Announcing Isabella Rose Clark

We are so excited that our precious little girl has arrived!!  December 23, 2009 David and I headed to Hermann hospital for my scheduled induction.  Let me just say that the labor/delivery was by far the easiest part of my entire pregnancy.  I got my IV and the induction started at 6am.  At 8am the anesthesiologist arrived for my epidural and my exact words were "do I need an epidural?  I'm not even in pain?!".  The anesthesiologist recommended I go ahead and get it anyway-so needless to say I have no idea what a true contraction feels like!  The doctor broke my water at 10am and by 1:20pm Isabella Rose Clark arrived weighing in at 7.1 pounds and 19 inches long.  She was immediately put up on my stomach which was such a precious moment....and so surreal!

Proud papa!

Our first family photo

Grandma Celina

Grandpa Vural

Uncle Ilhan

Cousin Emily

After 2 days in the hospital we bundled up and headed home Christmas day-what a perfect Christmas gift!

Unfortunately we were home for 4 hours when Bella had a little episode.  She was sitting in her Boppy pillow and David looked over at her to find her body in full extension and her face all red.  He ran over to her and saw a little milk at her mouth, wiped it off, and saw she wasn't breathing.  He ran and got the suction and it took two suctions for her to finally relax; but despite all his prodding she didn't cry-she just kind of had a blank stare on her face.  We were terrified and didn't know if she had had a seizure and so we rushed to the ER.  They took blood and urine cultures and did a head CT.  The blood showed she was dehydrated and there was the possibility of infection so they had to do a lumbar puncture.  They empirically started her on antibiotics and we were admitted.  The CT showed a funny spot on the left side of her brain suggestive of possible intrauterine stroke and so an MRI was recommended.  I cannot tell you how devasted, exhausted, and overwhelmed we were at this point.  We proceeded to spend the next 4 days at the hospital having multiple tests done.  It broke my heart because she kept having to be stuck for blood and had 4 different IV's placed because her veins would keep blowing.  At one point the IV was in her scalp and I just couldn't take it-I just bawled. Thankfully the MRI came back normal meaning the spot on CT was probably Bella moving during the test.  Eventually all the cultures came back negative and the antibiotics were stopped.  She had an EEG to check for seizures which was normal.  Finally she had a barium swallow which showed severe reflux. So what happened was she refluxed which caused her to arch her back and instinctively hold her breath so not to choke.  We were SOOOO incredibly grateful it was nothing more serious.  My source of

 comfort during our stay was the verse in Luke 8:50 where Jesus says. "Don't be afraid; just believe. and she will be healed."  We were so blessed during our stay to have the most amazing nursing staff and I am not going to lie....it helped that David is a resident at Hermann and knew the majority of the specialists following Bella and so we got tests done and results read at record speed.  We would like to thank all the people who came to visit us during our hospital stay and all your thoughts and prayers!

Bella getting the EEG.  She slept through the whole 1 hour test.

Gripping her paci tight after some tiring tests

One of the nurses made Bella a bow-so cute!

We FINALLY made it back home December 29th.

For New Years we spent one night at my parent's house up in Conroe with my whole family.

Aunt Missy and Josh

Uncle Don

Aunt Clare

And now we have officially been out of the hospital and home a week.  We are adjusting to frequent feeding and diaper changes but enjoying this precious time.  I am not going to lie, this is more difficult than I ever could have anticipated but we are so incredibly blessed to be a family of 3 with a beautiful healthy (despite the reflux) baby girl!

Christmas baby?

I had my 38 week OB appointment yesterday.  That night before I was up for 1.5 hours with strong contractions that I was sure was the start of labor, but then they just stopped.  When I went to the OB I thought I was going to be really dilated but I am still just 1cm.  He was going to induce me on Monday the 21st but I think everyone is trying to have their babies before Christmas so Wednesday the 23th is the first available.  They start the induction in the evening so it looks like I will be spending the Holidays at the hospital.  I have a nephew who's birthday is on Christmas day and I feel like he gets so cheated....poor Bella!  Just goes to remind me that I am so not in control....which we all know how much I hate (maybe she will come earlier on her own?)!!  I just pray for a safe/smooth delivery and can't wait to be a family of 3!

Baby Shower #4

I feel extremely blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends who wanted to throw Bella a baby shower.  With me not working I cannot tell you how much I appreciate all the gifts-having a kid is expensive and she's not even here yet!!  This shower was hosted by the dear girls who live in our apartment complex.  They did such an amazing job!

This beautiful cake matched the invitations perfectly!

