Happy Birthday Elliana Faith!

Today my baby girl is one year old. I can't believe how this last year has flown by.

The fact that she is one year old today has made me do a lot of reflecting on her birth-day last year.

I was so eager and ready to meet our baby. I had been told multiple times by the Dr. that I would not make it to my due date. Yet there I was, one week before my due date, huge and uncomfortable and December 15th was very near.

It wasn't just that I was huge and uncomfortable, but I had a wedding to attend, one that I couldn't miss- my sister Courtney's wedding was set for one week after my due date (December 21st). I had to be there, and so did Elliana.

So, my Dr. called me on the 10th of December and informed me that if Elliana had not been born by the 15th, she would induce me. My Dr. was very against inducing but given the circumstances, she was willing -hesitantly willing.

Caleb and I made plans for the 14th of December since it would be our last day as a married couple with no children. We were going to sleep in, go out to breakfast, watch a few movies, just have a slow, fun day together.

Then the morning of Sunday December 14th came early. I felt a "pop" and I knew my water had broken. Sure enough, there was water everywhere. At first there were no contractions, but after about 10 minutes the contractions came. They came hard and right on top of eachother. Caleb was frantically running around getting things ready and I told him that we needed to get to the hospital fast!

The drive to the hospital was long. The roads were snowy and icy and my contractions would not let up or slow down. Inside I knew this could not be normal. They tell you that labor is painful, but I knew that the contractions were not supposed to come like this.

As we got to the hospital doors, I told Caleb that I needed to push. I'm sure he did not believe me. ;)Either way, he parked the car in a no-parking zone and ran in to get a wheelchair. He wheeled me as quickly as he could up to labor and delivery. He announced to the nursing station "she's in labor". Then I quickly chimed in with "I'm ready to push". Again, I don't think anyone believed me.

So, the nurses hurried me to a room where they quickly helped me on the bed so they could check where I really was. They announced "Call the Dr, she's at 9 1/2". I'll never forget Caleb's response. "What?! I'm sorry, did you say 9 1/2"? After they assured him that was correct, he made a few phonecalls and told family to hurry.

The rest is a little fuzzy to me. The Dr. got there in what seemed to be like no time and they gave me an epidural to slow things down. I pushed for probably about an hour but Elliana's heart rate was slowing down and she just wasn't coming out no matter what they tried. So, they called for an emergency c-section. I was really hoping I would not need a c-section, but at least our miracle baby was finally here!

She was born on December 14th, at 1:01 PM and was 5 lbs, 15 ozs, and 18 inches long. She rocked our world from the moment she was born. Instantly we knew that although she was tiny, she was strong and determined. Even as a newborn baby she tried to pull herself up and out of the hospital scale.



Here are a few pictures from her birth-day:




She had her Daddy wrapped around her fingers from day one!


Here are a few pictures from her birthday celebration.

She loves her cousins on both sides of the family.




Here she is opening gifts with Mommy and Daddy.




Here is the cake I made. It's not the most beautiful cake, but hopefully I'll get better with each birthday. ;)


And of course, here she is enjoying her first piece of cake. I thought she would attack it but she was so prim and proper at first. After a while she really got messy.




Elliana, you are our outoing, funny, bubbly, happy, determined, strong, sprited baby girl and we love you SO much!! You bring us SO much joy! We love you and Thank God every day for you. Happy Birthday Ellie!