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Ella's Blessing Day

Ella's blessing day was more stressful than I ever thought it would be.  I am a worrier though.  

In the end everything turned out to be fine.  Ella was nice and quiet during her blessing and everyone got enough to eat.  Most importantly, Cimaron gave her a beautiful blessing.  Cimaron also blessed Ella's cousin Ambrose.  It was a great day that we will never forget. 

 Here are some pictures from the day!

{Ella's blessing dress that her Great Aunt Dixie made from my wedding dress}

{Grandma, Great Grandpa, Great Great Grandma Ella, Me, and Baby Ella! 5 Generations}

{My Besties}

{Trying to get a family pic...}

{Cim's tie is tucked in and Ella looks like she smelled a fart... I'll take it.}

{Smiling at Grandpa!}

{Silly Cim}

When we got home Ella was a little cranky.  When we changed her diaper she was super happy.  So we took her clothes off and let her hang out for a while.  She looked so cute we had to take some pictures!!

1 month!

Hospital Stay #2?

The day after we came home, we were called by the pediatrician that saw Ella at the hospital. He told us that a blood culture that was taken when Ella's temperature dropped in the Hospital had came back positive.   He asked me if she had been fussy the night before.  Considering I was a new mom, I didn't have anything to compare the night to so I said she was.  He said that considering the results of the culture, that she was fussy, and that I was positive for strep B, we needed to go to primary children's immediately.  So we did.

We were in the ER for quite a while.  In order to make sure her blood wasn't contaminated they had to do a spinal tap.  Before they did that they hooked her up to oxygen and a heart monitor.  Everything happened so fast.  They told me and Cimaron that we would need to be there for 36 hours so they could observe her until the results of their culture came back.  After a loooong night (it's VERY difficult to nurse a baby hooked up to monitors) they told us the culture from St. Marks was most likely contaminated and that their culture was negative.  We were good to go home!   This post is probably confusing because I can't really describe exactly what happened.  One second she was home and fine, the next she was at the hospital again and we were worried about what could be wrong, and then, we were back home again and she was just as healthy as when we left the hospital the first time.  I guess you can say it was a bad joke.

Anyway, we are so grateful that everything worked out and that Ella is healthy.  Even though it's better to be safe than sorry, we wish it never happened in the first place.

Hospital Stay...

{Ella's first bath.  She really liked getting her hair washed. }

{New grandma and grandpa... and aunts and uncle!}

{Opa and Oma! We were so happy they were able to take a break from the MTC to come and meet Ella!}

{Cim changing Ella's first diaper...} 

{nap time!}

{Ella and Dadda}

{The Circle of Life!}

{Time to go home... we were all a little nervous}

{Wearing the cute sandals Aunt Kendra made!}

{Cim wanted to protect her face from her hands - all we had were his socks.}

{Loaded up and ready to go!}

{First night at home!}

Newborn Photo Shoot

Getting everything together for Ella's newborn photo shoot was more stressful than I thought it would be.  I wanted to have her fed so she would be content during the shooting, and that worked out but there were so many other things out of my control that did happen.  Starting with Ella peeing on the sheet as soon as we started taking pictures.  Then she decided she needed to eat again.  While I was feeding her she pooped on me (I wanted to put her in a diaper but Cimaron insisted she wouldn't go again).  Lastly, she spit up.  It was not as glamorous as I pictured it would be from looking at other baby pictures, but they turned out fantastic!  It was definitely worth the stress and chaos!

Here are a few of my favorite pics!

Photography by Lindsey Fronk: 

http://photographybylinds.com/

Ella's Birth Story

The month of May was filled with anticipation. Ella was due to arrive on May 21. I was hoping she would come a couple days before then and I thought that she just might decide to come early especially since  there were days that I would have a lot of contractions. Unfortunately, those days were followed by several days when I didn't feel like I had any! This made me wonder if what I was experiencing were even contractions.


The last month of work was difficult physically and emotionally.  It was challenging not to think "I'm going to be leaving in a month anyway...so why should I care?" And I was getting lazier and lazier as the days went by because it hurt to move.  My whole body was swollen because I was  retaining so much water and the only shoes I could wear were flip flops.   I was nervous for labor and the pain that would come with it.  Mostly, I was anxious for what my situation would be.  Would my water break? Would I KNOW I'm having contractions or would I not feel them until it was too late? (btw - people said that I would KNOW when I was having contractions... I didn't "KNOW" until I had been having them for 3 hours.)  Would I go to the hospital and get sent home because I wasn't really in labor? Would I get my epidural too early and have it wear off?  Would I not get it soon enough? To add to all of my questions about what was/would happen to me, I worried about Ella.  If I noticed she hadn't moved within the hour I would start to panic and think that something was wrong. The bottom line is that I was getting sick of being pregnant.


