Well?!?!

It’s a Girl!!!!

We are so excited to announce that about 3 weeks ago, we welcomed a healthy and beautiful baby girl into our family! We were so excited and surprised. This time around we waited to find out the gender of the baby until it was born. I have to say, it was so worth it!!!! It was so much fun waiting and such an amazing moment when she was born and the doctor announced “It’s a Girl!”. We were so surprised. I think both Mike and I were expecting it to be a boy. Although, Steven had said it was a girl all along. Guess he knew something we didn’t.

Well our birth didn’t quite go as planned. Around 36 weeks my mid-wife did a routine ultrasound and we found out that the baby was breech. Talk about disappointing news. Now, don’t get me wrong, we are beyond thankful that God blessed us with a healthy and normal baby. That is number 1! But, I had hoped to have a delivery similar to the first time. It was such a sense of accomplishment delivering a baby. It was long and hard (22 hours, with 2 hours of pushing), but it was so worth it.

Over the next couple of weeks I tried lots of things to get the baby to turn. Ice on my belly, elevating my hips, heating pad on my lower belly, and even shining a flash light on the lower part of my belly. Nothing worked. Everyone started guessing it was a girl since the baby was being so stubborn. Then we tried a version procedure in the hospital. That is something I’m glad to never do again. It was painful! And unsuccessful. After that, I pretty much made peace with the fact that we were going to have a c-section. When the doctor’s office called to schedule the date though, I mourned again. It was hard knowing that I wouldn’t be able to go through the labor and delivery process again. Thankfully, I had a lot of beautiful friends and my parents supporting me and offering kind words and advice. This article a friend sent me captured my emotions wonderfully.

Also, we had already hired my dear friend Tianna (Andrew & Tianna Photography) to capture our birth. Thankfully she is amazing and we worked out a plan to capture as many special moments of the day as possible. She was wonderful.

So the big day arrived. The night before, we had dinner with my parents and then Steven went to their house to spend the night. We made a plan for both of our families to arrive around noon the next day, after the c-section and after I had been in recovery for a couple of hours. This way I could be present when everyone met the baby for the first time. I tried not to think on or dwell on the surgery or the list of things the doctor had to tell me about that were risks. For three days before surgery, I had to prep my body. No shaving, no lotion, and I had to shower each night with surgical scrub. It was quite the process.

We met Tianna the morning of the surgery bright and early. We got checked in and had time to relax some. It all went by pretty quickly. Next thing we knew it was time to go back for my spinal. Mike had to wait until I was all set up. He even had to wear a funny “bunny suit” as they called it. He was so calm. I am so grateful for his calmness and humor during times like this. He just does whatever needs to be done, supports me and comforts me, all with a smile. I definitely couldn’t have done it without him.

So we went back for surgery and it was only moments later we found out we had a healthy baby girl! It was an amazing moment. I of course started crying as soon as I heard the news and again as I heard her cry. Mike told me to stop, because I could see he was about to start crying himself. It is an amazing feeling becoming parents. Whether its the first time or second. Whether its after a long labor and delivery or a c-section. The emotions are the same. Pure joy!!!

Holding our baby girl, named Bailey after Mike’s grandmother’s maiden name, and Rae after my side of the family, was pure joy. She was perfect. We are so thankful to all the staff, my midwife and surgeon, and to Tianna for making our birth story beautiful. Our families were overjoyed to find out the baby was a healthy little girl. Steven was thrilled when he found out he was a big brother to a little sister. He loves her so much already. We all do.

Here are some of my favorites from Bailey’s birth, although I have to say Tianna went above and beyond and captured everything we could have dreamed of and more.

Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped contribute to our photography registry to make these photos possible. We love you all!