for the books

note: there is blood and pregnancy talk in this post. :) 

Penelope Rose

June 10th

7 lbs 13 oz

20 inches 

I need to write this down. I mean Penelope is only 5 months old. 

Birth Story:

Being pregnant the second time was nothing like the first. I was pretty much sick the entire time instead of being sick maybe once with Frank. I had the winter blues and was ready for spring to come. I had pregnancy insomnia the entire time.  My final appointments came and I wasn't expecting any big new on progression. I didn't dilate at all with Frank until I was full on in labor. The Friday before Penn was born I had my appointment I was dilated to a one which is just him being nice. That weekend I had contractions all weekend Nothing to painful but a couple of hours of constant contractions to where I thought maybe this is it but then it would go away. Sunday I went to church and everything was normal. I came home and took a nap. I normally don't take naps. I wish I knew how but I just don't and when I do I usually wake up hung over. Well I took a four hour nap and woke up feeling great. I had dinner hung out with stephen and went to bed around eleven. At 12 a house alarm went off that sent me jumping out of bed terrified. I had no idea what this sound was and to this day still don't. I thought it might be the carbon monoxide detector so I checked it and it was fine. I tried to go back to sleep by listening to hypno-babies. I was dozing off and again the alarm went off! This time I really jumped. I was waiting for Frank to wake up terrified. This is what I believe made me go into labor. Frank woke up and Stephen went into comfort him. The next hour my contractions were  inconsistent but would range from five minutes to 12 minutes apart. My labor with Frank was extremely long so I waited since I was trying to avoid the epidural. I stayed in the bathroom jumping between the shower, the toliet and walking/rocking. I had my hypno-babies playing the entire time to help me. This was amazing since Stephen was with Frank the entire time. The next half an hour they were still timing the same but were getting more intense but still manageable. Then they jumped between two minutes apart and five and were strong. I called my family to get a babysitter. By this time Frank was still up and running around the house. He was bringing me toys, singing to me and trying to help me while Stephen got things ready. Stephen says my labor was a little to loud for Frank to go back to sleep. My dad showed up about a half an hour later and thats when my labor was too strong to talk. We drove the 15 min drive and I really felt like the baby was coming. The drive was no fun since our brakes were shaking and it felt like I was four wheeling to the hospital. Don't worry Stephen fixed the brakes after that.

We got there and I tried to walk into the hospital but I could hardly move. Contractions were constant. Stephen said my voice echoed in the canyons :). He thought I was over reacting since my labor was over a day with Frank. There is no way I could be ready to push. I made it to the bench outside the door and collapsed on it. Stephen said I just need to get up and walk the 20 feet inside and I told him I couldn't and he then thought I really was over reacting until my water broke. Fluid and Blood all over the side walk. Stephens face dropped and he RAN inside to get help. They brought a wheel chair to help me. In between prayers, I kept telling the nurse I needed to push and she said no you don't. No one seemed to believe me that I needed to push. They checked me to see and the nurse said surprisingly wow you really are ready. I pushed twice and there she was. This was unreal since I pushed over 3 hours with Frank. There were no doctors at the hospital. The doctor left a half an hour before I got there because he was filling in for a my doctor who just had knee surgery and he had just did a 48 hour shift so he went home to get some rest. The resident nurse delivered me but it is not like I had time to even care about who was delivering me. I was just glad I didn't have her in the parking lot. She was ready to come and came only 8 minutes after we parked. I am so glad she was healthy and that I got to do it naturally. The recovery was amazing and after the after birth pains (which were terrible) I felt like I could have gone home that day. Since my labor was so fast they didn't let me. Going natural is intense and I would never ever say that it didn't hurt at all. I don't know why their are women who say this. But honestly the afterpains hurt more then the labor and pushing. I also enjoyed the control and the feeling of needing to push with out the epidural. Every women is different and every labor is different but going natural this time around was so much better!! 

Penelope is so sweet. We had a hard first four months. She has reflux and is always soaking wet and smelling sour. My milk dried up and I tried so hard to get it back but she just didn't want it. Even though we have had a tough start she is seriously so sweet and smiles, talks, and laughs WAY more then Frank every did. The best part is seeing her with Frank. They are in love with each other. Penelope was suppose to give me a break with the being active but she could roll over both ways at four months and can scoot on her back. If she starts running at the age of nine months like Frank, I'm going to push her down!;) 

Penn at Four months