Starting All Over Again

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't anxious about welcoming another tiny human being into the world. It makes no difference that I had an entire 9 months to prepare for this endeavor, the nerves were still always there, and they were very, very real.

The fear of going to labor with my second child was unavoidable, and yet it was significantly different than the fear I felt upon nearing the end of my first pregnancy with Max. This time around, it involved a whole new set of worries.

 Will labor be different this time? How will I balance caring for 2? How will I handle being away from Max overnight for the first time during my hospital stay? Will I be fortunate enough to have another great delivery? Will I ever get to sleep again?

Well, you can't fight the inevitable, and on Wednesday April 23, 2014, the inevitable finally occurred. At 3:51 PM, after being induced that morning due to pregnancy-related kidney stone issues, we welcomed our sweet Ella Rose into the world. Weighing in at 7 pounds 15 ounces, and measuring 20.5 inches long, she made her debut with a gorgeous head full of thick dark brown hair, and a high pitched cry that screamed, "I am 100% girl!".

The induction process was new to me. I had no idea what to expect, what it entailed, or how long the whole procedure would take. Much to my surprise, God once again blessed me with an amazing, and shockingly enjoyable labor process.

My induction began at around 8 AM. I only was given the lowest dose of Pitocin, and never needed more. My body responded instantly, like a seasoned professional; and before I knew it, even though I had had an epidural, I began to feel my contractions intensifying later that afternoon.

Upon leaving the operating room, after performing a c-section for another mom-to-be, my doctor noticed this progress on the monitor and came to my room to check on me. Just like that, I was 10 centimeters dilated, and it was go time.

I almost rolled off the bed, when I heard him call for the nurses, and the words, "we're going to be delivering a baby in the next 5-10 minutes" were uttered. It was a shock to both Mike and myself. With Max, I had only pushed for about 45 minutes, but 5 or 10... I didn't even believe that was possible.

Before I knew it, I was surrounded by nurses and resident doctors. Per their recommendation, I attempted a "practice push" which evidently was enough to get the ball rolling, because I was very quickly told to "STOP!". 

3 pushes later, and Ella was placed on my chest. I watched in awe as Mike cut the umbilical cord. Everything had happened so fast that it didn't even seem real, but just like that, I had become a mother of 2,  and the overwhelming feeling of love and joy filled every part of me. All of the anxiety and fear was gone. She was absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way, and as I held her, I was instantly brought back to how I felt when Max was placed in my arms for the very first time.

The first time Max met his baby sister was amazing, and being united as a family of four suddenly became the greatest moment of my life thus far. Having just learned how to say her name, Max proudly yelled out, "baby", and then, "Ella, Ella, Ella!", and it hasn't stopped since. He is so gentle with her, rubbing her hair, kissing her forehead, and he expresses genuine concern when he hears her cry. Though there was never a doubt in my mind that my sweet boy would be a fabulous big brother, seeing that relationship come to life with my own eyes has been nothing less than magical.

As we adjust to this new family dynamic, I have every intention of sharing more, but for now I am enjoying every moment and taking it all in. As we all know, this time is very precious, but I couldn't wait to share the news of baby Ella's arrival with all of you. More to come...

-J

*** my apologies for the mobile photos, but as you can imagine, things have been a bit hectic around here lately.

Tu... Tu... Tutorial

So, I've been doing some research lately on Pinterest to get ideas for a newborn photo shoot.  When I gave birth to Max, we were bombarded shortly after with the opportunity to have photos taken by Bella Baby Photography during our hospital stay.  Though the pictures were beautiful, they cost an arm and a leg considering the shoot lasted all of about 10 minutes total.  

During Max's first year of life I tried so hard to capture every sweet moment, albeit on my iPhone... but as he became more and more mobile, I realized that the quality of the photos I was taking began to get worse and worse.

After a little saving, and pleading with my husband, I finally purchased a really nice camera.

Truth be told, I am certainly not a professional photographer. My skills are novice at best, but the more I play around with my camera, the more comfortable I feel with it, and the results are starting to show.

I have decided, that when baby number 2 arrives, I really want to take things into my own hands. I feel confident that with the combination of good equipment, some editing, and lots of research on the subject, the results will be something that I will be satisfied with... If not, I will hang my head in shame, and hire someone else to do the job.

Considering the fact that I do have pretty abundant faith in my crafting/DIY abilities, I have been taking some time lately to focus on newborn photo shoot props.

I have seen some photos I really like with sweet slumbering infants wearing tutus and dainty floral headbands (I'll save that for another post), so I decided that with the hundreds of thousands of tutorials available online, it couldn't be that hard to make a DIY tutu... Boy was I right.

I almost feel silly calling this a tutorial, because these tutus are really that easy to make, but I thought I'd share how I adapted things on my own from the several tutorials I read via Pinterest.

For starters, I found the rolls of tulle at Joann Fabrics for a couple of dollars each.  They come in a wide variety of colors, which makes me feel like there might just be more tutus to come for us in the future. I bought the pink coordinating roll of ribbon, because I thought adding a bow to my tutu would be a cute addition. I already had some elastic waistband on hand from making pajama pants for Max.  I believe it is a 1/2 inch in width.
From there, I cut the elastic band.  From the research I did, 15 inches in length should fit a newborn waist, but I cut my piece to be 16 inches long to allow for the overlap where I would be sewing it together.
I used my sewing machine to sew the elastic into a loop, but this could honestly be done by hand.
Then I began cutting my tulle into strips. I made each of my strips 20 inches in length.  I wasn't sure exactly how many strips I would need, so I just kept cutting, and once I began tying them on to the elastic, if it looked like I needed more, then I simply cut more. I want to say I used about 12 strips of each color, give or take, around 36 strips total.
To tie the tulle to the elastic band, I folded each strip in half and used a simple slip knot all the way around the elastic band.
When I did this, I cut a 30 inch length of the coordinating pink ribbon that I intended to use for the bow and tied the tulle strips around the ribbon and the elastic at the same time.  In hindsight, I think I could have skipped doing that, and just tied the bow on at the end... I suppose I'll try that next time!

Once the ribbon was tied in a bow, and the elastic band was completely covered in the tulle all the way around, I fluffed up the skirt, and tada... super easy and cute tutu!

Hopefully in the not too distant future, I will be posting the results of our little lady's photo shoot, and you will get the chance to see her wearing it!