At 34 weeks, my doctor found a small dark area inside of Ella near her ovaries. He thought it could possibly be a cyst that would go away in time but wanted to get a more in depth ultrasound done. He sent me to the prenatal department at a different hospital. While we visited with that department twice, they couldn't identify exactly what it was and since I was so close to being full term, they had me wait until Ella arrived to have her get a direct ultrasound.

It wasn't until she was two months old that she got an MRI performed. I did not want her going under anesthesia at all so I prayed like crazy that she would be still and calm throughout the scan. Thankfully, she did great. The MRI report came back that her so-called cyst was actually necrotic tissue from her ovary twisting in the womb. When her ovary twisted, it cause the blood circulation to be cut off and that is how the 'dead tissue' appeared.

Ella's pediatrician ordered a surgery consult for us to talk with the children's hospital about getting this tissue removed as it can cause infection if left inside. Our consult wasn't until she was four months old so the doctor wanted us to get another ultrasound done to see if it was still there and in or around the same place. We saw that it was and we had another consult to discuss procedure and to answer any questions we had such as if this would affect fertility, recovery time, etc.

May 12th is when we scheduled her for her surgery, two days after turning six months old. Since her covid screening was done within three months of the appointment, she never needed another test.

We arrived at the hospital at 6AM. Ella wasn't able to eat anything past 1AM the night before so I woke up at 12:30AM to feed her her last bottle and she did amazing the morning of. We waited a little over an hour in our own private room for them to take her back and then we moved to the waiting area.

​They performed a laparoscopy on her with three small incisions across her belly. We waited in the waiting room for probably 45-ish minutes before the doctor came to tell us how everything went and what it really was. He provided us with images from the surgery to show that it was her left ovary that had died and broke off. He removed the dead ovary and used absorbable sutures to close the incisions up and also applied medical adhesives (or skin glue) to keep them protected. She did extremely well. We were able to go back to recovery about 10 minutes after the doctor had talked with us. She was definitely ready for her bottle and snuggles.

They took us to post-op where we sat in a room for about an hour while she was still hooked up to her IV. 

Ella was still pretty tired from the anesthesia but by the end of the night, she was back to her smiley and giggly self. We were so impressed with how well she handled everything. She acted like nothing even happened.

We were told to not submerge her incisions/glue in water for at least a week and also that they would started peeling around that time frame but not to pick at them. The first adhesive fell off around two and half weeks and the others followed soon after. Even today (June 5th) you can see the marks but she healed super quickly and is such a happy baby!

"How?" I can't count how many times I have heard that question. Throughout this blog post, I will walk you through everything that I do regarding Ella's sleep. There is no one singular thing that I did/do to make Ella sleep through the night.

What works for my child may not work for yours so take all this information with a grain of salt.

I never followed a specific method of sleep training or any of that. The only thing I really did was implement a bedtime routine EARLY on and watch for tired cues throughout the day.

I never use the crib for naps unless she's already asleep in my arms. Now, this will change when she starts being more mobile and rolling a bit more consistently because I use the Boppy lounger, swing or her playmat for naps. And before you come at me about the Boppy lounger getting re-called, I just want to say, she isn't left unsupervised and she's also older. As a newborn, I would have her use the flat baby lounger to take naps.

I keep her in a bright and noisy place for naps throughout the day. I'm no expert about how babies minds work but when I put her down in her crib at night - it's dark and the only thing she'll here is ocean sounds (thanks Alexa) - then it seems like she knows its bed time.

Her naps range anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and half. Not very consistent but it's not something I typically care about as much as night time sleep. When we all get enough sleep at night, we are much happier during the day, haha! At night, she started sleeping about 7-8 hours at first and progressed to 10-12 hours. It varies but she's still giving us pretty decent stretches throughout the night.

Watching for tired cues was a little vague to me at first. I didn't know how to determine what Ella's cues were. We started play time around a month old and it helped me determine them fairly quickly. Ella's specific tired cue is, and this may be every baby but maybe not, putting her hands to her eyes like she's rubbing them.

I lay her down when she's awake. That's something I read online and tried. I was floored when she fell right asleep after going with my gut feeling of watching for her tired cue. It may, also, be something you have to try again and again until you figure out what your baby's cue is. The reason you lay them down awake (or half awake) is that when you transfer them to their crib or bassinet, they may feel like they're falling and you'll see that startle reflex that may wake them up and result in getting fussy.

​Ella's Bedtime Routine

- bath every night (I don't use soap on her every night because it can dry her skin out)
- while she's in her towel, I rub her down with unscented lotion and apply Calmer essential oil from doTERAA on her feet and chest; I also take this time to get any lint or hairs that didn't come out of her toes in the bath
- transfer her to her onesie
- feed her a bottle (they may start to fall asleep the bottle but try your hardest to keep them awake so they will sleep in the crib/bassinet)
- once she's done feeding and I burp her, I swaddle her up - occasionally she'll fall asleep as I wrap her but not always
- as I go into her nursery, I tell Alexa to "play ocean sounds", lay her in her crib and put the Paci in her mouth (if she's still awake)
- about 30 minutes after I lay her down, I check to see if she spit the Paci out (she usually does), I'll move it away from her so she doesn't wake herself up by nudging it

***as I write this blog post, this is the order we follow BUT when she is done with Leap 3, I will put 'bottle' before 'bath time' because I don't want her to associate a bottle WITH bedtime like she has to feed in order to go to bed. Again, I don't know how babies minds work but that's just how I do it.

