Brennan's Here!!!

He's here! It's almost 2 weeks ago that it all started. That's crazy to believe. I started having contractions on Saturday - yep, he waited for every Welcome Week event to be over...All day Saturday, I wasn't sure if it was false labor or not. I spent several hours in the triage when we went to the hospital for Bella, and I wasn't going to repeat that mistake. So, we waited it out. Lee cleaned like a madman last Saturday. Bella played. I had contractions every 10 minutes. All day long. I tried going to sleep at 1 am. I guess if I had wanted my contractions to speed up, I should have tried going to sleep. They got closer and stronger. Around 3:15 am, they were about 4 minutes apart, and I told Lee we should call Hope to come stay with Bella. We got things ready, Hope got here, and we were off to the hospital. They almost put me in a room, but made me go to triage first. I told the nurse that if I was at 1 cm, I was going home. I was at 3 cm. I started to tell the nurse how quickly I went through transition and my delivery. Thankfully, she believed me.
To be honest, I did not feel as brave this time. I wanted to deliver this baby naturally as well, but I'm not going to lie...these contractions hurt worse than for bella. I just wanted it to be over with. I seriously contemplated medicine. It was awful. Thanks to my nurse Jordan believing me, they brought me to a room even though they didn't check me again. After getting in the room and getting in the bed they checked me. I was at 6.5 cm. this was only about an hour after being at the hospital. Everything intensified. I moaned - ok, screamed - a lot more this time around. I couldn't help it. It just hurt. Before I knew it - yet it seemed like hours - they checked me again and she said I was complete. She pressed a button and the doctor was there a few minutes later. All of the sudden, I felt pressure. Last time they told me to tell them when I felt pressure and they would tell me when to push. This time, I said, "OK, somebody help me, I feel pressure!!" The doctor said, "OK, push when you're ready." So I pushed. Then I leaned back to take a breath. They said that it was ok to take a break and to push again when I was ready. I did. They said they saw the head. I pushed again and he was out. 3 pushes in 3 minutes. No stitches needed this time. Everything was perfect. The first thing I said was, "That's a big baby!" All I saw was little rolls.
He is absolutely perfect. God has blessed us with 2 happy, healthy babies. God is so good to us. We couldn't ask for more. Another new adventure begins. It is definitely different this time around. Experience helps so much more than you would ever believe. I'm still tired, but I know that this is only for a short season. Bella's almost 2. Brennan will be 2 before I know it. I want to enjoy every moment, and that is what I plan on doing on this wonderful adventure with my beautiful family.

Preparing for a New Baby

I'm not due until August 30th. I tell everyone that I have a feeling that this baby is coming sooner. Honestly, I don't know if I'm more ready for a baby or to not be pregnant! :o) I know that everything is going to change...there will be 2 babies crying instead of 1 - because I know that Bella will be inspired to cry when the new one cries. We've already seen that happen with other babies. I know she'll get used to it, but it will be an interesting beginning, I'm sure.
It's exciting to know that our family is going to grow. Bella will have someone to play with. That will be fun to watch. We've talked about how the older baby doesn't get a lot of attention when the new baby comes around, but I don't think we will have that problem. Bella is the star of Chi Alpha. Of course everyone will want to see Brennan, but Bella still has the floor. Everyone gets so excited to see her, afterall, they are her friends! They love her and want to see her. She's going to be ok.
I'm actually going to ask for help more this time around. When we had Bella, we were just getting on staff. I don't know why I felt like I needed to be supermom and do it all myself. It was such a rough time for me. This time, I'm already planning to ask our babysitters to come over just to play with Bella while I take a nap or take a shower. They can bring a friend even! I've heard that girls open up even more when there's a baby around! I just know that God has brought us to this community of students for a reason, and it's important for us to open our lives to them. The girls who watch Bella regularly have great families...but a lot of our students come from broken homes. They need to see what a functional Christian family is like to have the hope that they can have this for themselves someday. We're happy to be a model of what God can have instore for them! We have been told before by a student that they actually considered having kids after they saw me & Lee with Bella...because they didn't think it was possible to have a "happy" family. That's a powerful compliment!