contractions, so i wondered when they would start happening. little did i know, i was having them but couldn't feel them at all! when he told me i was having one, i thought it was just baby girl pushing out her bottom really hard :) he said that is what could have started it, but then the whole uterus contracted, making my whole belly harder. i have noticed several since but don't have any pain or discomfort associated with them!

other than that, i have been in total nesting/get things ready mode. every day, kyle comes home and a new drawer is cleaned out or something is moved around in the nursery. he always says he wishes he could harness my nesting powers and save them up for when i'm not pregnant! but he has been a HUGE help lately, especially with "handy man" projects around the nursery. (just you wait... the nursery post is coming up next. we're excited to show you how it turned out!!) it's been fun getting the last minute stuff ready together - freezing dinners, deciding on cloth vs disposable diapers (i think we'll start off doing both, then ease into the whole cloth diapering world), packing our bags for the hospital, coming up with a birth plan and filling out ellery's form for her birth certificate. we even have the car seat installed in my car. all we need is this little girl!

i have loved being pregnant, and i really think in some ways i will miss it. though, i know i will quickly learn nothing will compare to having ellery in our arms! the past nine months have been filled with so many sweet moments, so i wanted to leave you with one that happened last week:

as we were leaving our last doctor's appointment, we were talking about how excited and somewhat surprised we were that i was dilated, even just a little bit. kyle looked at me and said, "to know that we're going to actually have a baby soon, to imagine ellery here with us, it just makes my heart flutter. i'm so excited!"

me too hubby.

showered in love: part 3

call us crazy, but a few days shy of being 9 month pregnant, kyle and i hopped in the car and drove out to ohio for our last baby shower. (i was just a little nervous about going into labor and having baby girl along the way, but our doctor checked me out before i went and said, though he can't make any guarantees, i should be good to go!)

but the trip was so worth it... i hadn't been to ohio or seen my family (other than my mom & grandparents from florida) my entire pregnancy! and though i'm sure my brother would have survived, i always just thought, this is such a big time in my life and matt hasn't even seen my big baby belly! it was a totally last minute trip, just planned a week or two in advance. it was a long drive (9 hours there with the time change!) we didn't even leave milwaukee until 9pm (we did sneak in a stop at kyle's parent's house, which was great!) but like i said, so worth it...

i am so so very thankful that most of the family was able to get together (we missed those that weren't!) i'm so grateful to my mom for opening up her home to hosting everyone and making yummy food, all last minute. THANK YOU momma! once again, we just felt loved surrounded by family. we were showered in gifts and well wishes. and we just got to relax and "be" with everyone. i loved it. kyle even got to sneak in some football-watching (yeah ohio state!) i'll always look back on that crazy last minute trip and smile. so happy we went. and so happy ellery got to take her first trip to ohio!

thank you mom! love you :)

matt, jess, ethan & landon!

had to do a silly face one... kyle definitely got the memo, i didn't

uncle dan (missed you ann marie!)

april, mikaela, uncle doug, and colton

grandma judy, aunt beth & aunt karen

opening gifts for our sweet girl!

thank you jess for the super cute (and yummy!) cupcakes :)

too cute not too add in... i told ethan to make the silliest face he has ever made.

this is what he came up with :)

Christmas Cards

hey all! taking a little baby-posting break to tell you about a little company called Tiny Prints. they are doing an awesome offer right now for bloggers to get free Christmas cards (or maybe birth announcements :) if you know of anyone have a baby around the holidays...) and all i have to do is tell all of you fine folks about them. If any of you are bloggers and would be interested in doing this offer too, let me know!

i'd always heard of Tiny Prints and thought their designs were super cute - a bit more modern and colorful than other design-your-own card sites i had used in the past. as you can see in the picture above, they have cards in all shapes & sizes - rounded edges, folded, big, small - making them stand out from other Christmas cards. then as i started looking at some of their holiday cards, i saw some were birth announcements and Christmas card all-in-one. love it. i mean, how cute is this:

i would definitely recommend checking them out. just click here and you can see their entire holiday collection. Christmas is by far my favorite holiday, and i love that our sweet girl will be born right before, making this Christmas more joyful than any in the past!

showered in love: part 2

the very next weekend after the milwaukee girlfriends' shower, we attended our second baby shower. this one was a couple's shower in the chicago suburbs with kyle's family. kyle was pretty excited he got to attend, too! the months leading up to the shower, we would get excited phone calls from kyle's mom telling us how she just couldn't wait for the shower! she and her friend jo, as well as aunt eileen, keri, and grandmere, were kept very busy planning all the details to celebrate sweet ellery. and let me tell you, they went all out! there wasn't one detail they didn't think of, from pink touches on everything, cute baby-themed food and labels, to the perfect activity for guests - making cute fabric hoops to decorate baby e's nursery (we're hanging them up this weekend - almost like the finishing touches on the room!) kyle and i even decided to join in on the fun and planned a game to play - yes, the one where everyone got a bag of letters to spell out baby girl's name - ellery!

i can't tell you how loved kyle and i felt by everything and everyone that was there! it was such a joyful event, filled with so so much love. and everything was just cute (or cutes as i say), which i just adored. so much delicious food! the cutest favors - "she's ready to pop" popcorn bags and homemade caramel apples. an amazing 5-tier diaper cake! (i could go on and on, but there are too many things to mention - be sure to see the slideshow below!) we can't imagine all the time and resources that went into planning everything, all for this little girl that no one has even met yet (though we are anxiously awaiting that day she is here!)

a big THANK YOU to everyone who came to the shower, showered us in love, and helped to make it so special, especially to our amazing hostesses - Mom, Aunt Eileen, Grandmere, Jo and Keri. everything was just perfect. we appreciate every single little thing done. and i love that my mom was even able to come from ohio! we are incredibly blessed by each person who was there and we are beyond thankful that such beautiful women are going to be in ellery's life! she is so loved already!

enjoy a slideshow from the shower. oh, and i am really hoping one of my girlfriends has a baby girl - i have the inspiration for one beautiful shower! :)

(incase the slideshow isn't working, check out the pictures here)

showered in love: part 1

the month of october... kyle and i felt so very loved. we had a total of three baby showers and each one made us just giddy for when ellery is here. and at each one, we were amazed at the outpouring of love, generosity, and joy of our friends and family. we can't thank you all enough for making us feel so celebrated and loved, all for a little girl no one has even met!

our first shower was the "milwaukee girlfriend shower" - all who attended were amazing women that i have met since moving to milwaukee. some were from small group, or young life, or friends we've been introduced to by others. sitting around with all of them, it was as if i could see right in front of me so many ways God has blessed kyle & i since bringing us to wisconsin - i count each of their friendships as such amazing blessings in my life! and i'm so excited to have these special ladies as influences in ellery's life, too.

katie opened up her home & hosted the shower. actually, katie & jonathan open up their home to us every week to host small group. but for this particular occasion, their place looked a but more "girly" than usual :) katie decorated with super cute pink & purple flower poufs hanging from the ceiling. she also made such amazing, yummy food - homemade guacamole, giant cupcakes, parfaits... and one of my favs, her very own recipe for chai tea! basically, she spoiled me and ellery, and we are both so very very grateful. THANK YOU KATIE! :)

i love that we just got to hang out. relax. get to know each other more. talk babies. open sweet gifts. we even went outside to soak up some sunshine and carve "baby" pumpkins. too cute. it was just such a fun, beautiful afternoon. i thank God for these amazing woman He has blessed me with, so thankful for each of them & for showering the morgan family in so much love!