Snow Day (really ICE day)

He had way too much fun!

 So, we had a Snow day in TEXAS! Well, really for San Antonio, it was an ICE day. Brent and the kids had a really good time playing in the snow. They made snow balls and were throwing them against the door to "hit" me with them. (I was inside the house) After a while, Brent made a cardboard sled and took the kids for a ride. While they were riding on the "sled", Brent saw other neighbors on the next street with the big hill that were sledding down with a real sled! They headed over to join the fun. He sent Ezra down the hill in a plastic bin. He got some video of it. Looked like they were having a really good time. Emersyn didn't last as long as Ezra. She came in crying because she was so cold. When they were all done playing, they came inside to get warm and toasty by the fire. I am Oh SO Thankful for our new house and the fireplace. I'm in LOVE.

Checking out the snow

Making snow balls

Trying to hit me with a snow ball

Brent made a sled with cardboard and took the kids for a ride

The only "snow" we got was on our back deck

Loving it!

Hitting me with snow balls (i was inside!)

warming up by the fire after a hard morning of playing in the snow

Elynn: 1 WEEK OLD

Our sweet Elynn is ALREADY ONE WEEK OLD. It feels like she has been here and apart of our family for a lifetime. God is so good like that. We are so in LOVE with our sweet little girl. Ezra and Emersyn love her too. Emersyn could take her or leave her at times; like, sometimes she is really interested in where she is or what she is doing, then other times she just doesn't care. This probably ends up being a good thing for us. Ezra, on the other hand, is very interested in her and what she and I are doing. He is a great Big Brother, loving to hold her, talk with her and SING to her. OH SO CUTE!
Elynn is such a sweet, sweet baby! We are so IN LOVE!!

Gotta LOVE those Eilers cheeks

My three little LOVES

Her first bottle given by Big Brother

Making sure Elynn's swing works!

Elynn Sara Eilers

Elynn Sara Eilers

Born 1-28-2011

10:39 am

7 lbs 1 oz and 19 1/4 inch long

So, after waiting in anticipation since 31 weeks, to meet this little bundle of joy, SHE finally arrived at a healthy 37 weeks! We have been covered in prayer with this little one since the beginning of the pregnancy, but for sure since I went into the hospital at 31 weeks with pre-term labor. It has definitely been a ride, but God is good, all the time, and covered us in health and protection. I am so thankful that HE is in control and knew her birth date long before I even knew we were going to have her!

On Wednesday morning I went to the hospital around 7 am because throughout the night I was having mild contractions that were close together, but not anything strong, with some bleeding. I wasn't for sure it was true labor since the contractions were mild, but went in anyway because of the bleeding. I was checked and monitored for two hours. At that time, I was only dilated to 3 cm and 80% effaced with mild contractions that were not "active" labor. They even made me walk around the hospital for an hour to see if that would send me into active labor. After no progression, they sent me home and I went to see my OB. She sent me home and told me to go for a good walk, among other things, and that I would probably not make it until the weekend. Thursday was such a pretty day that I met a friend at the library and we did story time and lunch at the playground. I was having some contractions, but nothing to be mindful of and felt a little "off", but just figured it was from being checked twice at the hospital the day before. That night, the contractions started getting a little stronger but not regular. I wasn't feeling the best so I headed to bed early. At 2 am, I started having painful contractions but they were only about 8 to 10 minutes apart. By 4 am, after not being able to sleep, I decided to take a bath to see if that would relive some of the pain. It did not work! I got out of the bath and started bleeding. This bleeding was a heavier bleed and made me SUPER NERVOUS. I called my dr's office and talked to the on-call nurse. She told me that I had just lost my mucus plug (i am sure you wanted to know that! ha!) and that I should head to the hospital. Well, we got ready and were trying to get a hold of our neighbor to come stay with the kids until further notice. We could NOT get a hold of anyone, so we loaded up the kids and took them with us. Brent dropped me off at Labor and Delivery at 5:45am and waited in the car to see if they were going to admit me or not. I was admitted by 6am, dilated at 5 and 100% effaced. Brent got a hold of our neighbor and took the kids back home!! He got back in time (less than 5 minutes) before I got my epidural. I got the epidural around 730am and was checked again. I was already at an 8. They didn't want to break my water until my contractions were more on top of each other, so they gave me a little pitosin to get them closer together. Even with the epidural, I was still feeling all of my contractions, but with some of the edge taken off. They said they could up my dose, but I told them that I liked that I could feel them somewhat so I knew what was going on. My OB finally came in around 930 and checked me again. I was a 9 1/2 dilated. 10'clock she broke my water and with two pushes, little GIRL Elynn Sara Eilers was here by 10:39 am! It was such a smooth, fast delivery. Praise God!

