i so feel like a mom....

I have taken a long break from blogging, but i am starting to feel settled in to our new life! I could not miss this opportunity to share with everyone my day. Ella is developing quickly and hitting all the milestones such as rolling front to back and back to front, smiling & laughing. however, I officially feel like a mom today:) We are currently on outfit number 3 for the day! i went in to Ella's room at noon after her morning nap, got her out of her crib only to find that her and the crib were soaked. her diaper had leaked and everything was covered in pee. I got her cleaned up, changed her sheets and nursed her. maybe you other mom's out there have suggestions, but changing the sheet and mattress pad is close to impossible. i am breathing heavy and feel like i ran three mile after i accomplish this task!

I put her in her exersaucer while i ate lunch. after lunch, i decided the sun was shining and we need to go for a walk. I got my keys, phone and jack's leash and put them in the stroller. which if you have ever met my dog, he goes nuts when he sees his leash!!! so now i have a wild dog running circles around the house. i got Ella out of her exersaucer and started to put her jacket on.....at which point, i smelled a poopy:( I flipped her over to find it all the way up her back to her shoulder blades. how this child managed to get poop up to her shoulder blades while sitting straight up in the exersaucer is beyond me. at this point, her exersaucer, my pants, her jacket are all covered in poop. i took her into her changing table to begin the clean up process. i take off the pants...spray down with totally toddler stain remover. i unleashed the diaper and pulled out a wipe.....the last wipe......no free hands....one totally covered wipe. what to do? I aborted clean up on the table and went straight to the bath tub. I gave Ella a bath and dressed her in her third outfit of the day.

I was determined to go on our walk and so was the dog....he was dragging his leash around the house. I got Ella in the stroller only to see a big patch of poop in her hair:) I got a baby wipe out of the diaper bag and off we went on our walk!! Oh the fun adventures of motherhood:) I am loving them!

She has arrived!!!!

Hello everyone! I am so excited to announce the arrival of our beautiful daughter Ella Ruth Willis. She was born on July 24, 2009 at 1:55AM. She weighed 9lbs 2oz and was 22in long! Now, we know why i was measuring two weeks ahead! i birthed a 2 month old:) She made her arrival into this world on her Grandaddy Willis' birthday....i am glad she gets to share a birthday with him! he is a great man! Also, she is named after Shea's granny, Ella Rose Willis, and my mom, Ruthie Hammons!

I am excited to share our birth story because it turned out to be incredible. The lord's hand was evident the whole way through. My water broke on Thursday, July 23 around 4pm at the dog park:) From the moment my water broke, Shea was on an adrenaline rush. he was like, "we are in labor!!!!! what do we do?" I told him it would be awhile before we went to the hospital. so, we went home to labor at home. Shea wanted something to do....so, i had him start making a Caesar salad for dinner. I called our dear friend & labor and delivery nurse, Michelle and she said we could wait to go to the hospital until my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. at this point i was still not having contractions, so I sat down on the couch to reread my labor books.

After about a half hour, I went to the bathroom and noticed some color in the fluid. i did not think this was okay; so we called Michelle again. She said she did not want to alarm us but yes we did need to go to the hospital. At this point, i yell to Shea to stop making dinner because we needed to get loaded up to go to the hospital. We were on our way to the hospital when i had my first contraction. we pulled up to st. Francis eastside hospital, and i told Shea which door to let me off at. he was like are you sure this is the right door, and i told him yes they showed us in hospital tour (which he did not attend:). Sure enough, we walked through the doors to find a hospital tour ending and our dear friends Marc and Alysia Benjamin who we were in community group with and went through pregnancy together were there. it was so sweet of the Lord, because they came over to us and wrapped us in there arms and prayer for us!!! i went to the counter to check in and the lady could not find me on the list....she thought i was part of the class. I was in a hospital lobby full of pregnant women and I looked down at my stomach and said, " I am having my baby now!!!" She sent straight upstairs to check in.