I just want to reiterate that I am NO expert and what works for me may or may not work for you. But I hope you got some insight on possibly how to treat your baby's sleep schedule.

Do you follow a specific method? Do you do anything similar to our schedule? Different? Let me know in the comments.

My entire pregnancy, I wondered how I would go into labor. Would I be in the shower? Sleeping? Driving? Was it even okay that I was driving at 39 weeks pregnant? I don't know.

My doctor had told me that I could try pumping, intimacy and  bouncing on an exercise ball. I had been using my exercise ball through my pregnancy so I was ready to try something different and since I wasn't 'feeling myself' enough to be intimate with my husband, I decided to try pumping.

I didn't break out my electric pump so I just used my haakaa. I used it mid-afternoon on November 9th and went into labor that evening starting around 8:30PM with minor contractions. I hadn't had contractions my entire pregnancy so I knew something was happening. Brandon and I had gotten in bed and tried to get some sleep. He fell asleep instantly but the contractions were coming too often for me to fall out. I started timing them with the app I used throughout my pregnancy. They were mostly within ten minutes apart.

​Around midnight, I had told Brandon that I have been timing my contractions and that we may have to go to the hospital. He just casually started walking around the house getting his clothes on and stuffing his things in his pockets while I was still laying in bed. I debated if I should really go to the hospital or not because I've heard labor could take hours and I would've rather been comfortable at home for as long as I could. We did decide to go  because first, I've never done this before so I didn't know what to expect. Second, my contractions were where they needed to be and third, the hospital was about 30 minutes away.

We got to the hospital around 1AM. They checked me in and the lady behind the counter looked at me and said "you're definitely in labor" because of how flushed I looked. We waited for about 40 minutes until they got me a room.

I got settled and changed into the hospital gown. I was FREEZING! I guess it was partially from the nerves but I had to get several warm blankets and that helped a little but not a ton. My nurses stuck my IV in and while I was waiting for the doctor to come give me the epidural, my IV had started coming out from me moving around.. oops!

My nurses started to switch my IV to my right hand as soon as the doctor came in to give me the epidural. They figured they could knock them out at the same time but as they were both pricking me, my heart rate shot up to 127bpm.

The epidural didn't go in right at first. It felt like the bottom right side of my back was concrete, it was so stiff. Then, voices started sounding robotic and the room started to slow. I never actually passed out but I imagine that's what it would start out like. I slowly started to feel better. My nurses had already secured the IV so we just needed to try the epidural for a second time. It was successful and I immediately felt shivers again from the coolness affect it had on my back.

After about 15 minutes, I couldn't feel any more contractions and my legs were completely numb I couldn't lift them. It felt like was paralyzed from the waist down but it was totally fine since I wasn't in any more pain. Brandon and I just chilled in our room for several hours with the nurses checking on me every so often. I couldn't get comfortable enough to actually sleep but I did get about 10-15 minutes here and there.

​The nurses checked my cervix when I first arrived and I was 4cm dilated. I hadn't progressed until 10am when I was at 7cm. My doctor had come in and broke my water assisted by my nurse and failed to mention, until they were actually doing it, that I would feel immediate pressure. Sure enough, I had the WORST contraction in my lower right pelvic area that just would not let up. It was the most painful experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. A doctor had come to give me a dose of something to help with the pain but that lasted all of five minutes except for the fact that it helped to split them up like actual contractions.

11am rolled around and the pain was unbearable. Y'all it hurt so bad that I COULDN'T cry! I tried describing it to my nurse saying it felt like it was burning and freezing at the same time with some intense sharp pain. I felt like I was going to be sick, I was sweating and tempted to yank everything off of me to get in another position but I had no strength. She had told me that it sounds like Ella was face up. I didn't quite know what to do with that information. She just left it at that until she was done at the monitor. She checked me again and I was at 9cm. She had told me the only way I was going to feel better was if I started pushing any time I felt that pain. When she told me that, I did it. No questions asked. I would've done anything to help the pain I was feeling.

After a few pushes, she remembered I had asked for a mirror to watch the birth. I told her it was fine but she sent someone to get one for me. The whole time I was pushing, I just thought I was helping my pain and not actually making progress. However, when they set up the mirror and I could see myself, I realized I WAS making progress. I could see a sliver of Ella's head and I was shocked. My nurse had suggested I wait for my doctor to get to the room before pushing any more but I couldn't help but continuing since that was the only thing that seemed to help the pain. He got there about five minutes later with plenty of time to deliver her. I guess them actually setting me up in the position and seeing the 'tools' down at the foot of the bed made it real and more nerve racking than several minutes ago when I was just pushing to relieve pain.

Delivery took about 45 minutes total but it felt like 15. I felt Ella's head crown and release and then one more push for her body and she was out! Ella Rose Wren, born at 11:47AM on November 10th, 2021.

​They laid her on my chest and I was so in awe. I couldn't believe that I was now a mom and that this 7lb 13oz baby was mine.

Brandon cut the umbilical cord. There was one more push and some pressure applied to my stomach to release the.. extra stuff.

The nurses cleaned Ella up and left us alone with her for about an hour. It was nice to have some quiet time but we had no idea what we were doing, haha! We just held her and stared at her. I was so tired from staying up for more than 24 hours so I had Brandon put her in the bassinet for me to be able to doze off for a minute. Some nurses came in to push on my stomach some more (this is so everything goes back in place correctly after moving around for baby).

Two hours or so after delivery, my legs felt normal enough to walk on so I cleaned up and wheeled Ella to our recovery room.

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