Bella is here!!! aka our birth story

Well Friday I was having braxton hicks pretty bad and Koda told me it was going to happen Friday. Well he was wrong. lol I took Koda to meet his Gee at 5 Friday afternoon so he could spend the weekend at his dad's. I came home played some Guitar Hero because I had been itching to :) Brad got home from work and we decided we were going to go to Willie's to play poker. And by play I mean him play and me watch. We went and picked up Mama Jo and headed to Willie's. After a few hours and when mom went out on the second game we decided we would take a walk around the block to hopefully entice little Miss Bella to be born. We took mom home around 1:30 or so, and went home. I was so wound up and not ready to go to bed that I stayed up until about 4:30. I finally went to sleep. Around 10:30 I felt a major pain that woke me up. I concluded that it was in fact a contraction. I had never felt one that actually caused me to wake up, so I figured it might be the day. Brad had to get up and get some things from the supply store to fix Mama Jo's house. So I decided I didn't want to be home alone having contractions and went with him.

Bad idea. Every time I had a contraction he would kind of freak out and ask if we needed to head to the hospital. I reassured him I would know when we needed to head that way. The contractions started getting about 5 minutes apart around 12 or so. We went to eat at Dairy Queen after we got the supplies we needed. The contractions were getting a little more uncomfortable. I text my mom (because she told me she got texts in the warehouse, not the case but anyway) and told her that I would let her know when we were headed to the hospital. We got home around 1:30 or so and I decided I would call the doc and see what they would like me to do. Well Dr. Inser called me back and said that I should go ahead and head to L&D. So we made sure everything was loaded up in the car and started to head this way. I text mom to let her know.

When we got here I did all the question answering stuff and they hooked me up to everything. The contractions began getting closer together and A LOT stronger. I ended up getting Stadol in my IV to help with the pain. They doc came in around 4ish and broke my water. At that time I was dilated to a 4. I called mom and she headed down here and let me tell you she got here in record time! lol My dad did too. He was headed to Austin for the weekend and turned around and came back. I kept feeling like I had to push and I wasn't dilated enough. The pain was intense. I don't remember it being that way with Dakota. So I decided to ask for an epidural. Brad kept asking me if I was sure because he knew I was going to try to go natural. I don't regret the fact that I had the epidural. It made my labor experience so much better. Around 6:30 I was dilated to a 7. At that time the doc asked who all was staying and who was going. :P So my mom & dad went to the waiting area while Brad came to my side. I gave probably 10 really good pushes and my baby girl was here! Brad got to put on her first diaper after they cleaned her up. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy.

About 30 minutes after I had her all 3 grandparents were able to come in the room. So needless to say she was spoiled within the first few hours. lol Mama Jo went home before it got dark so she wouldn't get lost in Dallas. And my mom & dad stayed until 11ish. We got to the room at 8 and had pizza delivered because boy was I hungry. lol

The first night was pretty sleepless. Bella has definitely got a set of lungs on her. lol Sunday was a good day. She got a lot of rest and so did we. We were supposed to be able to leave at 7 on Sunday, but Bella's jaundice levels were too high. So she's on a phototherapy pad and has her eyes covered and it breaks my heart not being able to look into her eyes.

We are hoping to be able to go home today. We are just waiting on the lab results. So keep your fingers crossed. Brad and I are going a little stir crazy being here.

Until we leave here is a slideshow of her first day in our world. She was born at 6:51 pm on 6/27/09. She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 1/4" long. We are so happy she is finally here.