Baby Bella

at some point I really will post more pictures and update everyone with how the delivery went, spend an adequate amount of time gushing about how amazing Bella is, and everyday stories about the comedy of errors... for now here are a couple pictures I took today of Bella... she's already almost 3 weeks old and SUCH a beautiful and amazing baby.

here she's trying to smile, they get a lot bigger than this already. it's amazing!
I get this look a lot throughout the day, like I'm supposed to know what to do next. I don't.

he may have her wrapped like a burrito, but she's got him wrapped around her pinky!

the first one's a doozy

Bella's first seriously dirty diaper.
yes, it took three of us...

Baby Girl = Bella Marie

There's obviously more to post soon - and I'm almost embarrassed that it's taken this long to announce her arrival - but Isabella Marie joined us late last night after *only* 15 hours of labor at 10:45 p.m. We were expecting a 7 lb - 7 1/2 baby so we were just a little surprised to learn she is 8 lbs 15 oz and just over 20 inches. We've never been around many babies before so she still seems tiny to us! more to come soon...

Baby Bail's Birthday (Hopefully)

This is Justin... just in case you can't tell by my less creative writing style, and frequent use of graphs...

Update:
- Came into the Fairview Hospital Yesterday at around 5:00 pm
- The Doctors started Dana on some medication to help her body prepare
for today.
- This morning at 7:00 am, they started the Pitocin which is a substitute
for Oxytocin which is released before/during pregnancy and causes the
contractions.
- It is now 11:54 and Dana is still having contractions approximately 3-5
minutes apart.
- We are currently waiting on a measurement to show us where she is at...
- We are hoping for some progress pass the last measurement at 6:30 am of
1.5 cm.

Quote of the Hour
- from Dana between contractions, " FRICKIN 1.5 !#@!@!!!!!"















To do List
- Pick a name for BabyBail (gonna be tough since we forgot the book at home)

- J -

oh baby where art though?

I'm sure those who have been through this before think I'm being dramatic - but Baby Girl is still late. I know it's only two days, but I cannot even express to you how much I know she wants out! Everyone keeps telling me she's not come yet because she's not ready - this girl is ready! I'm also ready, it's my stupid body that's not cooperating with us.

I had my last OB appointment on Wednesday and she had good news for me, I'd dilated one centimeter!! I returned her look of excitement and encouragement with a "what kind of crazy pills are you on?!" ONE CENTIMETER?! I'm not trying to be all Negative Nancy on everyone, but I keep hearing stories from women who were 1-2 centimeters for weeks on end, and I was finally at one just a day before her due date. Apparently there were more changes she was optimistic about (I'm much more effaced) and she wouldn't be surprised if Baby Bail came on her own sometime this weekend. It's already Saturday night and not lookin' good for tomorrow (although talk about stealing the thunder on Mother's Day!)

I'm scheduled to be induced on Tuesday, May 13th if she doesn't come on her own before then. I'd much rather her come completely naturally, but my parents are here to help with everything because Justin won't have much time off work afterward, and if she's two weeks late, they'll be gone and I'll be a mess. So the induction is scheduled for Tuesday and I have to go the hospital Monday night to get the process slowly started. The more I think about the actual labor, the more I panic so I still try not to think about it and just handle it as it comes. Anyway, that's all I have for now - anxious to meet our baby and our world to flip upside down. We'll keep everyone updated on our blog, check often!