Baby Lovebug

Well hello! Yes I am VERY behind on blogging – it’s been gosh forever…but a lot has happened since the last (only:) post…I gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Isabella (Lovebug), intervention-free and naturally on December 11th at 4:54 AM at Inanna Birth Center in Denton, with about a 6 hour labor. She weighed 8 pounds and 4 ounces, was 21 inches long, and as healthy as can be…Today is her 1-month birthday – WOW, how time flies when you’re having fun!

Pic taken day Isabella was born - December 11, 2007

SO, here is my account of Lovebug's birth (and yes, it's long - I promise most posts won't be this long :):

It was an absolutely incredible experience that I will never forget. The night prior to the birth, I went and worked out at the gym, went to yoga class, and then came home where my Love and I enjoyed some yummy winter soup and decorated our Christmas tree. As I started to get ready for bed, I started having contractions, around 10:45 or so. They started off pretty intense – I tried to go to sleep but couldn’t so we began timing them, which we did for an hour. They were already 2.5 – 3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute so we called our midwife, Jean, who told us to get up to Denton.

We finished packing up some things and my Love loaded up the car and off we went – it was about 12:30 AM or thereabouts at this time. I don’t remember tons regarding the drive as my contractions were coming very fast and I was very focused, but I do remember it being extremely foggy out and I think in between contractions I remember my Love running a red light or two and passing some cars :).

Pic taken December 12, 2007

We got to the birth center around 1:15 and Jean checked and saw that I was already dilated to a 9! So that was pretty crazy…it got more intense after that…I stayed vertical to allow gravity to assist in the process so I did a lot of pacing to get through the contractions and I remember doing a lot of hip swaying and rocking while squatting on the birth ball. It was just so serene and peaceful at the birth center and I can’t imagine having my baby anywhere else (except maybe my own home – next one hopefully:) as I was so comfortable…It was so incredibly quiet and dark and very intimately beautiful…Jean had lit some candles in the room prior to us arriving so there were no lights on…and we had brought our oil diffuser so my favorite essential oil of lavender lingered lightly in the air.

It was just my Love and I alone together in the room most of the time with Jean coming in occasionally, which I loved. It just seemed so surreal as it was happening so fast. After some time, Jean checked me again and my water broke…it was clear – no meconium – so I decided to get into the birth tub sensing I would start pushing soon. I did indeed get the urge to push not too long after being in the tub and did that for maybe 30 minutes or so before I decided to get out and do the remaining pushing on the bed. I never had any back pain during the labor so that position felt fine thankfully…

Pic taken December 17, 2007

I pushed for maybe another 30 – 40 mins, while Jean, her wonderful assistant, Lynne, and my amazing husband encouraged me…I remember my eyes being closed nearly the whole time – just focusing and concentrating on listening to my body. I remember thinking how serenely quiet and beautiful it felt – I remember moaning a bit but there really wasn’t much noise or talk during the process at all, except some light music in the background.

I pushed Lovebug’s head out, and the rest of her body came quickly and then my Love caught her and laid her on my chest…Her eyes were wide open and she was as alert as can be…The moment Lovebug and I locked eyes was life-changing…We wiped her off a bit and I just held her and was amazed that I had just given birth to this beautiful little human being – it still felt so surreal. Once the cord stopped pulsating, my Love cut it and I then delivered the placenta, which wow, is amazing as well – to see what sustained our baby for 10 months – incredible. Then I nursed our little daughter for the first time and we called our families, which we had not done at all since it had been such a fast labor…Lovebug was never taken away from us for a second and the 3 of us were left to bond together as a family – and oh how wonderful it was!

Pics taken December 24, 2007

Anyway, that’s my account and the past month has flown by and has been tons of fun and work of course, but fun work… Lovebug has already changed so much in the last month…she is so precious and when she smiles my heart just melts. She looks so much like her gorgeous Daddy did when he was a baby. Speaking of, I always knew my Love would be the best Daddy, but I am still so in awe of how amazing he is! Lovebug loves her Daddy so much! I LOVED being pregnant and now I LOVE being a Mommy and I have the most incredible husband and baby daughter whom I LOVE more than I could ever express. God has truly blessed me!

Pics taken January 5, 2008