Bella's BIRTH Day

I hope I can do this day justice with my words. It's true what they say about the day your children are born....hands down best day(s) of my life. But even more than that.....it's as if the details and memories of those days are irrevocably etched in your mind forever. The day Bella was born was quite possibly the fastest day that ever passed by. Well of course it seemed fast after the previous two weeks that had dragged along an a snail's pace leaving me to wonder if the misery and discomfort and pain would ever end. My stomach was maxed out on stretching and I couldn't breathe (let alone take a deep breath) without sending stabbing pain through my right lower rib area. After a fall in the pouring rain at 37 weeks along I was feeling even more discouraged and miserable after adding a bum knee to the mix and damaged pride. That part was due to the fact that I had an audience of friends as I slipped and flew forward landing on my knee and my belly. Talk about a mixture of pain and panic. Pain in my knee....panic about my belly. A million prayers were said that night as I sat holding my belly willing her to kick so I'd be reassured that she was alright. Everything was fine....just ended up with a wicked limp for a couple days. Cue the extra whining....I was wearing out the two people that lived in the house with me....they were growing quite tired of my crankiness. After my trip to Mercy I had spent a couple of weeks off work recovering. I was constantly worried that I'd never return to work before the baby arrived which had me panicked about my maternity leave and vacation time situation despite constant reminders from Riley that I needed to stop worrying and calm down. I ended up working half days in our clinic thanks to my extremely understanding boss and coworkers. This ended up being a wonderful blessing as I was able to cut back on the physical part of my job by cutting out the driving, lifting, getting in and out of the car and I was able to avoid the heat as well by being indoors and staying put in one location during the day. I worked six half days before Tuesday, June 17th arrived. I had planned to go into work after my doctor's appointment that morning. I actually put on makeup, fixed my hair and wore clothing that wasn't a pair of scrubs or exercise maternity pants. I felt the best I'd felt in quite a few days. The discomfort was still there....after all I had THIS in front of me.......

I sat in my car in the hospital parking lot that morning saying a prayer for Bella and hoping desperately to hear the words "you're getting close" from Dr. Lehman. My idea of close was like that day. After all, I was in uncharted territory. At this point I had just passed 38 weeks and my first pregnancy ended at 37 weeks. Me no like uncharted territory. I was even at the point where I was ready to discuss induction. I waddled up to the office and chatted with the staff about my seemingly unrealistic expectations of going into labor that day considering I'd had no contractions for five days straight. But low and behold I soon found out that I was dilated to a 4 and had a bulging water bag. YES, a 4!!! Instant relief. Instant happy mode. Then I heard the sweet words that were music to my ears...."you will be having this baby before the weekend comes....I wouldn't be surprised if you went into labor today." I sat on the table in a haze of happiness while we discussed how high Bella was riding in my tummy despite my progression with dilation....this meant he wanted me to waste no time coming to the hospital if contractions kicked in. He told us about the risk of cord prolapse if my water were to break with the baby being so high. That was enough to get me geared up and mentally ready. I hurried home and began to pack all of our bags and do some very last minute random acts of nesting. Yep, I could be found organizing my plastic container drawer. Because you can't bring a baby home without an organized plastic container drawer, right? I had the car loaded, dishes put away, laundry started and house picked up in under an hour. I was ready for the pain to start....just waiting and wishing for the real deal to happen. Optimism at its most desperate I suppose. A little over an hour into my mad dash around the house I began to feel those contractions that make you say "hmmm, that's different." They came on fast and didn't stop. After twenty minutes of consistent contractions every five minutes I knew that I had better call Riley. I told him I was going to go pick up Hallie from VBS and drop her off at Paula's on my way to the hospital. He was not a fan of this plan but I gave him my sob story about having one last bit of time with my Hallie...just the two of us. See...optimism continuing....in my mind I had no doubt that I'd be having that baby before the sun went down that day. I ran into Lauren at the church who then texted a nurse on the floor to let her know that I would be up there soon. Pastor Shannon approached me to ask how I was doing and I casually mentioned that I was in labor and that I was headed to the hospital. I got a very surprised and strange look...naturally. ;) I picked up our first born and had a rather tense car ride and dropoff at daycare despite my hopes that we would have a sweet little moment together with lots of hugs and "I love yous." Nope...just some dirty looks being shot my way in the rearview mirror and lots of crying. I told her that she would probably be meeting her lil sis that evening but she was too distraught to even listen let alone care. Mkay. I chalked it up to Big Sister Syndrome, kissed her goodbye and drove straight to the hospital where I met Riley at the ER entrance. It's kinda funny (no wait, really funny) to walk up to the receptionist and say very nonchalantly "I'm in labor." She gave me that look as if to say "yeah right, false alarm girl, you may as well go home." Ha! Nope, no going back home for me. By the time I was wheeled up to the room at 12:30 and lying in my bed in the birthing room I had already dilated to a 5. Active labor baby! Let's get this show on the road! The contractions became more uncomfortable around 2:30 or so but nothing I couldn't talk through. After all, I'd had some practice up at Mercy with pain. I lasted about two hour with deep breathing until I finally needed an epidural around 4:30.

