Fountainhead Studios Bella Portraits

Annabella had professional portraits done by Bob Shireman of Fountainhead Studios when she was two weeks old. He did an amazing job!  Check him out at www.fountainheadstudios.net

MIA

So, it's been a while since we have last been able to write a post. Annabella is now 5 weeks old and it has been so great learning her and having her in our lives! We've been busy adjusting to life with a newborn and trying to find a schedule that works well for all of us. Sleep was one thing we didn't get any of. We would usually get about 3 hours a day. Because of the sleep deprivation for several weeks, Temarie became extremely  ill with acute bronchitis with walking pneumonia. So, we were focused on just surviving and our schedule got set back to like it was the first week again. Temarie's dad was able to come stay with us for about a week to help out so she could recover and get some rest. His help was so appreciated and we can't thank him enough for all that he did!  Temarie is still recovering from the illness but is doing SO much better and able to enjoy being a mom again! With all of this going on, we've been unable to update the blog.

When Annabella was first born, we were trying to figure out who she looked like because we didn't think she looked like either one of us. When we got home from the hospital, Temarie was looking at the baby book her mom made and found her newborn picture taken at the hospital. Sorry it's a bit fuzzy!

Here is what Annabella looked like when she was first born: (we don't have the best frontal picture of her the day she was born :-/ )

 This one was taken at 4 weeks, so she's a little older. She always has that same furrowed/thinking look like I had :-)

We've taken Annabella to her doctor's appointments and she's done really well! They said she is really healthy and is in the 99 percentile in height! So, we think she has mommy's face and daddy's body :-) She is already wearing her 3 month old clothes because she is so long, but they are a bit baggy on her because she is so lean!

We'll leave you with a video of Bella's favorite time, play time! She loves to play and laugh with us! She'll kick her legs and make a laughing sound, it's so cute.

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A Baby (Bella) Story

I wanted to share briefly about the amazing experience of labor (hint sarcasm :-)). Friday was the night of the opening ceremony for the Olympics. I had taken a shower, like I had for the past week, just in case I did go into labor during the night. Being 8 days over my due date had really finally gotten to me with the acid reflux, really, really bad keratosis pelaris (itchy and hurtful skin condition that became worse during the last few days of pregnancy), swollen feet and legs, the high heat records, etc. I finally just broke down and cried to James and felt like she was never going to come. We prayed about it and lifted it all to the Lord and went to bed around 12:30. I was suddenly woken up at 1:30 with my water breaking - praise the Lord! We got to the hospital around 2:30 and my contractions were starting to get worse. An hour and a half later, they were getting unbearable and the pain level was a 10. I was progressing really fast - a lot faster than the nurses thought I would. They said that I had to finish the first bag of IV fluids before I got it. We had to end up waiting over an hour before it emptied with the pain getting worse by the minute. I asked for the epidural and anesthesiologist got there really late. He finally came in and apologized and said he wanted to make sure someone got a message he sent :-/   He then had to apply and reapply the epidural about 5 times all while I'm having level 10 contractions! Finally the medicine kicked in and both James and I were able to rest, which was really nice since we only had an hour of sleep.  

I really started feeling pressure around 11:00 and they checked to see how far I progressed and I was a 10 already! They wanted to try to wait another hour to make sure she was down as far as she could be before pushing. I started pushing a little after noon and Annabella was born at 12:54 weighing 7lbs and 15 oz and was 21 inches long - she's going to be tall like her daddy!

Overall, I am really blessed that Annabella was able to come on her own time and that the labor process went fairly smoothly and well and fast for a first baby! We were also very blessed with a great Dr. and amazing nurses who helped us so much during this time! As soon as Bella came out, they laid her on me and she had her eyes wide open staring at me. It was one of the most precious moments James and I have ever experienced! She stayed this way for the first 24 hours of life and only slept maybe 3 hours! She loves to look at us and us at her. She is an amazingly sweet and happy baby! Her first and last name means "loving grace and joy". We've been praying that she will live up to her name and show love and grace and joy to others and so far, she has :-) Here are a few pics of that memorable day! More pics to come later of her hospital visitors.

Moments after birth

Our amazing nurse Holly

Our incredible doctor Dr. Tahtawi

Finally in getting to rest with my sweet baby Bella! 

She looks exactly like me at birth - we could be twins 

I'll post my newborn pic and hers later :-) 

Welcome to the world!

Annabella Khara Kendall, whom we will call "Bella" made her entrance into the world at 12:54 PM.  Temarie did a great job, and Bella came after 11 1/2 hours of labor.  She weighs 7 lbs. 15 oz. and is 21 inches long.    She has been an awesome baby so far.  She stayed wide awake for the first three hours of her life and was watching all the world around her and moving her hands all over the place.  She has not cried for more than 10 seconds yet.  I'm sure she is saving that for three in the morning.  She only let us have an hour of sleep last night, and I'm sure tonight will be no different.

