Welcoming Velzy Bell

Velzy Bell Calkins was born October 26 at 6:27 pm.

The Arrival Story:

As many of you know, I was struggling with my pregnancy, especially in the last part! I was getting desperate to produce this little girl that we had been waiting for. My friend told me that I should take Castor oil...for a long time, I didn't want to do it, but desperation got the best of me and so I took the castor oil Monday morning around 8 am. Now if any of you know the effects of castor oil, you know that they aren't pretty. However, the consequences of drinking castor oil never got to me, so I thought that it wasn't going to work. By Family Home Evening, I began pretty hard contractions.

While Kasey was giving CPR lessons, I was in pain. I went downstairs and laid down, but the pains were not going away. I told Logan that he needed to drive me to the hospital so we got our things together and headed over there. I was in triage for awhile and they made me walk for 3 hours because I was only dilated to a 2. After I returned, I was dilated to a 3 and so they admitted me into a bed.

I waited an hour before I got the epidural and around 4 am, I was sitting pretty. My mom and sister, Caitlin came around 4 am as well and Tanya came around 6. For most of the day, I was just laboring. I told them that they needed to break my water, but it took them forever to do so. My labor progressed a little, but not enough, so they put me on petosin. By 4 pm, I was still only about a 4. So they upped my petosin and by the time I got to a 5, it took only 30 minutes to get to a 10.

But the doctors were changing shifts, so I tried desperately to hold back my pushing. The nurse asked me to push once to see if she was ready. I pushed once and her head started to come out, so they called the doctor. Once the doctor was there, I pushed once and little Velzy was here.

She looked so much like Cache when she came out. She was so beautiful and I was immediately in love with her. I held here skin to skin for an hour and then they measured her. She weighed 8lbs and she was 20 1/2 inches long.

She has been so wonderful. She hardly cries, sleeps through the night (I have to wake her up to feed her) and she is just beautiful (I am bias of course).

Cache is taking to his sister really well. He absolutely loves her and is very protective of her. He always wants to hold her and calls her "girlie". We are so proud of him for being so good and patient with us. He is amazing little guy and we love our family so much.

Pre-destined

I think our boy is destined to do as daddy and grandpa does. Look at this young hot-rodder, looking all slick with his checker shirt and orange baba in hand...he looks like a mini-Logan! He just turned two recently and he is so amazing! The other day, he pointed at a night light that was plugged into the wall and said, "Look mamma, very dangerous!" I laughed hard...where did he learn how to say that and how did he remember it?

The other morning, I jumped out of bed around 6:30 and said to Logan, "I'm getting up, I'm just not tired anymore!" Cache then proceeded to hop out of our bed as well (he comes in every morning around 6) and turned to Logan and said, "Sorry daddy, I'm just not tired anymore!" and followed me out. I cracked up forever. He is becoming so vocal and says hilarious things all of the time.

He now knows how to count to 20 in English and 10 in spanish. He knows the typical colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. He is learning the ABC's and loves to sing. He has such an imagination and I am always so surprised at the things that are coming out of his little mouth.

I am just so blessed to have such a wonderful, obedient, smart, and sweet little boy. I thank Heavenly Father every day that I was so lucky that I was chosen to care for this little boy. I don't think I could've gotten a better little boy! We love him so much!

For the Future

I'm writing this post more for myself to remember than for anyone else:

I don't know if Logan and I are going to have anymore kids after this little girl...but in case we do, I want to be able to look back and know what happened in this pregnancy. So far with both children I've been both anemic and had low platelet counts (the ability to clot). It's been pretty rough in different ways then it was with Cache. I mean I was sick for most of my pregnancy with Cache, but this baby has given me more physical ailment more than anything. Velzy girl dropped down into my pelvis around 32 weeks and has sat there since. From about 22 weeks I've experienced a feeling of "faintness" that didn't seem to ever go away. So with the pain in my hips along with the feeling that I might faint at any moment, this pregnancy has been pretty rough.

I know it sounds like I am complaining, and yes I am, but I want to remember. Now for the last 3 weeks, I have experienced contractions that take my breath away. I feel like the woman who cried "labor" every day. However, though I am still experiencing intense contractions, I believe that I will never have this baby. Let's not even talk about the lack of sleep that I have gotten in the the last month or so.

Logan and I had our first false labor extravaganza to the hospital (you would think by your second kid you would know when labor was truly labor), but it was good to get a run down of hospital procedures. It happened at around 36 weeks when I first started experiencing these contractions. We went to the hospital thinking this was it. Nope, just a false alarm. And here I sit, 3 weeks later, still pregnant, and more desperate than ever.

As for now, I am 2 cm dilated, 70% effaced, mucus plug lost, contractions-galore, and 40 lbs heavier than I was 10 months ago (I gained a lot of weight this round). I wish I was one of those women who love to be pregnant (and for awhile I pretended that I was), but truth be told-I hate almost everything about it except for feelings of the sweet kicking from the baby. I know it will all be worth it in the end and that I am doing one of the greatest things I can do as a woman. I hope that my experience with pregnancy will never prohibit my want of more kids in the future. I cannot wait to hopefully meet this little girl soon and I also hope that I will have as smooth a delivery as I did with Cache. I will keep on updating, but as for now I am going to park myself on the couch and wait impatienty