Ellasyn Paige Keisel and other stuff

Introducing Little Miss Ellasyn Paige Keisel

"Ella" 

 born 2/21/11 at 3:18 pm  6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long

She wasn't due until March 13, 2011 but felt the need to come 3 weeks early.  I was in labor for a full 24 hours before she was born.  I started having contractions around 3 pm on Sunday after church while I was doing some crazy nesting stuff at the house.  I started by scrubbing the bathroom floor and then working my way down the hallway scrubbing all the doors and baseboards.  Haha, I couldn't stop myself.  Connie had planned a sleepover with Abby but when she came to get her, the boys decided they wanted to go too.  I tried to lay down for a nap but was having contractions every 5 min and had a hard time napping through them.  I then tried to take a bath and drink some water and they still kept coming.  I finally called Chad, who had been Mountain Lion hunting all day,  and told him I was going to take another bath and see if they would stop. I called him again around 8:30 pm and told him I thought we should just go to Gunnison to the hospital and see if I was progressing at all because my contractions were 3 min apart but didn't feel very strong.   When we got to the hospital they checked me and said I was dialated a little bit more than at my last appointment and they wanted to hook me up to the monitors and see if I progressed.

It was a weird process because it wasn't a definite decision to keep us.  They said they wanted to watch us for an hour, then in an hour they said they wanted to keep me for a few more hours, and it went on and on.  They hooked me up to an iv and finally in the morning started giving me pitocin to get stuff going.  The pitocin was making me have contractions but they sure weren't doing very much and I wasn't progressing very fast. I was starting to get frustrated.  At 10:30 am they checked me and I was at a 5 and they asked if I was interested in getting an epidural because the doctor that did those was getting ready to go to a funeral.  I was definitely interested and he came and put one in in just a few minutes.  I was able to finally get a little nap and so was Chad.  That was nice.  While I was sleeping, my contractions decided to subside and so once again I was not progressing.  FRUSTRATING!!!  Anyway, my friends Mitz and Deanna were there and once they came in and started talking to me and they turned my Pitocin up, I finally started up again.  I started to have to breathe through my contractions even while I was being numbed up and I knew that we were finally getting close.  I was at a 7 or so and the nurse said it would be fairly soon.  I told her I knew it wasn't going to be long and she said that it would take awhile.  It normally doesn't take too long once I really get going.  About 10 minutes later she came back and I told her I had a lot of pressure and she just kinda smiled.  I told her she should call the doctor and she didn't believe me much.  She checked me anyways and said, "Oh, I guess I better call the doctor!"  You think?  Haha, but anyway, I was ready to go and the doctor came in and said, "I normally would give the mom a practice push but I would really like to help you have this baby!"  Apparently, I was very ready and after a brief reminder of how to push, since it had been 7 years and all, I was ready to go.  Three pushes in, he says,"There's the head, next push give me the body."  Wow, really?  That's it?  Here was this beautiful little baby with a perfectly round head and a little bit of bruising.  She still didn't have a name and Chad and I weren't in a hurry to settle on one.

We were really excited to have the kids come and meet their new sister.  It was fun to see them react this time because they are so much older this time around.  They were instantly in love!  All of them were very excited and enjoyed their short time with her.  After they left, I got moved over to my other room and Chad started filling out all the paperwork for the baby.  He went and got a blank piece of paper and started playing around with names.  We really wanted to have a name that was long that could be shortened like all of our other kids.  We also liked older names and/or family names.  Chad came up with the idea of making Ella into Ellasyn.  I love the name Ellison because it is my Great Grandparent's last name.  I loved them very much and I love that we could honor them this way and also use the name that we like.  Chad really liked the name Paige also so we used that as her middle name.  So little baby Ella it was!  Everyone was really impatient about waiting for the name.  They had all received pictures but no name.  Chad text a picture with her sweet little name and everyone loved it.  People that know my family totally understood where the Ellison, Ellasyn thing came into play!  I love it....now I'm glad that I have her and I can love her!!!

I would like to thank my friend Mitz for being at the hospital when we welcomed little Ellasyn Paige Keisel into the world.  She took professional photos for us to help us remember every wonderful second of the experience. I am so thankful for all the people involved in our lives and how God has used them to help provide for our every need.  Thank you to Deanna for helping me breathe!!!  We are so truly blessed beyond words!! I can't even begin to express my thankfulness during the last several months.  People have blessed us with meals, cribs, swings, clothing and other necessities, and lots of prayers.  I am a lucky girl and would like to share a few pics of our newest member of our

                      family.                                                                          

Zack and I wanted to make a dessert for when Lane and Connie and Kalli and her kids came over for dinner.  He wanted to make an apple pie and I was so glad that he wanted to make one of these with me.  I used to make pies with my Grandma Greene and I want to have those memories with my kids.  He is so interested and good at cooking and he thinks that it will be pretty great that he can cook for himself when he doesn't live at home anymore. I agree,  and I think the girls will agree too ;)  What a cutie!!  Anyway,  I was teaching him how to roll out a pie crust in these pictures.  I wish I would have taken a pic of the final product of our Apple Pie adventure.  It was probably the best pie ever!  It didn't last long at our house either.  In fact, I think Lane had two pieces!  I love my kids and love sharing time and experiences with them.  God is so good!!!!!