July was kind of a rough month for us. We had a couple members on both sides of the family pass away. Dan's great aunt and uncle Lib and Cuz who were in their 90's both died in a car crash while going out to eat after a doctors appointment one morning. And then Norma Mitchell on Brittany's side of the family died after having seizures while being on vacation in Europe and then being in a coma for a couple months.
Dan also was laid off work at the end of July. It was very unexpected and a huge blow. We were expecting our 4th baby and didn't know what we were going to do. We just had to have faith that Heavenly Father knew best and that we would be taken care of. We didn't know why and to us the timing of the layoff seemed SO unhelpful.
We did however receive a good severance package and the company continued our health coverage until just after our baby was due. So we went forward and Dan was able to find a part time job right away that he did while looking for full-time work. He landed his new job at Absolute Manufacturing Inc. Senior Aerospace right here in Arlington, and was able to start just one month after he was laid off. We now like to look at the layoff as an unplanned paid sabbatical. In fact, it was rather nice having Dan home a bit more before the baby came. Dan's layoff in lots of ways was a huge blessing in disguise.
Dan now works just 7 mins from home. He can sleep longer in the mornings and he no longer has a 2 hour long commute home in the evenings, he is able to come home at night and still have time to do things with the family. We have dinner together, go on walks, do projects around the house, and overall have more time to spend together. It may be a bit of a pay cut from what B/E Aerospace paid but the other benefits make it worth it. He has all the benefits with his 401K and health and dental coverage and he is able to add new skills to his resume. He says he enjoys learning something new and the people he works with are great and seem to value what he brings to the table. In fact he was just given a project at work that he will be in charge of overseeing.
So after all the hard times we had in July we were able to turn things around and enjoy the summer after all. With the Glenn Family Reunion at Fort Steven's, visits from friends, and various family outings we also had the special event of adding a new member to our family.
Ellie Grace Glenn was born At Providence Hosptial in Everett, WA on August 15th 2014, at 6:53 P.M. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long. She is beautiful!
The delivery was a bit unlike the other 3 since I didn't go into labor on my own this time. I was put on Pitocin to induce labor since she was post date and we were close to loosing/changing our health coverage due to Dan's layoff. The doctor decided it would be ok and less stressful for us to induce labor. And I am so very glad he did!
Dan and I had to be at the hospital at 6:30 in the morning and I was but on antibiotics for my Group B Strep and then we waited...I was then put on Pitocin and we waited...
At around 3:30 or so the nurse checked me and I had only dilated 1/2 cm from where I was when I came in that morning. Ugh....and so we waited...At about 6:00 the contractions from the Pitocin were a bit too much for me and I requested my epidural. Just shy of an hour later the Dr. came in and said he wanted to break my water to get things moving.
My nurse had told him not to since I was only at a 3.5 cm dilated when she checked me last and didn't think I was far enough along, but he decided it would help speed things up. As he checked me he got this surprised look on his face and turned to my nurse and said sort of accusingly, "what did you do to her."
Remember those contractions I had been having and couldn't stand anymore? Well, they had done the trick because baby was coming! The Dr.. told me not to push til he got back and I looked at him like, "where do you think you're going? The baby's coming I feel like I have to push and you're leaving?!" He just went to go get his gear on though it wasn't 3 minutes and he was back. It was time to push!
I felt sorry for my nurses though. They had been with me all day and when the exciting part came they had to switch shifts and a set of new nurses came in. It like the new nurses did hardly anything and got all the glory. Buuuut...I was happy to see that one of my new nurses was someone I knew and had just met at a Girls Night Out a couple weeks prior.
I pushed hard for about 4 pushes and Ellie Grace was here. The nurses put her on my chest and cleaned her up a bit. Since she came so fast she wasn't able to get all the fluid out of her lungs so it took a little bit to pink up. Daddy cut the cord and she was weighed and measured. I couldn't have been happier. She is beautiful! I also love how the nurses doctored up the hospital cap to have a bow in it. So cute!
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| The next day Grandma Shellie brought the kids to the hospital to meet their baby sister |
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| No baby of mine is safe from my camera lens! A week after being home and getting settled in to life with four kids, the camera came out for Ellie's first official photo shoot. I had bought a package of cheese cloth and a few colors of RIT dye and made the wraps myself. I also got some various yardage of textured fabrics at Joanne's. I love how they turned out! The photos turned out perfect too and after posting a few of them on my facebook page I landed two jobs to do some family pictures and senior pictures for a few people this coming weekend! I am pretty excited. |
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But here are a few more of the pictures from my photo shoot.
Ellie Grace Glenn is named after Dan's mom Shellie ("Shellie without the sh" is how grandma taught the kids to say it before we brought her home), and my mom Grace. Two name sakes for our beautiful little girl! We love you Ellie!
