Ellenie's Birth!

On Sunday evening (5/22/11) around 6pm I began having cramps in my lower abdomen. I noticed that these cramps would come and go pretty regularly. I thought they may be contractions since they seemed to happen every so many minutes pretty consistantly. After talking to my mom we concluded that I may be having pre labor and this could happen for a couple days before delivery. My mom had a flight scheduled to get here tuesday night. I really thought I was going to make it until then. We still weren't completely ready for the baby. We still had some cleaning and errands. Well...the contractions never stopped they went on all throughout the night varying from 3 to 7 minutes apart. It was very difficult to sleep since I was cramping up every so many minutes and I was getting very anxious about the possibility that she could be coming sooner than I thought. Around 2 or 3am I called my parents and we decided mom better catch an earlier flight. Darren then got up and started trying to finish the various chores I wanted done before baby and my mom came. So around 3:30am or so I find him scrubbing the floors with a toothbrush haha. I assured him that wasn't necessary though I appreciated him trying to clean haha what a man! I may have gotten a total of an hour of sleep that night...my mind was racing too much to rest and contractions were also preventing me from sleeping. We really weren't in a hurry. In the morning we ran some errands one of which was getting smoothies since I knew I would have to starve all day in the hospital. Every so many minutes I would contract and feel uncomfortable and then I would be fine inbetween. We ended up getting to the hospital around 8:30am. My mom was able to get an earlier flight scheduled to arrive around 2pm. I really wasn't in much pain so I was worried they might send me home so I tried to not act too happy haha. My nurse checked me and I was between 4-5cm woohoo! I was staying. Darren's mom arrived in the next hour or so. I really wasn't doing so bad. I was talking and laughing inbetween contractions. I was very determined to have an all natural delivery. As time passed contractions got a little more intense but I was handeling it. I got into a routine of laying on my side, going to the bathroom, sitting on the ball and later standing by the bed, and then getting back in bed. Time seemed so strange. I was focused on getting to 11am when my mom would be in chicago and then 2pm when she would get to jackson. I REALLY wanted my mom to be there so they were waiting to break my water. My mom finally made it...much later then we anticipated around 4-5pm. Right after she got there I puked and my water broke, well, we later found out only part of it had busted. By this point I was in transition and pretty much staying in the bed. Contractions were in my booty/tail bone area and pretty intense. In my mind I thought, ok this time I will do all natural because I really want that experience but next time epidural haha. When the nurse realized not all my water had broke she broke the remaining. Then soon came the contractions with the urge to push. I was really scared to push too soon so I resisted with all my might which was completely miserable!! Then the nurse told me I could push. I had NO idea it was going to take soo long. I was exhausted by this point!!! After pushing for a long time I found out I was only trying to get to crowning at the point...WHAT!?!?!? I thought this was the real deal! I continued pushing and pushing and finally got to crowning. Dr. came in and I pushed yet again and again. FINALLY she started really coming out. Let me just say OUCH! I could feel my skin stretching to the point it felt like it was tearing but let's face it, at that point I no longer cared about the pain I just wanted her to be out and it to be over with so that was my focus. Even after her head was out I still had to push to get the rest of her out. FINALLY she was out!! She looked huge and different then I guess I imagined but I really had no clue what she would look like and I finally got to meet this sweet little person that had been inside me all this time. They let me hold her as long as I wanted. They didn't take her away to weigh her and all that until I was ready which was soo nice. Turns out by a miracle (and it really was because later I found out darren was praying for this) I didn't have any bad tears and didn't need any stiches and didn't bleed too much...only had minor abrasions. She weighed in at 8 lbs 13 oz no wonder it was so hard to push her out! It was all such an intense but really great experience. Everything turned out soo perfectly. So many little miricles that made such a difference for me. And of course my mom made it in time, I knew Ellenie would wait for her :) I knew I would be exhausted afterwards but I had no idea I would be exhausted to the point that I moved slower than molasss and literally could not stand up straight and I could barely breath. I could hardly talk-could only whisper with gasps of breath inbetween each word when I was standing up, it was crazy!

Darren ready to cut the cord, his facial expression is priceless!

First time to hold my baby girl!

Ellenie Faith Britt

8 lbs 13 oz 20.5 in

Born on 5/23/11 at 6:59pm

Love this pic :)

Our family :)

2 days old and going home day

Getting bigger...