I got into my room and got my gown on. then, Dr. chorness came in to check me. i was dilated 3cm and 70% effaced. She was only going to give me 4 hours to progress on my own because of the meconium being in the fluid. at this point, i was hooked up to an internal monitor on the baby and had fluid flushing me out internally. i was quickly loosing hope for a natural childbirth. i was confined to a bed and being on my back. after about an hour, a nurse came in to tell me that she was not sure if she was going to be my nurse but she wanted to be because she liked to get all the natural childbirths that came through the floor. sure enough, that angel became my nurse!! my birth story would be completely different if i did not have her!!! Praise the lord, i love how he works out all the details.

The nurse noticed that the baby was not very active and I was not progressing. so, she gave me some fluid in my iv to get the baby active (she called it Gatorade or sugar water.) At, 9PM i had only dilated one centimeter. My doctor wanted to start me on pitocin. I did not want to go the pitocin route. i trusted my labor & delivery nurse's opinion and asked her what she would do. she said to follow my doctor's suggestion, but to only get one drop every 1/2 hr. so, i did. i did not see an increase in my labor pain from the pitocin. however, after an hour, i had only progressed another centimeter.....they upped me to 2 drops every half of an hour.

At this point, it was 10pm and i was 5cm dilated. i specifically prayed and asked the lord to dilate me 3 cm in the next hour. i knew that i could make it and deliver naturally if i could get to 7 cm dialated. He did it! At 11 pm, i was 8cm dialated!! the nurses looked at Shea and told him that i had been nice so far but I was going to start saying things, get mean etc.... I never did..... We were fully dialated and effaced at midnight. We were so excited....we were going to have the baby on Shea's dad's birthday:) The baby was not fully engaged so we road through contractions for the next hour. the hardest hour because my body was wanting to start pushing but it was not time yet.

At 1pm, I started pushing. we pushed through about four contractions when the internal monitor came off of the baby. Therefore, the nurses were relying on me to tell them when i was ready to push. it was incredible. i knew i could not do this on my own. it is definitely scary at this point to think of the baby coming out. i just kept talking to the lord saying, you created my body for this and you created this baby. you know how it needs to come out....please direct it!!! they called in Dr. Chorness at this point. she was there for two pushes and an episiotomy and the baby came out at 1:55AM! Shea, the nurse, the Douala and I all yell what is it? however, the are so used to people knowing now that the doctor did not announce it. they had already taken the baby over to clean it up because of the meconium . so, Shea went over to get pictures and got to announce: IT'S A GIRL!!! I was in shock. i could not believe it. i looked at my Douala and said, I don't have bow for her hair.

Shea's parents were able to be there because they were in the car driving up to their cabin when i went into labor. so, they came to greenville instead. Ella Ruth Willis had arrived!! They got to come into the room and hold her and congratulate us! i was so thankful Shea had someone to go out to announce the arrival of our daughter to. My parents arrived in the afternoon from Ohio. We had so much great support and love shown to us by family and friends at the hospital and our last two weeks in Greenville!!! Thanks everyone for your love and support! We look forward to keeping you all updated on our new adventures as a family of 3:)

Red, White and Blue!!

Happy 4th of July everyone! we are enjoying the long holiday weekend. the weather is wonderful. it is in the 80's and low humidity. i am so thankful. we are getting ready to got out for our annual 4th of July tradition to play disc golf! i am only going with Shea so i can walk and walk and hopefully go into labor!!!!

I just took a picture in our back yard and wanted to post it. I am 37 weeks and 4 days!!! have great holiday everyone!

The longest, slowest 4 weeks ever.....

I have heard many of my friends and co-workers say that the last 4 weeks are the hardest part of pregnancy and what you remember most. I am beginning to believe them now. I am so ready to meet this baby! I just cannot wait to not be pregnant anymore! I do not know how my belly could possibly get any bigger. it is HUGE. I am officially to the point where maternity clothes are not fitting anymore and complete strangers come up to me and say, "are you having TWINS?" :(

The other hard thing right now is that i am constantly HOT! I never cool down. It is like having an oven strapped to me. I avoid going outside if at all possible. The AC and the pool are my best friends right now. I was sitting in Mc Allisters last Friday on my day off (in the A/C) drinking sweet tea and sweating. i went and asked the manager to turn up the A/C for me.