This experience was both the same and different when compared to Hallie's Birthday. I labored during the night with Hallie but found that I enjoyed laboring during the day with Bella SO much more. The group of nurses who cared for us that day were beyond wonderful. All of them were familiar to Riley and I (I guess that kinda happens when you have a baby where your hubby works) which made the whole process that much easier....

Things were very similar in regards to the amount of time I was in labor....about 7 hours with both girls. Bella owed me at that point and she paid up with a quick and relatively easy labor. Here's where I tell you about the hard part. My epidural experience was no fun at all. The first one hit a vein and left me with a pale face, dizziness and plummeting blood pressure. Eeek! Thank goodness it passed within a minute. The second try was painful and ended up only working for a portion of my body....I couldn't feel my legs....BUT I could feel the part of my body that I most certainly did NOT want to feel. Immediately after my epidural was when the babe began to have a few heart decels which is exactly what happened last time around. Oxygen went on and I spent the next hour on my side. By that time I was dilated to nearly a 7 and still having contractions up very high....which was pleasant at the time since my epidural was working in that area. Once I reached a 7 Dr. Lehman slowly broke my water bag (and I do recall him saying something about "here comes Lake Bella") and that's when the rubber met the road. I could feel Bella FINALLY drop and I knew it wouldn't be long. As if things hadn't been progressing quickly enough I suddenly felt the pain down low....quite a bit of pain considering I had planned on not being able to feel it. Ha! At an 8 by this time. Fifteen very short minutes later I was at a 9. That's when I realized that my epidural and I really weren't going to be friends. All the while I was mashing my button to get more meds into my system I remember desperately looking at Jamie and saying "is there a way to fix this!?!?!?" She broke the lovely news to me that I'd just have to feel what was happening but reminded me that it would help move the pushing along quicker since I'd know how to push if I could feel. But folks....I just didn't want to feel it. I avoided the flood of tears that would have liked to spill out everywhere...mainly because I blinked and suddenly Dr. Lehman was in the room and it was time to start pushing. No turning back. The "I'm finally having a baby today" smile that had been plastered on my face for the majority of the afternoon was GONE and replaced with a horrible grimace and an "I feel like I'm going to die" face. I know this to be entirely true because my dear friend Kristen asked if she could stay and take some pictures for us during and after the delivery. If you know me well then you know I'm painfully and awkwardly modest. I was always the girl in junior high and high school running off to change in the bathroom stall instead of by my locker so I could avoid showing my sports bra to anyone (gasp). Lol. So I was glad that I made a rare split second decision to have her take pictures because I cherish them now. Naturally I can't share all of them on here but they are amazing memories to have. Here's a shot of Riley right before the pushing began. If he wasn't so darn cute I would've wanted to smack him for looking so relaxed and pain free. Ha!

Riley was a quiet and calm presence beside me helping me push and Dr. Lehman kept me focused and as calm as I could possibly be all the while screaming and grunting in pain, pain, pain. This guy was wonderful from beginning to end of this very interesting pregnancy. I just love this picture....

 

Eleven minutes of pushing was all it took and I was holding my baby.....

