Starting a blog... and backtracking to meeting Hewes
It's a weird thing to start a blog. Do I want other people to read it? Do I want this to be a keepsake for my family? Am I going to feel affirmed if suddenly it becomes a huge success and I end up with my own cooking show on Food Network? I'm not sure the entire reason for starting down this path, but I know I want a place where my growing family can look back not just at pictures, but at a tiny snapshot of what life was like growing up with two loving, broken and crazy parents.
I am already wowing the crowd by starting this blog 5 months later than planned. Standard.
I'm wearing my spandex uniform, sipping my first coffee of the day and watching my squishy and delicious son give me a giant gummy grin because he just rolled onto his tummy. (In 1 minute he will be screaming because he isn't quite sure how to get back to his back).
But first I will backtrack. There are a few stories I want to have documented before getting to 'now' life. On December 11th, 2013 I was headed into my OBGYN's office for a check up one day before my actual due date. The week before my doctor had told me there was a very small chance I would actually make it through the weekend. I had my hopes up... only to meet Monday, Tuesday and now Wednesday of the following week head on. I left the appointment defeated. No way this baby was coming and an induction date was set. Stephen and I had met at the office since he was coming from work so I called my mom on the way home nearly in tears. No baby. No chance.
We got home and I sulked my way into the bathroom. I noticed something was different (was that my water?!) but I kept my mouth shut. I had spent the entire previous week getting excited with every new feeling and I wasn't going to spend my week that way. I was too sad to go to the stair stepper at the gym and so I crawled in bed. Immediately there was a gush of water. "Honey! Did my water just break?" Stephen looks down and says, "Either that or you just REALLY wet the bed!".
It was time. We looked at each other with shock and joy and decided we now had NO idea how to act! What do we do!? We called and texted our family and friends (everyone who we had just told to hold off for another week) and let them know the baby was coming one way or another. Our doctor had JUST told us there was no need to rush to the hospital in case of water breaking, so we planned on hunkering down. What I wasn't prepared for was my water 'breaking'... over and over again. Was I just going to sit in the bathtub for the next 10 hours?! I ordered myself a cheeseburger and fries, and started to feel some small contractions.
So when do we leave? One friend told us to go sooner rather than later (she had her baby pretty quickly after her water broke) and another friend told us we were in no hurry (she had her baby in the CAR!). We took the advice of a friend who delivered under the care of doctors and nurses and not the highway patrol.
Around 9:30 pm I arrived to the hospital with a towel between my legs (yes... my water was unrelenting) and they immediately checked me into L&D. They said the towel stuffed in my pants was enough evidence for them. Excited doesn't do justice to the way Stephen and I were feeling!
Have I mentioned that right now my husband knows we are having a boy but I don't!? True.
I got confused about the epidural. My contractions weren't regular and I wasn't sure if I should wait for them to regulate or get the epidural and float away into happy land. I waited. I walked around, sat on a bouncy ball and tried to get my contractions closer together. They would... and as soon as I laid back down they would be 20 minutes apart. Around 5 am... I wised up and took the drugs.
My parents came to the hospital around 9 or 9:30 to check in. I thought they wanted to give me a hug, pray for us and come back later. NOPE! They were parking it in the waiting room for the long haul. The morning carried on and my contractions didn't regulate. I was, however, progressing. They gave me some pitocin and we inched closer to baby time.
My doctor arrived at the hospital to be a part of my entire delivery. Awesome, huh?! She was there start to finish and it was wonderful. What my doctor and the nurses finally realized is that I was never going to have regular contractions and I was just going to have to push without the help of my body. So I started. About 45 minutes later I got to meet the love of my life. The nurse held up our little guy and Stephen was in a heap in the corner crying tears of joy. We debate about who finally told me it was a boy! I thought it was him but he demands he was incapable of speaking and couldn't even watch the final push because he was too overwhelmed and curled up sobbing in the chair. We will give credit to the nurse.
"It's a boy!" Jacob Hewes Bell was finally here. 9 lb 6 oz and 21 inches long. Need I mention his head was off the charts HUGE?! 15 inches. Thanks for nothing Hewesie.
Daddy FINALLY getting to hold you. Boy was he amazing through all of this. He couldn't love his guy an ounce more.
And then there were the visitors and the precious moments we had in the hospital
Grandbaby #1. They came back every day (for most of the day!)
Meeting the cousins and Aunt Su
There are the details of a botched epidural, brutal headaches and a nurse who scared me into thinking Hewes was dying by screaming at him to "JUST BREATHE" when she rolled him into my room at 3 am. Those things happened but for some reason I only have the most incredible and peaceful memories of being in that hospital. There was something sacred about those few days.
Headed home! It was snowing and freezing! We bundled up and hit the road.. crying with joy on the 5 mile drive.
Jacob Hewes Bell, you have been the sheer delight of both of our lives since the day you were born. The truth is you can probably add a few grandparents and aunts and uncles to that list too. Life has been monumentally more delightful every minute you have been involved. I tell you every day, "I love being your mama" and it couldn't be more true. It's a privilege and I am honored God chose me.
