Happy Birthday Isabela

Tomorrow is Bela's big birthday bash, it was supposed to be just a petting zoo with a llama, but the lady called today and asked if she could bring the pony instead of the llama because she couldn't fit both on the truck and she has a pony party right after us that needs the pony.  So we got a pony party for a discount!  Many pictures to follow tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Bela darling.

8 years ago, at 11:00 pm I started feeling the labor pains. I had so many false labors that I didn't believe it was real so I waited till 6:45am to call my midwife. She was concerned that I hadn't called her sooner and asked me to come into the Birth Center (in Copperas Cove, Texas) to have my first dose of antibiotic as I had tested positive for Group Beta Strep during pregnancy and we didn't want to pass it to the baby. I came in and had an IV and I was dilated to 3. They gave me a choice to either go home or stay there and I chose to go home and try to rest.

As I lay in bed at home, I had a hard time believing that this was really it. She was actually being born on her due date (and it was a Thursday too which meant no ER). I listened to the sounds in the house. The kids were running around playing with our friends who had come to celebrate our new arrival (when she got there) I could hear the phone ringing and the sounds of the doorbell now and then, and we even had a guy come to fix the dishwasher. David brought me a donut, which ended up sitting there until the next day because I was so nauseous that I couldn't keep anything down. I lay there until noon when I started spotting and I knew it was time to go.

By the time we got back to the birth center I was already dilated to 7 and it was about 12:45 pm. By then I knew that it was going to happen so I laid back to enjoy the ride and a beautiful ride it was. My labor was intense, but the contractions weren't very regular. The midwives were joking with me because in between contractions I was just talking away and you would have never known I was in labor. The contractions were strong, but hardly long enough to do anything and they kept telling me that we would never get this baby out at this rate, but slowly she came. I alternated between walking, lying down, crouching and sitting. Eventually the midwives started readying themselves for this baby to arrive. They put me in a warm tub, but I couldn't sit in there very long, so I got out and went back to the bed. David sat in the bed behind me with his arms around me. The contractions were coming very regular now and very strong. I didn't want to push, but I had to. The kids and our friends and my Uncle Zane were all gathered in a room in the birth center, watching movies and having a pizza party. They were eagerly awaiting their new baby sister who would soon make her way into the world.

At exactly 2:38 pm, on October 14th, 1999 she made her entrance into this world, in the Angel Room at the birth center, as David and I cried. I could feel her coming out and the midwives took my hands so I could reach down and catch her. David reached around too and we both caught her and immediately put her on my chest where she turned her head and nursed right away. The midwife said a prayer for us as David cut the cord. then they took her to clean her up and weigh her. She weighed an astonishing 8 lbs 9 oz after a good poo (which happened while she was in her Dad's arms right before they took her). She had really dark hair and beautiful blue eyes, which never changed.

I had lost a lot of blood so I asked the midwives to clean up a little before the girls and our friends came in. When the girls came in they were so excited to see their new baby sister!

Happy birthday to my beautiful IsaBela Rose girl, named for my great great grandmother Rose Belle McKune. Bela is 8 today and I can't imagine my life without her. All my love and cuddles go out to her today as I remember this beautiful experience that she gave me!
(sorry about the pictures, they are pictures of pictures since my scanner is broken.)
This one is our whole family with the midwives in the bed that Isabela was born in.

I hold your tiny fingers, today in my grown up hand
Everything I do is for you.
You looked at me and smiled, today and my heart just had to melt
I gave my heart to you when you were born.
You climbed up in my lap today and buried your face in my chest
and I cried with you as I tried to explain why the world was so cruel.
Your dimples, your smile, your eyes sparkling bright
your intensity and everything about you
You are mine and you are me
you are my love, my life, my child, my heart

(reposted from a few years ago)