Ellen Lucille Smith

Our beautiful daughter Ellen Lucille Smith made her entrance into the world on Friday, January 23, 2015 she weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces and was 21.9 inches long sent straight from heaven at 12:10 P.M.  After about 19 long exhausting hours of labor my beautiful baby girl was finally here! I cant even begin to describe the love that filled my heart when i held her for the very first time.

Hello Gorgeous!

The best feeling in the whole wide world!!!

I love this picture of my husband because it showes the Michael I love. This was him holding Ellen for the first time. I feel more in love with him right here! 

Id like to share with you a little about my birth experience. I wont go to much into detail. I am mostly writing this for myself and Ellen if she ever asks me one day so I can remember. 

The day before Ellen was born I had gone in to do a routine ultrasound because i was four days overdue and the doctor wanted to make sure that everything was still OK for me to continue on in the pregnancy until my scheduled induction which would of been the coming Sunday. When i went in for the ultrasound my amniotic fluid was dangerously low and I was instructed that i needed to go to the hospital to be induced. Ellen was finally on her way!

When i got to the hospital they decided to just start me on a low dose of pictocin in my IV for four hours and then they would up the dose if i didn't go into full labor on my own. After about an hour or so my doctor came in to break my water. Within about 10 minutes I was in full blown " active labor " I was only at a three but the contractions had gotten really strong and intense!! I had planned to go as long as I possibly could without my epidural. But after about a half hour I changed my mind and decided that it was time. There were able to get it for me right away and I became much more comfortable. Which was important for me because I wanted to be able to enjoy the labor and birth experience.  At this point things seemed to be moving quite smoothly the only problem we seemed to be having was with every contraction Ellens Heart rate would dip down but then it would come right back up. At that point they decided to put me on some oxygen to see if it helped. As the night progressed it was still happening. So the doctor decided that since we already had low fluid and having my water broken that she needed to get more fluid into Ellen and It should help. 

At about 2 in the morning I started to fell allot more pain and pressure in my low back and buttocks area. It literally felt like she was sitting on my bum. It was so painful! The anstegiolost came back about 3 times to try different things on top of my epidural to make me comfortable. In the end the only thing that helped was narcotics that I really did not want but was the only thing that gave me some relief!

I wasn't dilating at all for quite some time and the nurse felt like a C- Section was probably going to be the best option for Ellen and  Me both since her heart rate still continued to drop with each contraction. And she was crooked in there as well and not turning I began to cry and pray. I was so scared and so tired. After Praying I just had such a strong sense of peace that everything would be ok.  I even began to feel the love of my wonderful grandmother who I new was on her way to the other side. She passed away two days later so there is no doubt in my mind that my best friend was there in my moment of weakness when i needed her strength the most. She was simply testing her beautiful angel wings.

At this point  I asked for a blessing from my husband and cousin. Right before they gave me the blessing the doctor came in to check me again to see if anything had changed. And she informed me that everything was beginning to progress as it needed to and I was dilated enough that I could begin Pushing. I was given the blessing and I began pushing at about 11 am. When I started pushing Ellens heart rate dropped down to 70 which was really scary. And I realized how serious it was that we got her out as fast as i could. Her heart rate ended up stabilizing again but I was having a hard time knowing when and how to push since i had so much extra drugs in me  to block the pain.  It seemed like i was pushing forever. I never knew 10 seconds could last so long! Towards the end I was so physically exhausted and told the doctor that there was no possible way that I could continue to push. At that point she had one of the nurses put my hands down and I was able to feel the top of my sweethearts head. And that was all that I needed to have the strenght for the few last pushes.  

At 12:10 P.M She was finnally here! They took her over to the warmer and began doing her test ect. Usually they would of given he right to me but they were concerned because of how her Heart rate kept dropping. But I was able to see her from my bed. I began to sob tears of joy. 

When they did Ellen's  Apgar test at one minute it was only a 4 and then at 5 min it was an 8. 

They told me i could hold her for a few minutes but then they would need to go to the nursery to be put on some oxygen and have some other tests run.  

Holding my daughter for the fist time was the most incredible feeling in the whole wide world! I couldn't believe she was actually my baby! Once they took her to the nursery I had mike go with her. Which I did not mind at all because I was so tired I needed to rest. 

3 hours later my baby was returned to me as healthy as could be she just needed a little oxygen. I had one tough baby girl!! I am so thankful that she cane into the world safely. I am so proud to be called her mama. Ellen is 4 weeks old today and honestly I cant remember what life was like before she was here. We love her so much and are so blessed to be her parents! 

Welcome To The World Princess!!

All clean after her first bath!

Proud Papa!! I love him so much!

Ready to go home !!

January At Last

 Can it already be 2015? Time feels like it is just flying these days. Here I sit.. 38 weeks and two days and so ready to meet and hold my little girl!. The last time I updated I was only about 13ish weeks. So as you can guess a  lot has changed! My instincts were spot on and I was so excited when we found out that this little one was a girl!! Mike was uber excited as well!

Its A Girl!!!!

We celebrated by taking some super cute announcement pics thanks to my talented sis in law Leslie and going shopping for some small PINK clothes!!