Anyway, at one of my appointments my doctor talked to me about being induced.  She said that typically she doesn't induce her patients until 10 days after their due date.  So we originally set my induction (is that what you call it?) to be on May 29 (the day AFTER my in-laws would be flying out for their mission in Germany).  My last day of work was Friday, May 18th and Monday was  my due date. Well... My due date came a went and I sat around our apartment for 4 days. I was going crazy. It could happen at any time, and I was by myself worrying about all the worst case scenarios.  I was planning on asking Cimaron to stay at home from work the day before I was induced so I wouldn't be alone with my thoughts... but when I woke up to a contraction at 6:30 in the morning on May 25. They weren't very strong so I started timing them and they were about 5 minutes apart and lasted for a minute for an hour.  This is when you're told to go into labor and delivery but my contractions were so puny.  I woke up Cimaron and we decided to wait until they got worse to go in.  They got a little worse, but they still weren't bad, so we decided to wait until noon to go in.  We finally went in to labor and delivery and I was admitted! :)

After they hooked me up to the IV and got settled in the nurse suggested that we walk around to make things move along quicker. So we did.  When we came back the nurse said that my doctor wanted me to get my epidural so when she came in they could break my water and give me some petocin. Woah. That's when it hit me that I was really having a baby! I got nervous and told Cim I didn't want to do it anymore.  He kept me distracted while they put it in.


We were set to go! It seemed like it took forever for things to move along from this point.  I was told that I would feel some pressure as the contractions went on but eventually I was starting to feel more than I thought I should.  My epidural ran out and they gave me more.  I was still feeling a lot of pain.    After several hours they checked me and told me I was dilated to a 10 and that I would push in an hour after we did some rest and descend time.  During this time, a lady came in who was pretty far along in her labor who was screaming at the top of her lungs.  It literally sounded like she was dying.  This did NOT ease my fears of pushing but the time finally came for me to start.  Pushing was harder than I thought it would be.  I didn't know if I was doing it right and with the epidural I couldn't really feel what was happening.  I would push and the nurse would tell me I was doing such a great job! The more she said this the more I got frustrated because I felt like nothing was happening and she wasn't moving.  After about 2 1/2 hours of pushing Cimaron said he could see her head! So I thought she would be out soon -- but then she wasn't moving and I was getting more tired with each contraction.  Finally after 3 hours of pushing my Doctor gave me the option of trying the forceps or getting a c-section.  I opted for the forceps.  They did the trick!  Ella was born at 2:14 am on May 26, 2012.  She weighed 7lbs 12 ounces and was 19.5 inches long!

I was so happy to finally have our baby here and I felt like I could finally breath.  I got her here safely and now it was time to enjoy her (after I got put back together again).  We are so glad to have her with us and have enjoyed her sweet spirit in our home! 

Visiting Teaching

I'm 39 weeks along now.  Baby Neugebauer is due next Monday, but who knows when she will decide to come.  Last Wednesday I had some pretty consistent contractions... so I started packing my hospital bag.  Then they stopped. Since then, I have had contractions, but not nearly as consistent as that day. It's been a roller coaster to say the least.

Anyway, I think I set a timeline for her to arrive before my in-laws left on their mission to Germany today.  But, she is still inside.  I'm starting to get impatient.  I want to meet her and have her here. I want her to be safe in my arms.  The last couple of weeks had been taking its toll on me emotionally.

My visiting teachers came over last Saturday and helped me scrub my doors and walls.  I wasn't expecting to receive a message from them because it was more of a service visit but one of my teachers shared a scripture:

Proverbs 3:5-6

5) Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding

6) In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.

She told me to remember that Heavenly Father loves me and he will be with me throughout the next couple of weeks as I get ready for her arrival.  It was amazing to hear something that I didn't realize I needed.  I'd like to bear my testimony of the importance of visiting teaching.  Sometimes, it might not seem like you are doing much for those that you serve, but you never know when your words or deeds will lift someone and make them stronger (for example: I will be thinking of this scripture for the next couple of weeks every time I feel scared or discouraged).  I believe that we are each other's angels and we are to help the Lord bless the lives of those who are in need.  When we don't serve our sisters, we not only deprive our sisters of blessings, but we miss out on blessings ourselves.  

Da Crib...

We FINALLY purchased a crib this week! It took forever. We searched online and in stores, researched safety ratings and on and on.  We made a decision the week before that we needed to have a crib by the end of day Monday.  It happened!  We narrowed it down to 3 cribs we liked and went and looked at all three.   I found a different one at Babies R Us that wasn't in our final three, but was the same brand as another one we were looking at.. anyway. boring... Here are some pictures of the assembly process!

Ta Da!

We still haven't tested out this crib. But I like it.  I think we walked away from this experience learning that if a store is selling a crib... it's going to meet all of the safety standards it needs to. No need to pull out the measuring tape and double check every little measurement... even though that's exactly what Cimaron did. :) 

The gut.

A couple of pictures of my belly...  

25 Weeks

26 Weeks

27 Weeks (The picture is labeled 27 weeks, but I think it's still 26?)

28 Weeks

No picture of my belly this week, but I got a picture of Cim painting my toes! He did a great job! (I was still able to do it myself, cim just wanted to practice. haha)

29 Weeks... not at my best. I remember not feeling good OR wanting to take this picture. 

30 Weeks... right before bedtime. haha

31 Weeks

We started taking pictures a little later than we did last time... but at least we're trying right?  We started with the hopes of me being in the same or similar outfits so it would show the growth better but it didn't happen.  One thing to note is that Cimaron is ALWAYS the one to initiate these pictures.  Which is cute. He'll be an awesome dad! As for me, I'll be a good mom... just not one to take many pictures. haha