Now that Ellenie is almost 3 months old, I suppose I have a lot of blogging catch up to do! The last couple months of pregnancy seem so far away now. April was a busy month... a baby shower at Red Star, a birthing prep class, crawfish boil, and a baby shower in Hattiesburg. Looking back, I kind of miss it all. It was a busy, but exciting time finishing up school and getting ready for the baby. There was so much of the unknown then...like what she would look like, how much she would weigh, when she would come, what labor and delivery would really be like, how exhausted I would be, and then the dreaded postpardom depression. I really had a good pregnancy aside from the nausea/vomiting in the early stages. I gained about 42ish lbs And I really didnt feel miserable the way everyone says they do towards the end. I mean I got uncomfortable, but I didn't really feel miserable. It also seems most women are chomping at the bit to get the baby out as soon as possible, but I knew it was going to be hard and that she would come when she was ready (hopefully around her due date) so I wasn't in a hurry to get her out before then (though I definitely didn't want her to be very late either). There was also school...finals ended exactly 2 weeks before my due date and I definitely wanted to make it through finals before having her.

Glimpse of Red Star baby shower

33 weeks

Britt Crawfish Boil 4/23/11

Me 35 weeks and Amber about 25ish weeks

Glimpse of Hattiesburg baby shower

36 weeks

39 weeks (3 days before due date)

That night contractions started and Ellenie was born the next day

A name for our baby girl

We have decided on a name... Ellenie :) Still not sure about a middle name though. Also, here is a pic of our baby girl at 25 weeks.

Birthday #25

Friday I turned 25. I'm officially a quarter of a century! I wanted to start the day off swimming because I have found it feels so great to start the day that way. We like to go to the indoor pool on campus and swim laps. Unfortunately the pool was closed, but fortunately they opened it up for us :) Later, we went out to lunch and afterwards shopped till we dropped. After recooperating from the shopping we went out to dinner and afterwards had some friends over. It was such a beautiful and great day!

Looking forward to digging into my crab cake sandwich

At Season's Grill restaurant

29 weeks

About to go to dinner

Love :)

We're having a GIRL!

We've known this for a few weeks now, and wanted to post it with the video we got of the ultrasound, but couldn't get the video to download. Anyways, we are excited to know that we have a baby girl. :) I feel like time is going to fly by now that I'm busy with school.

24 weeks

Well, it's about time...

to update the blog. A whole semester has come and gone and brought with it many new experiences for us. Darren started his assistantship masters program at USM. He got to experience being on the teacher end as he instructed the fingerprinting lab for the undergrads. It is great to get paid to go to school even if it is a little more work. Right before school started we found out I was pregnant, but in less than a week of finding out, I misscarried. It was an emotional roller coaster, but I recognized and was grateful for the peace that came to me with that experience. The next month I found out I was pregnant again! I spent much of the semester feeling nauseated, throwing up, and dreading food yet having to eat to keep from feeling worse. At times it was very depressing and difficult to see past it, but of course it did pass. By Thanksgiving break I was beginning to feel better. Pregnancy is definitely different than I expected; I didn't realize how much it would affect my life. Since my due date is the end of May, I'm going to squeeze in another semester before this baby gets here. This past semester I discovered that I really like history. I took World Civ and liked it so much I even contemplated changing my major to history, but I have decided to continue with the medical technology major. There is just way too much writing for history, I don't think I would like majoring in it. I would much rather take a test than right a paper.

In his spare time, Darren built an electric guitar and is learning how to play.

10 week ultrasound

12 weeks

16 weeks

Sister-in-law had a baby girl while I was visiting my fam in Colorado.

Nate, Sarah, and baby Rylie Grace (born 12/21/10)

20 weeks

Celebrating 3 years

Our anniversary was on wednesday. The day turned out really nice, thanks to darren making it special. I woke up seeing darren puting stuff on the table...a box of chocolates and a very sweet card. Then when I got up darren was doing dishes. Talk about a great way to start the day! We made breakfast together, washed the car, went to a movie, and went out to dinner. Afterwards we went to the church to help clean haha (our ward started a new system of cleaning the church which seems to be working quite well.. there are 4 teams and each week a different team cleans. This week it was our team) Anyways, it was a really nice day.