It was only Brent and I in the room during the delivery, which was such a sweet special time for us. It was OH SO FUN not knowing who was going to come out, that when the baby was almost out, Brent looked at me and said "what do you think it will be?".  It was such a fun thing when the DR said, "It's a GIRL!". So sweet and so precious. I would not do it any differently!

We are so in LOVE with Elynn. She is the perfect combination of her sweet big brother Ezra with his cheeks, lips and chin, but so much like her big sister Emersyn with her eyes and nose. I LOVE IT! She is the skinniest little peanut. So perfect and precious.

Ezra and Emersyn love her! It was funny, Brent called his mom to let them know, and they were also watching the kids at that point, and he got Ezra on the phone and told him he had a little sister. Ezra at first said, "why?" (he was really wanting a brother) and Brent replied "because that is what God gave us" (great answer dad!) to which Ezra replied, "OH. Yay!". Super sweet. 

We are home. We came home Saturday afternoon. My mom is here this week, Praise God, and we are loving it. It is so sweet to be a family of 5! It still blows my mind that I am not yet 30 and I have 3 children. I am truly blessed. We are just going to soak up every minute of this baby stage because we know it goes by so fast. I am definitely looking forward to all of new stages we will go through this year. 

Thank you all so much for the prayers, concerns and things you have done to show your love and support. We are truly blessed to have you as family and friends.

Love,

The Eilers 5

Meeting Elynn for the first time

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her

Dr. De Los Santos with Elynn

So tired, already!

Too Precious for words!

Such the best big brother

great grammy (and middle name sake) with Elynn

Proud Daddy

Oma and Opa with Elynn

My precious 3

Mimi, Ezra and Elynn

Love this picture

Still Pregnant!

Just posting to let everyone know, I am STILL PREGNANT! I am 36 weeks this week, and am going strong. I feel good. I have been having contractions, but nothing to make me go into active labor, just enough to bother me and think "okay, today is the day!" Then, the contractions die out. I am thankful that baby E made it this far, but am OH SO READY to meet this little one now. Hopefully it won't be too much longer! I will keep you posted. Thank you for all the prayers! Now, we can just start praying that the baby will come soon!

5 Year Anniversary!

Today, Brent and I celebrate 5 years of marriage! It has been such a great journey. I just fall more in love with him with each new day. He was completely hand-picked by God for me! I love all of who he is and who he makes me! I can't imagine going a day without him. Each year has been a great one! 

We have been truly blessed during these 5 years with Ezra, Emersyn and baby E on the way! I am looking forward to the rest of my life with them!

Thank you Lord, for all you have done and what you are going to do!

Love you, Brent! Happy Anniversary!

Christmas!

We had the BEST Christmas this year! Being that I am at home on "strict" bed rest and Brent was on 2nd call this weekend, we were able to stay home and enjoy Christmas with just the 4 of us! It was such a blessed time. Christmas Eve was spent putting out cookies, milk and a note for Santa. Ezra and Emersyn went to bed early, both were very tired, and ready to go to bed, eager to see what Santa had brought. Brent and I stayed up late filling the stockings, setting out Ezra's new bike and putting Emersyn's kitchen together. It was a lot of fun doing that together. We had a very simple Christmas. Ezra woke up very ready to see if Santa had come. We had to wake Emersyn up so that we could all be excited together. Brent did a great job getting it all on film! Ezra was SOO excited to see his red bike with his lighting McQueen helmet and bell. His stocking also had a "Mac" truck that can hold his Pixar Cars. Emersyn was excited to see her new kitchen with a phone that makes noise. After testing out the new toys, Brent made us breakfast. We had coffee with coffee cake! Yum-O! Then we opened some other gifts from Mom, Dad and Grammy. Santa even surprised me with a new 13 piece set of POTS AND PANS! Stainless steel. So nice. My brother was hilarious, he said I must have been on the naughty list to get a present like that. Ha! I loved it though. We have really been needing this. The rest of the day was spent playing babies, riding bikes and scooters and just loving on each other.

