Hello Friends! So sorry its been too long. I am finally getting a chance to write, and I have to say I’ve missed it. I wanted to share Arabelle’s birth story with you, because I love hearing other women’s stories. They are all so different and amazing.

So here ya go…We moved into our new house two weeks before Arabelle arrived, unpacked everything (because I knew how my recovery would be after my third C-Section), and now are finally settled. During my final weeks of being pregnant, I was also under doctor’s orders to take it easy because I was already progressing more than usual. This was frightening to hear, because I had never progressed in my previous pregnancies during my final weeks, and being a scheduled C-Section, I was anxious to have my OBGYN deliver the baby vs someone on call. So, I rested when I could, but have to admit, I also cheated and continued unpacking because I was in crazy nesting mode and wanted to bring the baby “home.”

Luckily, she stayed in until my scheduled date. So, on June 1st, Brendan and I said good bye to Ella Rose and Owen, which is always emotional for me (since heading into a big surgery you can’t help but think the worst) and went to the hospital at 9am. The nurses and doctors prepped me, and it was so funny because as they came in, we all realized I pretty much had the same team that delivered Owen, which was really neat. We didn’t know if baby was a boy or girl so all of the doctors and nurses each guessed, which was so much fun to share the surprise with them- they loved it. Not knowing the gender also eased my nerves because I just focused on that and was SO excited to find out.

My doctor, Brendan, and I all walked back to the OR which I always find odd, cold, and eerie, and I was able to do the Gentle C-Section again which is amazing. For this, they dim the lights, play music of your choice (Norah Jones please!), drop the drape as baby comes out so you can peak (don’t worry you don’t see anything yucky), and you get the chance to do skin to skin immediately. This is HUGE to me, because I didn’t get to do skin to skin with Ella Rose and was devastated knowing the importance of it. They need to be doing this gentle C-Section everywhere because it really makes the experience SO much better (I only know this because I’ve had it both ways) and there’s no reason not to. As they were doing the spinal, which frightens me more than anything, my doctor and Brendan comforted me. It’s odd because the actual C-section doesn’t scare me at all, but the spinal makes me fearful I’ll be paralyzed if they hit the wrong spot every time. But luckily, I had a hilarious Anesthesiologist who kept making us all laugh and took my mind off things. Then at 11:45 am surgery began, and by 12:08 pm they said; “It’s a girl!” However, we couldn’t hear them, and I couldn’t see clearly as they dropped the drape… so Brendan looked up, yelling, “It’s a GIRL!” I said, “a girl???” haha 😉 because I was convinced she was a boy! I was in complete shock, but then an immediate wave of emotions came over me because I was so excited and happy to have another beautiful little girl! All I could think about was telling my mom and Ella Rose who were hoping for a girl, and I was SO happy. I was also dying to use our girl name we had decided on, Arabelle Therese Krueger. We loved this name and wanted something that complimented Ella Rose (Therese is my middle name). I love the pictures we were able to capture the instant she was born- Arabelle weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. Our families were all shocked to hear she was a girl as well. I have to say, doing a surprise is the BEST thing ever. I would do it again in a heart beat. That moment you find out makes the whole 9 months of waiting incredibly worth it. There she was singing loudly, and our new baby GIRL, Arabelle, was a spitting image if her big sis- we couldn’t believe our eyes.

(Arabelle looks JUST like Ella Rosie here)

(this pic is definitely one of my favorites!)

I stayed at the hospital for three nights. The very first night they had me up walking right away (ouch!!!). I forgot how hard this is. I have varicose veins during pregnancy so they wanted me to avoid getting blood clots. This instant walking actually allowed me to heal so much faster, and I found this recovery to be the best, surprisingly. I guess my body is used to it and knows what to expect after the third time. I was also so happy to hear that my scar tissue is minimal, so we are ok to hopefully have another baby down the road! Yey! I just love babies.

When Ella Rose and Owen came to see Arabelle in the hospital, we put a red ribbon in her hair (they wanted a baby sis with a red ribbon in her hair, after reading the book “Baby Sister by Tomie dePaola”). They were SO in awe and immediately adored Arabelle.

We couldn’t wait to bring her home, but I knew the transition would be tough. Poor Owen had the hardest time. He wanted nothing to do with me for about a week, which broke my heart completely because he has always been such a mama’s boy. However, he mostly took it out on me and Brendan, and luckily, not sweet Arabelle. I have always hated coming from the hospital because the recovery is so tough and you feel so helpless not being able to take care of the others. Luckily, Arabelle is the sweetest baby, gives us the biggest smiles ever, and usually only cries when tired or hungry. She is also our first to not take a paci and as of the past week prefers me over the bottle- this is ALL very new to us! We are trying every trick in the books to get her to take one, usually in the middle of the night because….I need her to, ha! She is sleeping really great so far- goes down about 8pm, gets up once to eat around 3-4am and falls back to sleep. Overall, she’s pretty dang sweet. We are finally all settled and adjusted to being a family of FIVE. Things are definetly chaotic, but this is our new norm and were soaking it all in 😉

 

Thanks for reading!

XO Jillian

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