It's only sparkling cider!

The wonderful hostesses: Left to right-Funmi, Lisette, Me, Claudia, Natalie

Me  & my mama

37 weeks pregnant-perhaps the last profile shot!

Me and Claudia

Dr. Scurria (my first employer out of PA school), Elizabeth, Lisette

Myra, Kelli, and Lindsay-wives of fellow ENT residents

The girls I used to work with at Dr. Davidson's office-Maria, Erika, me, Leslie

Cutting the DELICIOUS cake!

Pictures from Thanksgiving

I finally got my mom's memory card and downloaded some pictures from Thanksgiving. 

This is my cousin Justin and his beautiful daughter Emmerson.  Justin is in the army and going to Iraq in a few weeks.

David and his mama

My nephews/nieces from left to right: Nick, Colin, Tyler, Josh, Cameron, Emily

David graciously stayed at the baby shower my mom threw for me despite that the other boys went fishing.  I think he just wanted first dibs on cake!

Guests:  Judy, Rachel, Aunt Denise, Jennifer, and David and Dad in the back

Aunt Denise, Dad, Jennifer, Karen, Clare (sister in law)

This little blanket my 13 year old niece, Emily, made for Bella in Home Economics.

Karen made me a wipe case with bling on it!

This ADORABLE set of pink scrubs is what David and I decided we will dress Bella in to meet all his fellow residents at the hospital!!

I'm pregnant and yet he's sleeping!!!! Must be the turkey.

Thanksgiving fun

So unfortunately I do not yet have photos to go with this post but will include them as soon as I can.  For Thanksgiving David and I spent two days with my family up in Conroe.  My mom cooked a delicious lunch and then threw us a little baby shower that included family members.  Once again we were extremely blessed with lots of goodies for baby Bella.  The next day the girls took part in our crazy annual tradition of Black Friday shopping.  Although this year we did not get up at 5am as there was really nothing any of us needed.  David did score some good deals on some dress clothes at Express (yes, he was the only guy who went shopping with us!).  Other than that the kids had a blast running around, fishing, and going out on the boat....I wasn't about to freeze out there so I stayed comfy on the couch!

Thanksgiving was a big milestone for me as now I only have 4 weeks (or less!) of pregnancy.  I can honestly say that when I was so sick in the beginning I never thought this day would come.  Praise God for getting me through!  I am starting to get tired again and feeling big.  I have an OB appointment tomorrow for one last ultrasound-I am so excited to get to see baby love.  I am down to weekly appointments-which I am hoping will make the time go fast but I have a feeling that towards the end it is just going to drag!  Bella's nursery is all done-I just need to wash all her clothes and pack my hospital bag and we are ready!

Baby Shower #2-Couples Shower Palestine, TX

David and I are so incredibly blessed to have such supportive and loving family and friends.  David grew up in a small town in East Texas called Palestine and a group of 7 women (including his sister Allison) from there threw us a couples shower November 7th.  The weather was so pretty we had it outside.   Everything was just perfect-we felt so blessed by the people who came and all the hard work put into making the shower special.  Isabella is one lucky little girl!

The cake was sooooo delicious-I think it had a hint of Amaretto!


Allison and I surrounded by all the gifts-Isabella received so many precious little outfits.

Karen, David's mom, got us a video camera!

A side shot of my 33 week pregnant belly!

The hostesses from left to right:  Martha Conner, Jane Matthews, Allison Killion, Susan Leggett, Camille Carney, Debbie Lawrence, Charlotte Fall (not pictured), and of course David and I with precious McKenzie (David's niece) on his lap!

The guests

Isabella's Kiki and Grandma Celina

Thank you to all our family and friends whom we love dearly!

Airshow

This past weekend the weather couldn't have been more beautiful so David and I went to the "Wings Over Houston" airshow. From 9am to 5pm they had all sorts of acts with David's favorite being the Blue Angels. There were vendors set up with food and souvenirs but my favorite was this interactive army experience. You started off by "signing up" for the army and being issued an ID. You then were split into teams of 4, given your mission, and then went into this large room with simulators of tanks and helicopters. We were assigned to the helicopter. So you get in and you have your own weapon and you are looking at this massive screen and you shoot the enemy and try to complete the mission. Now I am TERRIBLE at video games but our team actually got first place...HA! David of course LOVED it!!

Here is us in our chairs watching the airshow.
This truck was ridiculous!

The Blue Angels

Flying in formation

Not sure what kind of plane this was but it used rockets off the back to take off!

Re-enactment of Pearl Harbor

Good times!