Esa McNeily

           There is so much I can say about the journey that James and I have been on the last 9 months. More specifically the journey little Esa (pronounced Eh-Sa with a short e sound) and I have been on the last 5 months. Actually my pregnancy with her was for the most part easy as far as pregnancies go. I did have to take the "17-P" shot starting weekly at the 20th week of gestation. Those were a pain (literally) but I was blessed by very helpful friends and family that made working those into my weekly schedule possible.

        It's hard to explain how, but during pregnancy you start to get a feeling for your child's personality.

  Eden (my first) was always moving and her heart rate was alway fast, I felt kicks very early in my pregnancy with her. It was like she was saying "here I am, Im ready for this!". And she has been that way since the day she was born, when she held her head up and looked around a few hours after delivery.

  With Deacon, he seemed a little bit calmer. When I first felt him move he didn't move a lot but his movements were strong and he would roll over like he was trying to get comfortable. Even through all the drama of preterm labor at 28 weeks with him, he never seemed bothered. his heart rate was always good and he moved around like he wasn't going anywhere. And he didn't. When he was born he ate so much, and wanted to sleep right next to his mommy and daddy all night (and sometimes still tries).

      Now Esa she has been surprising for me. Almost like the Lord kept her a secret. We intentionally "tried" to get pregnant with her brother and sister, but not with her. She caught us off guard. And even after a few months I thought for sure she was going to be a boy, but she surprised us again. During my pregnancy I couldn't tell much about her other than she didn't move much at all. Which was a source of drama, me sobbing calling the midwife, James trying to comfort me ( my good friend Caimbrin trying to lovingly calm me down via txt). And before you think I'm exaggerating, towards the end of my pregnancy, I was sent to the hospital to be monitored twice because this girl just likes to chill all day :). 

 James and I couldn't come up with a name either nothing seemed to click. The only thing I could tell was that she needed a soft name. Finally we decided on McNeily (which is a family name on James side) and  after some research we found "Esa" which is the Finnish version of Isaiah. Her name means "God is my passionate salvation". 

November was a very difficult month for us. Not only did the Dr. at 36 weeks tell me I could have a baby any day (and waiting any day for 4 weeks). Each week someone was sick usually both kids. both had colds then ear infections. Deacon caught pneumonia and after both kids were on antibiotics and recovering pretty well we were hit with a stomach bug. I was the last one to get it, and ended up back in the hospital for dehydration and painful contractions. I was ordered onto bed rest due to Esa measuring so small under the 10 percentile for babies at 38 weeks. After a week and her only gaining 2 ounces they decided just to induce labor. That was Monday the 26th of November. She was born at 6:26pm and weighed in at 6lb 5.9 ounces (basically 6 o.) almost a lb heavier than they were saying Praise the Lord!

She is a very smiley, sweet baby! She likes to eat and she likes to sleep. And her big sister and big brother still want to see her first thing in the morning and right before they head off to bed. Even though its only been 5 days i'd say she fits right in.

Here are some more mommy and baby photo session pictures!