The week before I had Vella I could feel her dropping and lots of uncomfortable pressure down below. I had lots of crampy, inconsistent contractions. At my Doctor's appointment, the Tuesday before I had her, I asked if he was going to check my dialation and see how far along I was. He told me "No, most women will find out they are at a two and that they are closer to labor then they really are. They will be stuck at a two for three or four weeks, so we will just do it next time."

On Friday Greg and I drove to Salt Lake City to pick up my mom and my little sister, Tatiana. It was so nice to have them here! We walked around the Temple grounds. It was so beautiful, but because of the time in the morning, nothing was open... it all opened at nine. So we decided to head to Pocatello. Friday night I started losing my mucus plug. I didn't think anything of it because of the things I had read. For example it said you can lose it and not go into labor for two weeks. I just figured it was no big deal.

On Sunday my water broke at 12:15 pm. It happened after I climbed up on the counter in the bathroom to do my makeup for church (I sit on the bathroom counter to do my makeup, ha ha.) I wasn't sure if it broke at first because it wasn't a huge gush like people have told me about. I texted Greg, who was in a church meeting, and he came home in no time. I had told him to put his phone on vibrate in case I went into labor- he usually doesn't take his phone to church. I wasn't having any contractions that I could feel but we decided to go to the hospital since the water had broken.

After we were all settled in at the hospital, the nurse checked where I was at and told me I was at a 2cm and 75% effaced. We waited a couple of hours and the nurse came back in and said that my chart listed my due date as July 2nd. I was so mad!! This being why: my Ob-Gyn and his office are a JOKE!! I have only met him 3 times my whole pregnancy, and when I have met with him and asked questions he just blew me off because he said he was busy. His office has always mixed my chart up wiht someone who has a name similar to mine. They rescheduled my appointments constantly, the ones they had made, which was annoying because I was in school and had to figure things out. Usually they would do it a couple of hours before my appointment, giving me hardly any time to figure my schedule out. Despite the due date mix up, the offical one that Greg and I were told was June 23rd. They never even mentioned me having a due date in July and the ultra sound results showed I should be moved up a bit earlier but the doctor said we won't change your due date for one week. I hope that helps everyone understand why I was so upset. Oftentimes I don't speak up when I should. Sometimes I have experiences that help me find my voice, even if they take a while to learn (like 9 months). That being said, next time I will choose a different doctor and if he is crappy I will not settle.

Anyways, they started me on pitocin and the wait began. They didn't like checking me because my water broke and they didn't want to cause an infectoin. They checked me a total of 3 times before I had the baby. I started having really painful contractions around 11 or 12 at night. The nurse kept coming in trying to talk me into getting medicine because she believed I wouldn't deliever until the late morning and that I needed to sleep so I could have energy to push. I didn't want to take anything because I really wanted to do a natural birth, but I gave in to her constant offers sometime in the one o'clock hour. The medicine made me feel loopy but it didn't really take the pain away. She told me I wouldn't be having the baby til the morning because when she checked me I was at a 5 and she said it would take 12 hours, and you need to get to a 10 before having the baby. I got an epidural. I was in a decent amount of pain and I didn't know if I could stand going through what I was feeling for as long as she said I would, so when she offered it that time, I accepted. The nurse checked me right after the epidural was aministered, which was about 3 am or a little after. I was at an 8 and the nurse told Greg to call the mom's I was going to be having a baby. I am not sure how much the epidural worked because I could still feel a lot!! I only pushed for about 20 minutes after the mom's got there before Vella was born. She was born at 4:13 am. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. Maybe this is a silly thing to say, but I loved giving birth. Healing after giving birth and breastfeeding, however, have been a lot harder then I thought. Sleep deprivation is harder then I thought also. It seems like all of the days just blend together. I am so grateful my mother and sister were here to help, they did so much!

Being a mommy has been a lot of praying; let her be safe, let her sleep well, let her poop, let her be comfortable, let her suck, bless me with energy, help me be a good mother.

Vella is so precious. I am so lucky to have such a good baby girl! She has already grown so much in the last week. It is so crazy. Today her cord fell off! Well, she is waking up and in need of my boobs...

****
Well Alexis fell asleep so I (Greg) thought I would finish this. Being a part of Vella's birth was amazing. I have never felt that way in my life. I love that little baby to death. She is such a good little girl. I will stick my nose down by her mouth when she is doing her hungry face and she will suck on it. The first time I did it I was surprised at how much sucking power she has. Mommy won't let me do it anymore, she thinks I have dirty nose, must be from all the brown nosing, wink wink.

We are lucky, and we love her. Everything has been good so far and we are so grateful for all the help that so many people have given us. We couldn't have done this alone and it has been so great to weave the relationships of those we love into this amazing experience.

<________________>Pictures to come soon<_______________>