On a crazy note, i still want to go berry picking almost to the point of being obsessed. I keep trying to recruit people to go with me b/c i know that it is not safe for me to get out there and go into labor. i think my sweet friend Rebbecca is going to go with me on Thursday :)

Speaking of Rebbecca, Shea and I received multiple phone calls from her and her husband a couple of Sundays ago. It was the Sunday Shea was being presented at Riverbend Community Church as the new youth pastor; so, we did not answer our phones. i saw her at my baby shower a few days later and asked her why they called on Sunday. She said they were trying to find our baby registry at babies r us and the only one for Misti Willis was with a Jeremy. they were calling to make sure they had the right registry when the lady at the babies r us registry counter told them, " the father of the baby may not be her husband." our friends were adamant that they were certain that my husband was indeed the father of the baby. She proceeded to tell them that she has seen all sorts of unusual situations there...... Oh SC!! Yet, again Shea's name not being his legal name creates confusion!!! at our wedding, we got so many cards for Misti & Jeremy...... it just makes me laugh!!

I go to the doctor on Friday....I will keep you posted. also, we have replaced our camera charger now so i will post a new picture of my belly over the weekend. I am officially 37 weeks and 1 day!!

I am officially entering the home stretch of pregnancy! I am 34 weeks along today! It is hard to believe that I only have 6 weeks until my due date. I went to the doctor last week and I am measuring two weeks further along. as of now, this only means that I may have a big baby. my due date has not been changed. (disclaimer for the photo: i did not know shea was going to take a picture of my face just thought it was going to be of the belly, and we cannot find the camera charger and the camera died after one photo.)

A huge blessing is that I am feeling great! i was expecting to be pretty miserable and uncomfortable by this point; so, i am pleasantly surprised that i feel so good. we will see what my attitude is come mid July :)

I have complete strangers come up to me and guess what i am having, the most common response has been BOY!! yesterday, i went to Mc Donald's for lunch and the young man at the counter who is in his early 20's said to me, "you are having a boy aren't you...." I looked at him very shocked because i do not have men come up to me and guess the sex of the baby, much less a very young man!! The two wives tale things i have looked at to guess the sex the Chinese calender and the wedding ring on a string......have both said boy!!! therefore, i am pretty convinced we are having a little boy. I think, actually i know, i will be shocked if we have a girl. I actually dreamt last week that i had the baby. in the dream, they told me it was a girl and I did not believe them!

Oh I almost forgot, we have a huge praise report! Shea got youth pastor position with a church that we love in Columbia, SC!!! The lord's timing is perfect! He will start after the baby in born in August! Thank you for all of you who have been praying for us during this time!!

On the road again....

we are getting ready to head out tomorrow evening after work for Ohio! I am so excited. we are going home to see my family, and they are going to have a baby shower for us!! I cannot wait to see all my family and friends. I have been waiting until my baby shower to do the old wives's tail thing where you hold your wedding ring on a string over your belly to determine the sex of the baby. my sister-in-law, Rachel's mom, always did this at all her baby showers, and i think it was correct! anyway, i am looking forward to doing it and seeing what we might me having!

however, i am getting really excited to find out if i have a little boy or girl inside of me! I have a website that emails me weekly updates, and the one i received yesterday told me that there are only 63 days until my due date!!!!! Ahhhh! where has the time gone? i cannot believe the baby is coming this quickly!

Baby Praise!

Well, we have a new nickname for the baby. It is bobcat! this all came about as a result of a sleepy conversation between Shea and myself. I was just dozing off to sleep when Shea walked up to the bed and said, "It looks like you have an elephant growing inside of you!" To which, I replied just as serious as can be, "It is not an elephant; it is a Bobcat!" Shea found this very funny and started to laugh!

We had our 30 week ultrasound on Friday May 8th, and everything look great!! the baby however is measuring one week ahead because the head is big! I am blaming Shea and his big head on this one! the baby weighed 3lbs & 7ozs!! I am getting so excited to meet this little one!