I was abt 19 ish weeks in these pics 

The name that we have chosen Is Ellen Lucille Smith. We are naming her after one of my biggest role models. my grandma Kempton ( my mommy's mom) who's name is Lucille and I just love the name Ellen. We had been playing with names for a while and could not agree on any of them. But the day that I came home with Ellen Lucille we just knew it was to be that!! 

I constantly think about Ellen. What will she look like? What will her hobbies be?  I worry about being a good Mom and providing her the very best that we can. Its insane the amount of love that you can feel for someone that you haven't even met yet. She makes me want to be a better person all together!! 

First belly shot!
19 Weeks

24 Weeks

Hello Third Tri
28 Weeks

Christmas Pics
32 weeks

Getting Huge!!!
36 Weeks

I feel like I have done everything necessary to prepare myself for this little ones arrival and all that is left to do is wait.... 

So until next time..

With Love,

Heather Smith

Life These Days...

                                  

                                        LIFE LATLEY

Can it really already be July? time just seems to be slipping by and i have hardly even noticed.... It seems like so much has happened in these last few months that i don't even know where to begin life is hectic and crazy right now but wonderful and beautiful all at the same time!!! ( I wont bother trying to catch up on every little detail but try to do better about updating.) 
 Work has  begun to slow down for me so it feels like i can finally begin to catch my breath. The branch i work at is primarily servicing the older generation and a lot of the clients are winter visitors and usually head home for the summer May to June . Quite frankly i am quite jealous of them as they  escape to the cooler temperatures. and i am stuck in this awful 106 weather and i know its only going to get worse.. Mike was promoted a few months ago to the next level in the collections department. Wich is an awesome thing because he hasn't even been there a year yet and he is already moving up the ladder. I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband who is such a great provider for our family.. I truly lucked out in the husband department!!

BABY CARRIAGE??

Sorry this post is kind of all over the place kinda like the way my head is all the time lately these days... The end of March right about Spring General conference time me and Mike both started having very strong feelings  that it was time to grow our family.. We fasted and prayed about it for a few weeks and at the end of that time the feelings we had had only grown stronger!! We started trying to get pregnant right away and to our amazement we were expecting a baby  a few short weeks later... We are ecstatic!!!! I have never wanted something so bad in my entire life than to be a mommy! Pregnancy has been tough so far with the constant nausea and exhaustion ( and that's just the beginning of it...)  but i keep reminding myself of the glorious prize that will be waiting at the finish line!!! I am due January 18 and it is so funny because that was originally Mikes due date. So who knows Mike might end up sharing his birthday which would make it even more special. We find out what we are having the end of next month and i just cant wait. I have a very strong feeling that this little one is a girl!! I would love a little to girl!!! Someone to dress up and accessorize but we will take a healthy strong baby first and foremost and love and cherish it  no matter what is is!!! 

  

This was the announcement we created to post the good news on FaceBook.. Cute Huh?? My Hubby is super talented...

This is the only pic we have of our little Munchkin.... This was when i was only about 5ish weeks . We cant wait to see him/ her again soon!!! Hurry up August!

                                      FOURTH OF JULY

We are super excited that this weekend is the fourth of July... We are headed to cooler temperatures... We are planning to go back to San Diego (the same area we took our honeymoon.)  for the upcoming 3 day weekend and couldn't be more excited. With so much going on in our lives lately it feels like we are seeing less and less of each other. So we will truly enjoy spending some quality time together!  Pictures and another blog post to come soon!!!

With Love,
The Smiths 

Meet the Smiths

Its been almost 5 months since our beautiful wedding day in July and as life has finally settled down into a normal routine i have decided to be brave and start a blog to keep everyone in the loop of what exciting things are happening! 
So..... 
Lets meet the Smiths!!!!
Michael is currently working for pay pal as a collections agent he has been there for about 3 months now. We were so excited for him to get this full-time job and  we consider ourselves very lucky in this time of life for us both to have a full time job that pays well as well as have  benefits. We count our many blessings everyday!
Anything that Michael does he puts his whole heart and soul into it  and his job performance  has definitely been the same in that aspect.  He has been close to the top of his team since he started. This man is on FIRE!!! He tells me every day how fun its is too steal money from people and not get in trouble for doing it! Can you believe that he actually gets paid to do this????
As for me myself and I I have been at Washington federal for a year and 4 months as a CSR. For me going to work does not really feel like real work. I am so lucky to work in the type of environment that i do! There are only four of us that work at my branch and it truly feels like a family. Another amazing thing about my job is how much i learn each and every day from my sweet clients. Washington Federal was a savings and loan before it became a regular bank and because of that the majority of my clients are the Elders. They  will sit at my desk and just visit and chat, tell me about the good old days when interest was 16% and such,  Ask about married life and ask when the 1st baby is coming lol of course i just smile and make fun of them after they leave! Crazy old farts :-)

Enough about our work im probably just boring you at this point! Christmas came and left in a hurry and we enjoyed every minute of it, and im even more excited that its over because this week we are going on a long road trip to go see my family in Logan Utah Ive been missing them alot lately and we decided that we wanted to spend new-years with them. Mike hasn't had a whole lot of time to get to know or hang out with them so we jumped at the first opportunity of being able to go up! So that is what you will have to look forward till till next time!

Love,
Heather Smith

















Just a few of our wedding Pictures!