At 6:34 p.m. Bella Kaye Fanning entered our lives weighing in at 7lb12oz (quite a surprise considering I thought I had been carrying a gigantic baby toward the end of the pregnancy) and 20 inches long. The picture above is a much cleaner version of sweet Bella (this was after her time spent getting cleaned up in the warmer). Riley was able to cut the cord this time around and commented later that it was tougher to cut through than he thought it would be. The nurse brought her straight to my chest and my first words were "oh my goodness, she looks just like Hallie!" She laid on me for about a minute...that's when we all noticed that her color was not too hot. More like cold. Blue in fact. And floppy. They snatched her up and took her to the warmer where they used oxygen and some stimulation to liven her up. I was waiting not so patiently to hear her sweet voice. The first few minutes of meeting our newest daughter became a bit scary and tense. 

 

It seemed like forever passed by before she was finally able to belt out a good newborn scream and it was such a relief when I heard her say "hello" to the world. Her color had improved in her head and torso but her limbs were still a startling blueish gray. They were able to bring her over to me and Riley held the little oxygen cord up by her nose while I held her and talked to her. Sweet relief! Such a flood of emotions......

After all of the action that had just happened Riley thought he needed some supplemental oxygen of his own....

And he even shared with Jamie....

Then the laughing started....

I already wanna do this again.....

A very quick hour flashed by and I remembered that we had some very excited people waiting outside to meet their newest family member. But first we wanted to have some time alone with our two girls together. Enter BIG SIS. She was sporting a head of messy hair and her official big sister shirt. Riley carried her into the room and she hesitantly looked at me in the bed and then couldn't contain her smile once she spotted her sister. Huge cliche but I'm not even close to kidding when I say that it was love at first sight. This girl was meant to be a big sister to a little sister. She was gentle and quiet (at first) as she leaned over to give Bella a kiss on the head.....

The curiousity soon took over and she wanted to hold the oxygen tubing, rub her head, grab her blanket to check out her tiny body, etc.....

I let her hop in the bed with us to calm her down a little and she snuggled up for a bit while we talked about how pretty sissy was....

She went back to the warmer while the nurses helped me change and clean up for our other family members to come on in. Riley and Hallie kept Bella company....

Hal was intriuged by Bella's bracelet and wanted one of her very own....

Having Kristen in the room was a blessing tenfold. Not only did she help coach me through the pushing and capture priceless memories on my camera but she happens to be the lactation consultant for the hospital and is a breastfeeding guru. With her in the room giving me some guidance we tried a short little feeding session before inviting family to come in. These patient folks deserved a cookie for being so understanding while we got Bella stable and had our little moment with Hallie. Well, maybe not so little....two hours passed by in the blink of an eye before they were able to come back and meet Miss Bella....

Bella was swaddled up and looking quite scrumptions ready to meet some of the most important people in her life. Nothing quite like the feeling of getting ready to show off your baby to your family. Such a proud moment....

It's no secret that my sister can be on the loud side and very animated when she's excited, so when she first spotted baby girl it was no exception. I'm so glad Kristen got a few shots of her priceless expressions....

Papa Bill and Gman's faces just say it all right here....

A picture's worth a thousand words....but in this case it's worth a million....

It's a miracle Aunt B let anyone else hold her that night....

They passed sweet B around while I recounted the details of the day that had just unexpectedly happened....

 

As long as I live I don't think I'll ever get over the pain of not being able to share exciting moments with my mom. But my dad's love and enthusiasm takes some of the sting away. Just look at this smile....

Proud Papa couldn't wait to get his hands on his third granddaugther and get a picture to show off at work the next day.....

Nanny was wrangling a certain three-year-old who was way past exhausted but she was able to stay for a few minutes to meet baby girl....

Probably imagining all of the spoiling she's going to do....

Aunt Katie arrived next and fell head over heels in love with her niece.....

Rachelle and Lauren just couldn't wait to snuggle with B so they popped in that evening to visit. Katie and Bailey were still there at the time so the five of us (well six counting Bella) had a fun time before it was time for everyone to head home. They've been officially appointed the title of honorary aunts.....

Rachelle soothed Bella with her thick southern "aunt Chelle" accent while we all died laughing...

We had a few more snuggles alone with baby girl before it was time to get up and head down the hallway to a different room....