Also, we got the baby's moses basket ready this weekend. it is so sweet and cute! i got the idea of using a moses basket instead of a bassinet from my friend Laura! Her family was missionaries in Africa and one of the village ladies actually gave Laura's mom a basket to use for her babies. Then, last year when Laura had her baby girl, Rani, the basket was passed on to her!! so, i found a basket at a consignment shop in march. i was so excited. well, Jack decided to help us out one night and chewed on the handles of the basket:( I was furious and so upset.....so, i have been thinking about how we could fix it. i will post pics of what i did to fix it this weekend. let me know what you think!

spring has spring & so has my belly.....

hey everyone! Sorry, i have not posted in awhile. I have been feeling so great these days! i am enjoying the wonderful spring weather in SC before it gets too HOT! We are trying to get all of traveling in before the baby arrives. therefore, we went to Jax for Easter, a weekend at the cabin last weekend, and onto NOLA this weekend to visit with Boone & Laura! we are very excited to see them! Finally, we will make a trip to OH over memorial day weekend! My family is hosting a baby shower for me :)

I have been trying to stay active by walking throughout the pregnancy. a couple of weeks ago, Shea and i were walking after church in the park and i had my first Braxton Hicks contraction. i thought i had really bad indigestion. i thought i was being very wimpy b/c it was very uncomfortable. however, i was relieved to hear that it was a Braxton Hicks contraction from the ladies at work the next day! this past weekend when we were at the cabin, we went for a hike on Saturday. I felt great! no Braxton Hicks contractions! We did between 5-6 miles! however, shortly after i finished my delicious lunch of Barbecue, I got sick with migraine headache! I must of overheated from the 85 degree weather..... oh well, it was worth it!

On the Dr side of things, I am Rh neg, but do not have to have the shots b/c Shea is A neg too! how amazing is the Lord! we have the same blood type. we both have a very rare blood type only 6% of the population has this blood type. Also, they did my screening for gestational diabetes on Friday. i am still waiting to hear the results; however, no news is good news in this case!!

I will keep you all posted. we are waiting to find out about Shea's job. so, no nursery plans yet! we are registered at Baby's R Us and Wal Mart. We have to finish registering, but we at least got started!

I officially look pregnant! I am 23 weeks now! I cannot imagine how i am going to look in July! Wow! this whole process is so amazing!

Whew....i am behind!

Sorry I have not posted in awhile....These past few weeks have been crazy! We traveled to Iowa for a job interview for Shea, went camping on Hunting Island the next weekend, and then I went to Chicago to visit girls from my small group! The great news is that I feel wonderful! I have my energy back! My appetite is back in full force! I am sleeping through the night! The second trimester truly is a great time in pregnancy!

On top of me feeling better, I can feel the baby moving now! it is amazing! I was starting to get worried b/c i had not felt the baby move! at my 20 week Dr. apt, my doctor told me to sit still after dinner with my hands on my belly. the next day while i was at bible study, I felt the baby move! my first thought was, i have been feeling this for awhile now. (I just thought it was gas :)

Another cool thing that happened, my mom was able to be there with me to go to the ultrasound!! How cool the Lord worked that out! My parents were on their way back to OH from a cruise, and they were able to spend the night with us and go to my appointment the next day!! While we were watching the baby on the screen, it was very quiet in the room. Shea, mom and I were so amazed!!!! We could not believe everything you can see....at one point, i was thinking, "Oh, they are checking my kidney to make sure my organs are fine." then, the technician says, " Here are the 4 chambers of the baby's heart! " Oh my word, silly me! i could not believe it! they can see the organs and everything! the baby only weighed 11oz and was 7 1/2 inches long!!! The technician is putting the pics on a CD for me....so, I will post pics soon!!

For all you out there who are dying to know what we are having, you will not be happy to know the baby was cooperating with our plan! He/She was in the worst possible position to see the sex!!

