We are having way too much fun with this baby girl. One thing I just love is baby photos. Somewhere along the line I got it in my head that I could do this myself. I even tried with my sister’s kids when they were babies. I remember her loving it until I tried to stuff her son into some pocket precariously attached to the crib!  But that didn’t stop me from trying shots with our little Eliana!! It’s pretty easy to move and play around with a full and sleepy baby. But taking photos, good photos, that is another story.

We attempted to do so her first week of life. The first time we tried I thought it would be a good idea right after she ate-while she was in her milk coma. Well, turns out that is also the time that she poo’s everything out she just ate! So I got her good and naked, Brandon was standing by skeptical of a full and diaper-less baby…I set her down on the backdrop-the beautiful quilt my aunt Karen made for her-and wouldn’t ya know it? She smiles at us, I whip out the camera, and she poo’s all over the quilt.

Round two. We decide to feed her, then wait about an hour after she is sleeping and gently move her into position. This works much better, and we had so much fun getting some fun shots of her. I was the baby mover/manipulator and Brandon took a million shots of her. For as many as we took, not too many came out great. These professional photographers sure know what they are doing, no wonder they charge a lot!!

So here are a few that turned out!

I just realized, about ten days after the birth of our daughter, that life does indeed go on outside these four walls. We have been all consumed with this sweet baby girl! All she does is eat, poo, and sleep. And, consequently, all we have been doing is watching her do those three things! Sounds boring? Maybe. But as new parents, we just can’t get enough. Brandon took some time off work, so he has been around for this super fun time of everyone getting to know each other. Even though she can’t see us, or really anything for that matter just yet, we’re loving every minute. We especially get a kick out of her smirks and laughs, brought on not by our charming voices, rather gas, but we’ll take it.

We’ve had a busy week, and thought we’d share some photos of her first week of life:

This was a bit traumatic-but she pulled through.We were asking the doctor if she was getting enough to eat (since my milk had not come in yet) and right after we asked, she pee’d everywhere! That answered that!

Meet Eliana Elizabeth Stone !!

The Facts:

~Born February 26th at 1:25am.

~Weighing in at 7.5 pounds.

~Measuring 20 long inches.

~The cutest baby ever born! (of course we are not biased, these are just the facts)

 Her Name:

Her birth story:  (don’t worry, I’ll keep it g rated!)

Things started off mildly at about 2am Monday the 25th and we decided to drive to Managua at 10am. The drive was pretty uneventful, and my contractions weren’t too hard yet, so, manageable in the car.We did however get pulled over!! And the guy was a total punk and didn’t even care that I was in labor-clearly I should have let out a few loud noises?!  The law here is that they take your ID and then you have to pay the fine at the bank and go pick up your license at some office…but considering we needed our ID for her birth certificate and such we went round and around with him to make sure he didn’t take it-whew. It was stressful for sure! Then we checked into a hotel close to the hospital (I stayed in the truck while Brandon got us a room-the last thing I wanted was for them to reject us by taking one look at me!!) at about 11am and I continued to labor there. Our doula, Meghan,(another amazing story of how God introduced us to her!) met us there, and I had both Brandon and her to help me through contractions, encouraging me, and helping me with different positions. My water broke at 5pm (it was a crazy feeling!) and contractions really picked up after that. The doctor came by the hotel about 7pm and I was dilated to about 4/5cm. He then returned at 9:30, at which he said I was 7cm and it was time to go the hospital. It was a rough 10 min drive, but Brandon did great and surprisingly didn’t drive too crazy! At the hospital, there was no room in the inn-haha no seriously-and the normally eery, quiet, fancy hospital was packed.(I guess it was a full moon the night before?!) So we were taken to a ‘labor room’ which was very small, but at least we were alone, and at that point I hardly even noticed. (Side note: when we pulled up to the emergency room, I was waiting in the room while Brandon parked and Meghan checked us in, very much in my own world trying to deal with the very hard and strong contractions. Apparently I was in the corner, holding onto the wall, letting out some noises, and as is typical in third world settings we’ve noticed over the years, the other patients were not annoyed at all, but rather started urging the staff to hurry up and help us already. Clearly, I was about to have this baby, one lady reasoned, and was getting all annoyed at the hospital staff for taking a full ten minutes to check us in. I didn’t notice at the time, but Meghan told me later.) At about 11:45, another long hour of intense contractions, I was fully dilated and wheeled into the delivery room. Silly costumes and hair nets were adorned by all, somehow I remember being so annoyed at having to wear a hair net! And so I began to push. After about an hour of pushing, she wasn’t moving down and out as quickly as she should have. Mainly, my contractions had lessoned in intensity (I personally was enjoying the what seemed like a very long break between them!) and thus my pushing wasn’t doing a whole lot. So, knowing we didn’t want any drugs, the doctor mildly suggested one to increase the rate of contractions. We declined. But after about 5 more contractions, and no movement by her at all, we decided to do oxytocin. A few minutes later, the contractions were stronger, and about six more pushes and she was out!! Oh she came out pink, vocal, and looking great. Yes, all slimy and gooey-but somehow I didn’t even notice as she was set on my chest. She rested there for a bit, and Brandon cut the cord!!

Praises– from those 23 hours of labor:

We want to share these special moments, because know so many of you were/have been praying for her, over this miracle, the birth, everything. We really felt the hand of the Lord, through such big and little moments all throughout the day, and want to take a moment to celebrate Him. We want to give Him glory and honor for getting us all through an amazing but tough thing-hence the name labor-and that everything went so beautifully!

~God gave us safety in travel between cities

~God gave me the strength and helped me through the hardest thing I have ever done

~God gave Brandon nothing but love and encouragement-for 23 hours-as he was glued by my side loving and encouraging me

~God blessed us richly with our doula Meghan (birth attendant/coach) who helped me through labor so amazingly and was such a huge help at the hospital with her Spanish expertise and sweet way of telling/reminding our doctor and the nurses what we wanted and didn’t want (which was huge so I could focus on labor and Bran could focus on me!)

~That I didn’t have to have a C section, something I was terrified of since the rate here is so high

~That my blood sugar did great all through labor and birth

~That there were no complications from me having gestational diabetes when she came out- Eliana’s blood sugar was actually normal and didn’t drop dramatically (one reason I had to birth her in a hospital setting)

~Praise that Eliana came out with no health or medical issues-scoring a 9 on her APGAR test

~ That our doctor was super kind, gentle, and flexible (the reason we chose him, but didn’t know how he would do that day) since doing a natural, no drug birth and laboring at a hotel with giant bouncy balls was so so odd to him!

~And last but not least, praise and thanks to the Lord that she is healthy!!!

Favorite verse from that amazing and crazy day:

“Be strong and courageous Jessica! Do not be afraid or terrified because of this, for the Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

How I felt the mighty hand of the Lord with me all day!

Least favorite quote from Brandon:

In his defense, this was his one and only sarcastic comment all day -he was gushing love and encouragement non stop for hours and hours-this just kind of slipped out!  As I am literally in the middle of a push he says to me, “And you wanna do this four times?”.  It was also a first for me-the first time I was mean and yelled at him, “shut up!”