Happy Birthday Belle!

I can't believe that Belle is one already. This past year went by incredibly fast, faster it seems than it did during Jack's first year. Having two kids makes everyday fly by so I really shouldn't feel surprised by her first birthday. We had a lovely day complete with pancakes and eggs for breakfast and cake for dessert. She loved her new toys and for the first time was more interested in playing with them than chewing on them. Of course Jack is also captivated by the new toys and he is learning that he has to ask Belle if he can play with her toys. She may not understand the concept of sharing but Jack is old enough to learn how sharing works. We did give Jack a small toy which did mitigate the jealousy but he still wanted to play with her toys first. Belle hasn't had her first year check up yet so I'll post her stats once we have them. She did take her first steps last night and she is getting much better at walking by herself. She thinks that she is pretty cool.

Since I didn't start blogging until Belle was six months old I thought that I would share her birth story. It really does feel like yesterday that we were waiting for her to make her arrival. I'll share Jack's on his birthday in August when he turns three!

Belle's due date was June 25, 2008. When I woke up that morning I was planning on having a quiet day at home with my mom and Jack. I woke up really tired and around 9:00 am I had a light breakfast. As I was sitting at the kitchen table I thought that I felt a contraction. Bruce was about to leave for work but stayed with me and started timing contractions. They were about ten minutes apart so I called our doula Mary. We had planned on calling her when they got to five minutes apart. I checked my email and got the rest of my hospital bag together. I saw a recall notice that Belle's crib had been recalled so I tore her crib apart and called customer service. It turned out that her crib was fine but it was an experience tearing apart a crib while in labor. By 10:00 am my contractions were five minutes apart and I called my doula to let her know. She was going to head over to our house and I went to shower. By the time I was done with my shower my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and Bruce called Mary who told us that she would meet us at the hospital. Bruce took our bags out to the car, we said goodbye to Jack and we started the drive to Little Rock. It's only 20-30 minutes to get to the hospital but my contractions were coming really strong and fast and we were honestly afraid that we were going to end up delivering in the car! We got to the hospital around 12:00 and we were settled into our room around 12:30 pm and I was already dilated to 8 cm. Our doula and the nursing staff were great and of course Bruce was an amazing coach. The nurses were very supportive of unmedicated births and they never once mentioned pain medication to me. The pain was quite bad but manageable, (thank you Bradley Method) I was grateful that I didn't have back labor like I did with Jack. By 2:00 pm we were ready to push and Dr. Wyatt almost didn't make it to the delivery. Belle was born at 2:15 PM weighing 10.8 lbs and she was 20.5 inches long. She was a big healthy girl and much easier to deliver than her brother! It was a great birth experience and I am still glad that she decided to be quick in her arrival. Belle did spend a day in the NICU due to the fact that we noticed a change in her personality and she kept on spitting up clear liquid. It turned out that she inhaled some fluid on her exit. It was a little scary for us initially but the staff did a great job explaining the situation. She nursed wonderfully from the very beginning and I am a little sad that our nursing time is coming to an end. She has turned one and she doesn't need me for all of her nutrients, it's time for her to become a big girl and for me to have my body to myself again. Except of course for all of those delicious kid snuggles from my two delightful children.