Sorry Urs & everyone else waiting for baby info! You are totally right about being busy - it's not really busy, it's just that this little thing needs someone 24/7 every second of the day pretty much. I'm finally over checking on her in the crib every 5 minutes, though :) I never really posted much detail about the whole process, but out of everyone I'm guessing you girls are probably most interested - if not sorry for the book post!

So the whole birth process was amazing. I can't believe I did it. My doctor induced me at 5 using this little pill that they insert into the vagina and it softens the cervix and helps the dialating to begin. I was already at a 2-3 to begin with. At 9 she came back to check on me, and my water had broke, but she still used the amnio hook thingy to break it completely. Let me tell you - I'm a neat freak, sort of, and to have water stuff gushing out of you everytime you moved and to not be able to control it was really gross. I felt bad that it was going all over the floor and stuff, but not much I could do about it. By 11 I was getting pretty uncomfortable and asked for the epidural. The epidural felt like a bee sting in my back - actually that was the numbing shot, the actual epidural was a weird feeling. Not painful at all, but I could feel pressure and something moving. The first epidural only worked on 1 side of my body and I was still feeling contractions. I managed to 6cms before they came back and did another epidural. This one hurt like a none other, but it worked and I was in heaven shortly after! Not being able to move my legs and feet was a little strange, though. I managed to sleep from about 2-5:30 or so. I woke up and felt tons of pressure. I got checked and was about 9cms but to push now would be worthless because I'd be wasting my energy and right now the baby needed to rely on contractions to get moved down more. The pressure was not pleasant - it felt like a mix between a really bad stomach flu cramp and being constipated super bad. Finally, at around 7:30ish my doctor came in and checked and gave the okay to push. I was pretty freaked out to start pushing, but it felt so good to push. I can't really describe it - other than it really felt like it was releasing a lot of the pressure. Pushing wasn't exactly a clean process either - although I couldn't see and no one really said anything when you push a baby down everything in your butt comes out, too! I pushed until 9 - not constant, you only push during a contraction. It didn't seem this long at all. When she came out it was nothing short of amazing. I could feel her body coming out - it wasn't painful at all. Jacob said her cord was around her neck and the doctor un hooked it and then she wrenched on the baby and pulled her out. I didn't know, but Jacob video taped the entire thing. I haven't gotten the nerve to watch it all yet. After she was born they put her on my tummy and Jacob and I were crying and holding her and it was just amazing. They took her to weigh her and clean her up and then the doctor delivered my placenta. Apparently, mine was really large. I did tear just a little, but the doctor couldn't stitch it up because my uterus decided it just wanted to quit and not contract back down. I lost a lot of blood really fast and they had to rush me to OR to do surgery to stop the bleeding. They said I was going to die like 4 times and that was the worst feeling in the world. Probably, worse for Jacob then me because he couldn't do anything and just had to wait. First, they did a D&C where they go into your uterus and scrape everything out - thinking part of my placenta was still stuck in there. Only a few little pieces came out and I was continueing to bleed tons. Next she gave me a shot in my uterus and this started the contracting process. If that hadn't worked they would have had to remove my entire uterus. It was extremely painful before going to surgery as the doctor was 'massaging' my uterus from the inside while punching it from the outside trying to get it to start. I ended up needing 2 units of blood and was pretty out of it the rest of the day on Friday. I don't even remember Jacob's family being there after she was born or my dad leaving for my brother's football game or anything like that. I didn't get to hold Ella until around 6 that night to feed her. I had to stay in the hospital until Sunday and am so glad to be home! I'm feeling back to my old self again - everything seems to be healing up nicely. The only thing I still get occasionaly is a back ache right where the 1st epidural went in.

So Ella is getting fussy and Jacob says he can only provide egg nog or chocolate milk, so I better go feed her :) Jacob is amazing and I can't imagine having to go through this alone - I have so much respect for single parents. Ella is absolutely wonderful, and is very content. She only cries to let us know she's hungry or wants to be held or has a messy diaper. She loves to play lots and smiles tons - not on purpose, mostly when she has gas, but still it's a smile :) Thanks for the card and frog, Sig - she likes to stare at it right now, it's very bright! Off to feed - sorry for not updating sooner!