19 Weeks...almost half way!

19 Weeks....almost half way! I am starting to feel pregnant now! my pants do not fit normal anymore. Last week on Wednesday evening when Shea got home from work. I was already in my PJ's, and he kept staring at my belly. it was then that i knew i had popped. then, when i got to work on Thursday right away one of ladies at the front desk noticed, too. she said, "it was not there tuesday, and now your belly is there!"

Also, this week we have our ultrasound on Friday! I am so excited. i cannot wait to see the baby. My mom will be here to go to the appointment with me!!

Husbands are from Mars...

It is official, I am starting to "show." I am very excited! I am also anticipating feeling the baby move for the first time! I thought I might of felt the baby move last Sunday night. I had fallen asleep on the couch, again :( and when I got up to get ready for bed, i felt something. I was not sure what it was...so when I laid down in bed, I thought that might of been the baby. However, I strong part of me suspected gas (a not so fun side effect of pregnancy). So, I called Shea in the room to tell him. mind you, I was trying to very nonchalant about the whole thing. I start by telling Shea that it might be gas, or I might of felt the baby move.

My poor husband just doesn't get it! He responded by saying, "Oh, it is just a Phantom movement. For example, I was just sitting on the couch, and I thought i felt my cell buzzing in my pocket. However, I did not even have my cell phone!!!" What?? I let him know that my feelings were hurt and that was not a very sensitive thing to say. To compare our child moving for the first time to sitting on his cell phone!!

The final conclusion is: I have not felt the baby move yet!

My tastebuds changed!

So, I really hate how my taste buds have changed in this pregnancy! The things I usually love, really have not sounded appealing to me at all! I will share a quick list:

• Coffee (I don't even like the smell right now. I thought I could drink it last week, so I treated myself to my Grande Decaf 2 Raw Sugar Latte! It lasted about an hour :(


• Spices like Cilantro! I love all things with cilantro in them! however, i have not been able to eat Chipotle, tortilla soup or guacamole since becoming pregnant!


• Salad....just the thought of it makes me nauseous. i have not felt very healthy so far!

So, tonight I planned on making this yummy soup that Shea and I had a Whole Foods last week. The more I thought about it today the more green I got. So, now I am trying to come up with plan B for dinner. The only that appeals to me right now is a grilled peanut butter & jelly sandwich or banana & chocolate chip pancakes! Nothing healthy about either of those options. I can hear Leah, Shea's sister, in my head right now telling my what vitamins I should be getting for proper development of the baby! Leah, it is a good thing the prenatal vitamins have been staying down these days!! Off to make dinner!

Prego Belly Pics....

So, I finally let Shea take pics of my belly, not that he has been wanting too! I just have never loved my belly. so, the idea of having pics taken of it not very appealing. however, it was not as bad as i thought. so here they are. it will be fun to watch my belly grow!

An Alien, Baby Limb Buds, and Walnut Willis! Just a few nicknames for baby, so far!

Hello Family & Friends! WE’RE HAVING A BABY!! Ahhhhhhh!!! Can you believe it!?
Yeah, we can’t either! :) WE are so excited. So, this is my first time doing a blog. Please hang in with me b/c I am sure I will get better as I go on. Also, you have to understand that since this is my blog something will be misspelled :) I thought this would be a great way for our family and friends from all over to keep up with what is going on as the baby develops. I am officially 14 weeks now, and I am in my second trimester. I am due July 21st! I am starting to feel like myself again. The last 2 months have been very hard on me physically. I could not even walk near the refrigerator or the kitchen from Thanksgiving until after Christmas. I officially had no energy to do any Christmas shopping. I did all the shopping in a 2 1/2 hour span on Dec. 23rd!

We officially decided to not find out what we are having! We want to be surprised!! So, everyone can start guessing what we are having! I originally thought a girl, but after my last Dr. apt, the heart beat was 150 bpm. I heard that boys have slower heart beats. so, now I am thinking it is a boy! We will see how many times it changes throughout the pregnancy.

Well, my next appointment is Jan. 30th. I will get to listen to the heart beat and schedule the next ultrasound!