I was so ready to get out of that bed. I forgot how strange it felt to get up for the first time after having a baby. I felt so free and relieved....no bowling ball hanging in front of my body anymore. Although my legs were still a bit numb I felt like doing some jumping jacks or running down the hallway....not that I could have or would have....but like I said I felt free. Ha! By the time we were settled in our new room it was already 11:00. Time to hit the hay? Yeah right! Time to really meet our new daughter. The sweet little being that we created needed to be examined, loved on, kissed a billion times, have her toes and fingers counted and she was begging to be stared at for endless amounts of time. So we did all of those things. ;) 

 

It still seems a bit odd to me but she was given her bath around 2:00 a.m. She returned to me all snuggly and warm in her swaddle and within a couple of minutes I knew she had already decided she wasn't going to be a swaddle baby. Maybe she just wanted to get her hands and arms out so that she could hold onto my finger. ;) Sweetie wrapped her tiny hand around my finger and that's when my heart finished the melting process. Riley had settled in on a rollaway bed (which he thought was actually pretty comfy) and didn't move much throughout the night. I got maybe 90 minutes of sleep due to the fact that I didn't want to sleep. I wanted to stare at the baby. And learn how she likes to eat. And talk to her. And chat with the nurses. And check Facebook. Ha! Glutton for punishment I suppose. Or more like a glutton for fresh baby smell. Either way I really didn't care when the sun rose on the 18th of June. I was on cloud nine and not coming down....

Dr. K did an exam early that morning and baby girl returned to our room with a clean bill of health. Jai surprised us with a visit before she started her work day. We loved showing her off.....

Daddy stayed in the room with us most of the day despite being at his place of work. It took some impressive self-control for this funny guy to stay put and not try to go up to his office to work. He was far too busy looking at her and saying "man, she's an angel." He commented several times about his plans to make her a daddy's girl. I also can't forget that he thinks she's going to be the quiet one like him. More like goofy....

 

Bella's sister was giddy to see her that afternoon. Riley picked her up from VBS and brought her up for some family time. First on her agenda....holding sissy. She was very quiet and calm...and even a little timid. She was just in awe...you could see it all over her face....

Sheesh! Just when I thought I couldn't be anymore proud as a mom I get to hand over my baby to my baby....

We propped Bella up next to Hallie in the bed and they had a little chat. Hal's voice goes up about a thousand octaves when she speaks to Bella. It's cute. Way cute. She got down by her face and said things like "sissy in here to hold you Bella" and "big sissy loves you." 

Oh come on with this picture. I can't take it! 

Lauren was still itching for some more baby snuggles so she stopped by on her lunch break and kept us company.....

Papa Bill and Aunt Katie had been busy that morning showing off pictures of the tiny one and made some time to come up for a visit during lunch....

Aunt Kylie an Michael made the trip from Stillwater to meet her. Aunt Ky doesn't mess around when it comes to her little nieces! She was so excited to hold her! 

She was one happy baby with all of this love from visitors. I mean really happy. Just as content as could be. We were beginning to wonder if they'd switched her with another baby in the nursery. But clearly there was no mistaking who she belonged to.....

Great Grandma Ida and Great Aunt Michelle came to visit and love on little one....

Grandma wouldn't share with Michelle. No really. She didn't want to stop holding her. ;) 

Several of Riley's coworkers stopped by that afternoon.....

 

 

Aunt Katie returned that afternoon after work but this time she brought along cousin Carmen. Carmen was gentle and sweet but wasn't sure what to think of her.....

Hal showed up for the second time that day and introduced Bella to Aunt Lisa, Uncle David and Dara...

So many people came to show love that day and I had even forgotten how very tired I was. Balloons, cards, flowers and stuffed animals for Hallie Grace decorated the ledge by the window. Our family and our hearts were complete!!! 

Or were they???????? 

The picture above was taken after Bella and I's first night alone together. I sent Riley and a very discombobulated Hallie home to sleep in their own beds in an attempt to get Hallie back on track....just any track....we didn't care which one. My baby and I had snuggled all night long (it was the only way she wanted to sleep). In the wee hours of the morning she tilted her head back and opened her eyes to look at me....then she reached her hand up and grabbed onto my pinky finger. And then she let out the sweetest baby sigh you ever did hear. Folks, that right there was the moment I decided I suddenly wanted to have a third child. ;) 

Happy BIRTHday Bella. Oh what a happy day it was!