Almost four weeks

We are adjusting pretty well to having two kids, one of them being a newborn and the other a two year old. I didn't really know what to expect, but after having a c-section the recovery has taken longer than last time with Annie. I am still sore sometimes and have to take it easy when I feel that I have overdone it. During the first week or two home I was really anxious about having two kids, but that anxious feeling has left and I am so happy to be a family of four. Annie loves her little sister and can't wait until she is big enough to play with. Here are a few pictures from the last four weeks.

This is one week postpartum. I am now after four weeks only seven pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight, but that was still 20 pounds heavier than where I want to be, so I have some work to do in the next year.
A family friend gave us this outfit with a very cute, pink tutu.
We had these ballet slippers with Annie, but her feet were too big to ever fit into them.
Too bad it's a little too warm to wear this hat, it's so cute.
Ellie went to sacrament meeting for the first time last week 5/22 and she slept the whole time. She likes to stick her tongue out.
This was Ellie holding her head up really high one time last week. Annie was able to lift up really early also. Ellie loves to stand also, she straightens her legs and bounces a little bit.
Ellie usually sleeps all wrapped up, but once I went to wake her and unwrapped her and she fell back asleep like this. Touchdown!!!!

The Birth

This is the last picture of me before we went to the hospital. I felt so ready to have this baby.

For the last couple weeks of my pregnancy I had a feeling that things were going to be really different with this delivery than last time with Annie. As contractions started becoming steady on Monday May 2 and then getting stronger with time, I had the thought, this is how it started with Annie, maybe it will be the same. After having contractions all day, around 9:00 we headed for the hospital. I was only dilated to a 3, so I was put on pitocin and waited. The contractions got really strong about three hours later and I asked for an epidural. I was only at a 4. We finally got a little sleep, but around 3 the epidural wore off and I experienced really bad pain in my right leg every time I had a contraction. My epidural was redone and I got a little more sleep. Around 6:30 my doctor came and broke my water, within an hour I was ready to push. I pushed for 20 minutes and my doctor told me that Ellie was occipital posterior (meaning face up.) The only way for her to get here was to turn her. I pushed while laying on my side for another hour and a half until finally the doctor gave me the option of a c-section. I was so exhausted and in pain that I said yes right away. He prepped me and Ellie was born at 10:06 am. She was 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches. I think her big size made it difficult for her to turn in the birth canal.

I was really out of it during the c-section, but I remember feeling "this isn't how I thought it would be." But after when a nurse told me that if it were the olden days I would have labored until both the baby and I had died, I was so grateful to live in a time of technology and knowledge that we both made it through the experience healthy.
Annie loved to ride Ellie's cart when we would take walks in the halls.

Annie loves Ellie and is happy to have her in the family. This recovery has been so different than last time and I have had to really take it easy. Thank you to everyone who has helped my family over the last week.