Yesterday, Brent's family came over so we could celebrate "Eilers Chritmas". At first, I was a little stressed out about this thought. We were hosting the event at our house, while I am on strict bed rest. There were 11 Adults, and 9 KIDS! Lots of fun!! All the kids had a blast playing outside or in the game room. They played so well together and did an awesome job cleaning up. I really had a GREAT time. Stress free, and just fun. I love his family! The kids dressed up as the Nativity scene and had a book exchange. The adults had a great time with our Chinese gift exchange.

8 of the 9 cousins played a part. Ezra was a Shepard and Emersyn was an Angel 

All lined up ready to open their gifts.

This year was one of my Favorite Christmases yet! Next year, we will be a family of 5! That will be such a fun, sweet time!

Pregnancy Update

Well, a lot has happened in the past few days. It all started on Wednesday. I had a regular OB checkup that was only supposed to last 30 minutes. The week before, I had been having some contractions, so I mentioned them to my doctor. I didn't think much of them because they were inconsistent and nothing to really be concerned about. She decided we should do a Preterm Labor test (a Fetal Fibronectin Test) that determines if you will deliver within two weeks. She sent me home and said she would call me with the results and go from there. Both the doctor and I thought it would be negative, so I didn't think much of it. An hour later my doctor called and said the test came back POSITIVE! She instructed me to go to Methodist hospital to be monitored and get steroid shots that help improve the baby's lungs if I went into labor early. It was going to be just a little monitoring and then a shot, go home, come back the next day to get my 2nd shot and then I would be good. Well, while I was there, they did a sono to see how the baby was doing and to check my cervix. While we were waiting for the results of the sono, I started having strong, regular contractions and went into FULL labor! They immediately hooked me up to an IV with Magnesium Sulfate to stop the labor. I was then admitted to L&D. The sono showed funneling of my cervix which meant preterm labor also. By Thursday morning, my contractions had slowed, but were not stopped like they should have been. So, they were going to keep me on the mag sulfate for  a little longer. By midmorning, I had a HORRIBLE reaction to the mag sulfate. I was throwing up and having such bad chest pains. I really thought I was having a heart attack. They immediately stopped the mag and ordered an EKG. The EKG came back abnormal, so the mag sulfate was discontinued. After a few hours of being off the mag sulfate, I started feeling better. I was sent to see a prenatal specialist to do another sono to have them measure amniotic fluid, baby weight and look at my cervix. Everything looked a lot better. The positive thing about the mag sulfate is that my cervix firmed up again and was no longer funneling. By friday I was not having the contractions and was stable. I was moved from L&D to Antepartum. All of this and I am only 31 WEEKS along!
Long story short, I am hospital bed rest for at least this next week. The doctor said for 14 days, but I am hoping it won't be that long. She is going to determine that at the end of next week when she physically checks my cervix. She doesn't even want to go near that area because she thinks it will send me into labor again. When she checks it at the end of week and I am dilated, she said I have to stay in the hospital. If she checks and I am still closed, I will be able to go home and we will go from there. If I happen to go into labor again, they are not going to use any medications to stop it because of my bad reaction to the first one. The blessing is, the baby is measuring a week ahead and is at a good weight.
I know God has the EXACT birthday planned for this little one. I completely trust that and have peace with that. It is all in His hands and in His timing!
Thank you for your prayers and support. I will try to keep my blog updated with new news.