Sweet Talk

Cute milestone #1

Ellyotte sleeps on her tummy and while I was out for a run, she woke up from her nap. So Dan went in to her room to get her and she had rolled from her tummy to her back. He said she looked totally confused. Milestones are so much fun!

2 (but really 3...) Month Appointment

Sweet Ellyotte Pierce will be 3 months on Thursday. It is hard to believe, but... not really. These three months have seemed to have an eternity packed into them.

She's a precious girl. Today at her appointment, she weighed 12 lbs, 14 ounces (exactly 5 lbs more than her birth weight) putting her in the 50th percentile for weight. She was 23 1/4 inches long putting her also in the 50th percentile for length. And her sweet little head is just that: little! It was in the 25th percentile for circumference!

Ellyotte sleeps a LOT. She goes to bed at 6:30 pm, wakes about midnight to eat, again at 4:00 am, then she will sleep till I usually wake her about 8:00 am. She will get up, eat breakfast (4 ounces each bottle) and then goes back down for a nap about 8:45 or 9:00 am. She will take an hour and a half nap, get up, eat lunch, play then goes back to napping at about 12:00 pm. She will sleep about 2-3 hours, then the same routine: eat, play then one more nap mid-late afternoon. What a wonderful schedule!

But, it is tough to keep her well rested on days that Noah has school. I hate waking her to take him/pick him up but it has to be done. She sleeps on her tummy and loves her paci. Noah wasn't ever a paci baby so this is new to me - she spits it out, I have to run in and put it back in her mouth. But, it is nice having something that helps to soothe her. And I am glad I discovered that she liked sleeping on her tummy - what a difference that has made in her sleeping habits.

She's such a sweet baby. She nuzzles my neck and I just can't get enough of her. Everyday with this baby girl is a blessing.

In the Blink of an Eye

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me this year is that life on this earth is so fleeting, so non-permanent. Until the blood clot in my lung in July, I woke up each day thinking about my immediate issues: Noah, teaching, finances, laundry.

But post 27 July, my outlook changed. I will never, ever forget laying on that hospital table in the emergency room after having found out I had a blood clot in my lung, then saying goodbye to Dan and Ellyotte as they wheeled me to my hospital room in the ICU unit only DAYS after I had left the same hospital after Ellyotte's birth. I laid on that table while having my leg ultrasound and wept; I was quietly crying my eyes out.

I kept thinking about the scene in "Steel Magonolias" when Sally Field was screaming in the cemetary "...that baby will never know how wonderful his mother was and how much she loved him." I realized that had I not gone into the emergency room when I did, my babies wouldn't have a mother. Dan wouldn't have a wife. My parents would be planning my funeral and my sister would be heartbroken.

But what I also realized 100% was how short life on this earth is; how fleeting our moments as humans really are. In the blink of an eye, we are dust in the wind. What matters in this life is our relationship with Jesus and our relationships with others. That's it. Money, material things, nothing besides those two things matter.

This has been a tough year for me and those that I love: we lost my dear friend, Chris Patterson (age 32) to H1N1 last November. My Aunt Mamie is struggling to fight the viscious bone cancer that is ravaging her body. My grandmother is debilitated by unbearable back pain and nothing is helping her - her quality of life is so bad. And just yesterday, one of my dear friends from Troy University, Tim Ward, was tragically killed. Tim was cleaning his pistol before heading to the Alabama game and it accidentally discharged into his abdomen. Tim died shortly after.

All day, I have just wept. Yes, life is short, we aren't promised tomorrow, "To live is Christ and to die is gain," but none of that eases the pain that comes with death or dying. We will all go at some point and if we are believers, we have so much to look forward to once we have left our shells. But the ones left behind are left with hearts breaking.

My mom lost her brother from the same thing that happened to me. He had knee surgery at the age of 36 and went home to recover. He started having shortness of breath and dropped dead from a pulmonary embolism. My mom has never gotten over losing her brother - he had a young wife and two pre-teen boys and a family who adored him. That's what has happened with Tim: he has left behind so many people who love him. His daddy, and two sisters. I am friends with his sister, Jill (she lives next to my parents at the Waters) and she is understandably devestated. I hope that my mom can minister to her in her time of loss, grief and one day, recovery since my mom experienced the same thing in losing her only brother.

