Our Baby Girl

So we are awaiting the arrival of baby number 2, and I suddenly realized that it won't just be me and my little girl anymore. And now, instead of hoping that Casen comes anytime, I am hoping for one last weekend of enjoying some girl time! I also realized that I started this blog well after Bella was born, so I wanted to contribute a post all about our little baby girl, who is now our big girl. I know, as though almost every post isn't about her, but I wanted to tell her story before everything changes...

Chad and I were definitely not planning on having kids for a few more years when... surprise! And, of course, with everything in our life, it was a crazy 10 months. Chad was working so much for his construction company that he had decided to take a break from school for a semester. We found out two weeks later we were expecting, and we were both relieved that we had made that decision. We saved up our money and bought a little HUD home that needed a bit of fixing up. We closed on it the day before we needed to be out of our apartment, and while I was (again conveniently when we move) about six months pregnant. Since the house was in pretty rough shape, we put some stuff in the house, but "moved" in with Chad's parents for a few weeks while we painted and redid the floors. Well, two weeks turned into three months of Chad working until 8, and then working on our house until 1am. Finally, about a month before our due date, the house was "ready" to move into. It was very hard trying to get settled in, and there were still a lot of projects that needed to be done (like the kitchen, which was lacking a dishwasher still), but we were at least in the house before the baby! (thanks to a lot of hard work from our friends and family, and of course, my wonderful husband!!!)

My pregnancy was very relaxed, and Bella and I were content with the "situation," she was much easier to take care of in my tummy than out of my tummy, so I was okay with her staying put! She hardly ever kicked or seemed to mind her tight quarters, so she seemed content to stay put too. Since Chad and I were still in the newlywed stage, we still went out with our friends almost every night and stayed up late. It was the night before Isabella's due date, and we were up late having a snack and hanging out. We finally went to bed around 12:30, and I got up to pee around 2:30. I was on my way back to bed and I suddenly peed my pants. I thought, that was weird, I just peed. So I went back to the bathroom and it just kept coming. I was like, really, you couldn't have waited like 6 more hours so I could have slept a little longer! So I walked back to the hallway and I yelled at Chad. He rolled over and I told him my water broke. He said "Really, are you serious?" and I said "YES" and he rolled over and fell back to sleep! Nice, huh. So I yelled at him again, not wanting to walk around the house too much because I was a mess. He finally got up and we tried to get things organized and under control, but there seemed like no stopping the fluid, so we just went into the hospital. They checked me, and I was still at a zero, so they hooked me up to petocin (which was horrible stuff). And then I got to lie in bed like a beached whale and wait.... and wait... and wait! The contractions were right on top of each other, and I couldn't eat or sleep, I was absolutely miserable. Finally, after 8 hours, I was dilated to a four and they agreed to give me an epidural. The epidural was great, but I still wasn't progressing. And after another six hours, instead of moving up, I had gone back down to a two! And then, both me and Isabella started going into shock. Neither of us had had anything to eat or drink, let alone any sleep, and Bella was stuck in the birth canal. Finally, they decided to do an emergency c-section. I got a quick blessing from Chad and his dad, and then was wheeled in for surgery. They pulled Bella out as Chad was walking into the room, and I saw her for two seconds before they rushed her out, and Chad went with her. I was in the recovery room for three hours, saw Bella again as they wheeled me past the nursery, and then I was too drugged to remember much of anything else for the next few hours. I do remember the nurse in the recovery room telling me about my baby girl, who was 8 pounds, 20 inches, and was born at 8:20pm (on her due date). Between all the drugs and everything else, it was a couple of days before I could really take in that we were parents! And we had a perfect little girl!!!

As Isabella has gotten older, I can't believe how amazing she is, and how lucky we are to have her in our lives! Her little personality was apparent even when she was coming into this world, she was born on her due date and weighed an even 8 pounds and was exactly 20 inches long, born at 8:20. But she didn't make it easy to get here. And that is still the way that she is. She likes to do things right, and if she knows she can't say something right or do it right, she won't even try sometimes. She loves to be the center of attention, and is definitely a little performer. She has always known she is cute, and learned to work that angle before we even knew what was happening. I remember her being so little and doing something I told her not to do. I asked her if she needed a time out, and she said "uh huh" and went and stood in the corner with her hands on the wall, and then she turned around and just smiled at me. It was really hard for me when she turned three and she really was a big girl. She started talking so much (and talking back). It was so sad to see my baby girl grow up! But she is usually such a great kid (except all the attitude sometimes). She likes to make you happy, and is really concerned when someone is upset or sad. When she likes something, she is very passionate about it. Right now she loves ballet, pink, making sand castles at the park, and babies! She is so excited for her baby brother to come and to be a big sister! She is usually pretty helpful, and loves to help clean. I just can't believe how smart and funny, and stubborn she is! It is amazing to watch her grow up, and to think we are about to do it all over again. We have enjoyed having our little family of three, but I know it needs to grow, and Isabella definitely needs a sibling or two! I also know she is going to be a GREAT big sister! I know it is weird to be blogging this now, but I wanted to tell her story before we start a new chapter.... coming very, very soon!