Labor Day(s)...part duex

Bella's turn! Hopefully, my children will forgive me for all the things I write about them on here! Well, let's not worry about little details like that right now....onto Bella's birth story.

My pregnancy with Bella was about the same as with Joe, so not too bad. Except for the MASSIVE weight gain, and by massive I mean people started to ask me at Thanksgiving if I was excited to have a Christmas baby....Bella was due March 24th. I looked as though I was on some type of steroid treatment or had been injected with fluid. My face was full, arms, bee-hind...everywhere was B to the I to the G! Luckily, though, the McDonald's closest to us was newly open 24 hours so that I could comfort myself with cheeseburgers at midnight! I will admit it was a tad bit more difficult to haul all that belly around in addition to a not-quite-2-year-old. Jay definitely stepped up and helped a ton with Joe. He gave him his baths since I couldn't heft my bulk over the edge of the tub to reach Joe...and Jay was quick to occupy Joe so I could rest, or catch my breath....

On March 17th, Joe and I were home, just the two of us, hunkering down to watch some Dr. Phil. As I sat down on the couch, I thought I sat on a water balloon! Whoa!!!! I jumped back up...jumped may be aggressive, slowly stood up and started looking around the living room as if another person may materialize at that instant to confirm that indeed, my water just broke. Yeesh! Since it was just Joe and myself, I remained calm, confirmed that I did not just pee on myself and called Jay. Then I called the doctor's office and calmly told the nurse that even though I was a week away from my due date, I was 99% sure that my water broke. Her reaction was MUCH more panicky than I expected. She started jabbering "Okay, dear, just sit down. Oh my. I'll get the doctor right now. Oh, are you okay? Head right over to the hospital, dear." Since I was having ZERO contractions I was kinda blase about the whole thing. I said "Do I have to go right now?" "Oh yes, dear, right away!" "Uh, okay." So, I called our trusty babysitter and waited for Jay to get home. In the mean time, a friend had called and when I answered she went immediately into a story, blah, blah, blah. When she finished her tirade, she asked how I was doing. So, I told her "Well, my water just broke." She flipped out! It was awesome! We picked up Jay's mom on the way to the hospital despite my protests claiming that it could be a while since I was still having NO contractions. At the hospital, we had to wait in triage since all the beds in Labor and Delivery were being used by woman actually experiencing labor. Six hours! later we got to a room upstairs and they started a Petocin drip and fully expected things to move along quickly at this point. It's so wrong to assume. Forty seven magazines, endless Lifetime movies, and many visitors later. It was time to push. *I should note that I do not sleep well in any situation that does not involve MY bed. Especially when blood pressure cuffs and IV's are involved.* So, it had been quite a while since I had slept or ate....but fear not! My lack of food did not prevent me from throwing up....again! My humiliation knows no bounds! Seriously, what is that? After pushing for about an hour and a half, I gave birth to a 75 lb baby....alright, you caught me. After 16 hours of labor, Isabella Vance Mitlo was born on March 18th, 2005 weighing in at a disappointing 8lbs 3oz.