I knew Tim for almost 2 decades and there isn't one time that I was in his presence that he didn't make me laugh hysterically. I saw him just a few weeks ago when I was home visiting. He got to see Noah and meet Ellyotte. I told him about what happened to me right after I had Ellyotte. We talked about how short and unpredictable life can be. We hugged, laughed and he reassured me of his happiness and said "life is GOOD." That's how I will always remember my dear friend, Tim Ward. He was FULL of life and never left a person without a smile. Bottom line: Tim brought joy wherever he went and he will be so, so missed. But I look forward to that day that our friendship can continue in Heaven.

Fall Fun!

We have really made some wonderful friends here in Louisiana. Among them is my dear friend, Season. We have LOTS of playdates together because a) we enjoy each others' company and b) Addison (4) and Noah play so well together and we have new babies born within 6 weeks of each other.

Today we met at the Pumpkin Patch and the kids had a great time putting pumpkins into the wagon. It was a beautiful fall afternoon and we got some sweet pictures!

Beauties

Little Moments

These are some cute pictures I have uploaded on my phone and wanted to share with you all! Noah and Ellyotte are growing by the day. And there is NEVER a dull moment in this house! I had no idea how busy I would be once baby #2 came along.

Class (I am still teaching in the poli sci department for Troy) started again for me this week and it is the first term I am teaching with Ellyotte here. Whew... it adds a whole lotta extra work to this tired mommy. By the end of the day, I want to crash yet I still have discussion board questions to address and papers to grade. However, I am not complaining: it is a great outlet for me to be able to teach. Makes me still feel like a smart, free thinking woman instead of the "baby/toddler" talking wierdo I feel like most days!

Nap Time

Let me just toot my own horn here because I realize that I might be one of the luckier chicks I know: my toddler and my newborn nap together! It is the most special time of my day.

We all load up in our bed and all three of us (well, sometimes I just lay there watching them) sleep and it is beautiful. I am making memories with these two little ones that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Everyday at noon, Noah says "I'm tired." And I tell him that it is nap time. His response is always the same: "In Mama's bed?" Then I respond, "OF COURSE!" He then says "Yay!" Our routine never varies on the days that he's home from Mother's Day Out.

Ellyotte is catching on beautifully: she takes 3-4 naps in the day still and I coordinate the 2nd one to be when Noah takes his. What a blessing nap time is turning out to be - in so many ways.

Video Time!

Pretty Ellyotte - 10 weeks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMmNIyud4Jo

Noah at the Aquarium - New Orleans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DcD1cf--3k

Noah playing sax on Riverwalk - New Orleans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Eqhl-5-CM

Elly's Birth Story and Some Painful Realizations

I have been meaning to write about the events of Ellyotte's birth day but obviously have been a tad busy lately...! So, here it goes:

My mom and dad had been here for a few days before my scheduled c-section. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with them and our family of three before Ellyotte's arrival. The night before I went in for her birth, my sweet mom made a fabulous dinner (my request) of raspberry chicken and jasmine rice. I could've licked my plate! It would be the last meal I was allowed for at least the next 24-36 hours.

That night, I packed my bag, took a long shower and scrubbed with the hospital issued soap and iodine (in prep for surgery), did the doctor issued enema (UGH!), talked to my sister and then my sister in law for some final encouragement, and went to bed to try to sleep. The sleep portion didn't happen - fell asleep about 1:30 am and had to be up at 4 am!! My surgery prep was to begin after check in at 5:30 am on the 21st of July.

We got up, left Noah in the hands of my parents and headed to the hospital. I wasn't nervous but was so extremely tired. So tired - and maybe a bit stressed out - that I kept falling asleep while the anesthesiologist tried to talk to me and while the nurse tried to fill out paperwork. It was so bad that Dan had to keep waking me to finish answering necessary questions pre-surgery.

They started the IV and before I knew it, we were heading into the operating room. Once there, the nurses all were so funny and sweet and we joked as they prepped me. I was strapped to the table with my arms stretched out and laughing for a bit. But, then the anesthesiologist came back in to do the spinal block! NOT FUN. It stung but because it works immediately, you feel like you are drowning and can't move a muscle. Inevitably, you start to panic and that is coupled with an instant drop in blood pressure. I kept saying "I'm gonna puke, I'm gonna pass out." The doctor tilted the table and injected some meds in me to stabilize my blood pressure. That helped right away and I started to doze again.