 Getting weighed and measured.

 James called her length correctly and was only off by two ounces on her weight.

 Holly, our awesome nurse!

 Mommy and Bella chilling after being moved to our room.

Bella's first visitor from Salem (it helps that she works at WakeMed and knew we were there before anyone else.)

At the hospital

After staying up until 12:30 watching the olympics opening ceremony, we were excited to get into bed.  We were woken up an hour later with Temarie's water breaking which started a mad dash to get all our bags thrown into the car to get to the hospital.  Temarie is resting comfortably now (praise the Lord for epidurals and modern medicine!).  Temarie got halfway there in the matter of a few hours; hopefully she will make it the rest of the way in the next few hours.  The doctor said the baby should come in the next few hours, but with Bella seeming to have no desire to come out, it will probably still be another three weeks!

We will update with pictures once she comes.

James

41 weeks pregnant + temps feeling like 110 degrees = misery

It's another bright, steamy, hot day in NC! We have tried walking a lot and usually go right before it gets dark, but it's really hard to walk when you can barely breathe outside and it's still 96 degrees at 8:30 pm. I also can't walk at the gym because my poor feet are so swollen I can't wear anything but one pair of flip flops. So, we went walking around Walmart for a while last night :-) Not sure yet where we'll walk tonight - I'd like the mall, but that may not be a good idea!

We went in again for another non-stress test today as scheduled by our Dr to make sure Bella girl is still safe and sound. Apparently, the test is good for 3 days, so we'll be taking it every 3 days. The nurse from last time forgot to write down that we were coming in today, so the other nurses had no idea we were coming in and pretty upset with the other nurse about that :-/ They checked her heart rate and my contractions for a good 30 mins and everything seems to still be going well! Every time I had a contraction, her heart rate would go up - not too high though! We are scheduled for another non-stress test for Monday - if Bella still doesn't want to come out. When we left, I saw a woman in labor walking around and another one checking in - I was so jealous :-) Please keep praying that Bella will arrive on her own and that we won't have to force her out! Thanks so much for thinking and praying for us through this long journey!

So, it's been a while!

Ok, so I know I haven't posted anything on here for a really long time, but I have a reason why - I promise! I'll share that with you in a later post. For now, I want to use this blog to keep everyone updated on Annabella. We have a lot of sweet people who keep asking how things are going and progressing, so we figured we can keep everyone posted on here! So, if there's ever an update, just keep checking this blog and we promise, we will keep you up-to-date as much as possible!
We had our past-the-due-date doctor's appointment yesterday. They did an ultrasound to check to see how she is looking and to make sure her fluid levels are still good. For those of you who don't know, they check the fluid levels because they can start to decrease after the due date which can harm her. She was obviously really hard to see since she's so big! We saw a nice round head, her sweet face with both of her hands up near her eyes, her femur, heart, and spine. The U/S tech said she looked great and the fluid levels are great! We were so happy to hear that and happy to see her, but would be much happier to see her in person!
The bad news the Dr told us is that she seems perfectly happy in her little bubble and my body seems perfectly happy keeping her there for now. She said that she didn't want to induce yet because my body wasn't ready and that Annabella looks great and didn't want to mess with a good thing. We were so glad to hear this! We don't want to induce unless it starts getting dangerous for her and we have to.
 After the appt. the Dr sent us to the hospital for a non-stress test. Again, for those of you who don't know, a non-stress test is done to check her heart rate and my contractions for about 20 mins. They're checking to make sure she is sounding good, so she can stay in there longer. That test also went really well and I was having contractions - just not the kind that are doing anything yet :-/ We are scheduled for another non-stress test on Friday if she doesn't come before then.
The Dr. said that if she doesn't come in a week, then she'll have to discuss having an induction done because I'll be about 42 weeks and that's when fluid levels really start to decrease and her protective little bubble isn't as safe for her at that point. So, please pray that she will come soon!
It has been really, really difficult and rough the past 2-3 weeks of this pregnancy!  I was born with acid-reflux and have been dealing with it my entire life. It's drastically increased being pregnant and now that Bella is so big and there's literally no more room in there, the acid's been beyond painful and unbearable! I'm really worried about the damage it is doing to my throat and esophagus! I usually can't sleep at night because of the pain and have decreased my diet to about 5 things I can eat that are really bland. I really miss food and have been so discouraged by it! On top of that, it's also been the hottest summer ever on record! This has caused my feet to swell beyond recognition and hurt so bad - they feel like they weigh 10 lbs each :-)
With all that said, please pray that she will come soon, so my pain and misery can end soon and so we won't have to have an induction! Thanks for checking on us and keep checking back for more up dates!