Soon after, my wonderful doctor, Dr. Gina Gomez, came in and with Dan at my right side and sitting behind the "curtain" with me, she started making the incisions to get to Baby Ellyotte. I was calm and it was going smoothly - everyone was lauging and there was a joyous spirit in the air.

However, once Dr. Gomez got to my uterus, she freaked. She leaned over the curtain and said "You have a uterine window... your uterus is stretched so thin that I can see Ellyotte's face through it." WHAT?! How did that happen?? She went on to say "If you had gone into labor on your own, it would've been fatal to Ellyotte and maybe to you." That's a lot to take in while your bladder is laying on a table next to you and you are cut open wide waiting to meet your little girl.

Not 30 seconds later though, Ellyotte's sweet cries pierced the air and all was right. With a c-section, you don't usually get to hold or really see your baby for at least 30 - 45 minutes after she's born because you have to be sewn up while they clean the baby and take her to the nursery. I think she was almost an hour old before I actually met her.

When they wheeled me to recovery, my mom, dad, Dan and Noah were waiting on me. They'd been watching Ellyotte through the window of the nursery as she got her first bath and got ready to come see her mommy! My dad had gone down to buy a beautiful feather wreathe to put on my hospital door. He and Noah had had a wonderful morning at McDonald's eating breakfast before coming to the hospital to meet Ellyotte!

Before they brought her to me, I got to spend some sweet moments with Noah and hear his thoughts about Baby Sister. He was excited but was wearing thin - he needed a nap! But, he was excited about his new sibling and that warmed my heart.

Finally Dan brought Ellyotte to me and I was overjoyed to hold her in my arms. The thoughts of what the doctor had said about the condition of my uterus were far from me in the moments that I was first spending with my daughter. She looked just like Noah had (minus the red hair!) and she was perfect.

At my six week post-op appointment, my doctor told me again what she'd found when she delivered Ellyotte. I was one of the unlucky ones in that I would never have gone into labor and had her naturally. My body wasn't capable of that and had I gone into labor, it could've been fatal for us both because my uterus would have ruptured. That was a lot to take in. She told me that following my first c-section with Noah, I hadn't healed properly so most of the tissue on my uterus was either too thin or basically 'dead.' She sewed the healthy tissue she could and then sewed my bladder ONTO my uterus to strengthen it. That was crazy to hear....

Obviously, you all know that six days later, I had a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in my lung) and was hospitalized again. The sad thing for us is that because of the condition of my uterus and the blood clot issue (possible life condition), I have been advised that more children is not a wise thing to pursue. IF we decide to think about more, we are now considered 'high risk' and I will be seen only by a specialist.

I have the paraguard IUD to prevent future pregnancies and that is our method of birth control because my body cannot handle hormones from birth control because of the clotting issue. That's not a comfortable BC method, by the way!

I don't know how to pray about our future; I have always wanted 3-4 children but it doesn't look like that will happen for us. If it does, it has to be planned and monitored and that still may not be enough to prevent some serious heartache. We (Dan, me, my mom, friends) question if the 'what if' factor is worth the risk that pregnancy could bring.

So, we have begun praying about adoption. I haven't ever had a heart for it but Dan has. And I just finished Mary Beth Chapman's book "Choosing to SEE" and it only confirmed for me that adoption just might be something God is calling us to consider. Yes, Ellyotte's only 2 months old, but that hasn't stopped us from talking about the possibility of expanding our family in an untraditional way.

I have reached the semi-bitter stage of what my body's gone through. Pregnancy and childbirth shouldn't be so hard - and I am angry that my body has 'failed' me in the possibility that future pregnancies may be out of the question. But, God is God and His plan is far better than ANY I could fathom. So, if we can't have more of our own flesh and blood babies, then we will continue to pray that the road to adoption might make itself visible to us.

Ellyotte Pierce Beall is a miracle. My internist (blood clot doctor) said: "You should be thankful: that baby shouldn't be here given what you've gone through." WOW. I look at Elly in absolute wonder. She looks so much like I did as a child yet she is identical to her daddy. She's perfect and precious in every way and I adore her. And there isn't a moment that passes that we aren't overjoyed by the fact that we have two perfect babies in our home right now. Yes, we'd like to add more children to our brood but these two are so awesome and perfect that we thank God constantly for them.

Her birth story is one I will remember and cherish always. I chose to be present and conscious of every moment of her arrival. I am so thankful I did - there's nothing greater and more miraculous than the birth of a child.