After what seemed to be the longest pregnancy ever Beatrice Isabella Hohl was born on August 23rd at 1am. On the evening of the 22nd while I was finishing up cooking dinner and after a week of hiking, the zoo and rocking out at the Maroon 5 concert, my water broke slightly and after eating I called the hospital and they told me to come on in and have my baby! I packed the rest of my bag, told Justin's parents and Stef and Franklin who were over for dinner and left for the hospital! My contractions didn't start until 9:30 so they sped them up a little with pitocin. Justin and I watched the Olympics on tv while we were waiting for me to dilate more. I was already dilated to a 4 so there wasn't too much more to go. I planned on not having an epidural so I brought my IPOD to listen to my hard-core exercise mix during the contractions. Every time I felt one coming on I imagined myself running on the treadmill at 12 and convinced myself that I could handle the pain for just a few more seconds just like I love the burn of the full out sprint for one minute. It totally worked! The last few contractions, though, were more than I had expected to bear, but our baby girl came just a few minutes after the really painful ones started. When the resident and OB finally came in, I got myself situated and in one contraction I pushed twice and she came out! She was 7lbs 11oz and had brown hair. I expect it'll fall out and grow back in blonde, but basically bald, until she's 5 years old just like her mom!
Bea(pronounced "Bay-uh") is a little more difficult than Henry and has a really intense and frantic gutteral cry. There's really no in-between for her. She's either sleeping or awake screaming for food. Bea is a very hungry baby and when she doesn't get food right away she really lets it go and when her nights and days are mixed up, it makes getting good sleep nearly impossible.
She is just as rigid and stiff as Henry was and can already hold her head up on her own and if I'm not careful she will lift her head up from my shoulder and whack her face on my collarbone. She also has spastic arms that constantly scratch her face and when she gets fed, her hands have to be right there as though she can keep the food there. Henry, her older brother, did the same thing and even right from birth was able to hold his own bottle because of his super rigid hands and arms that I could position to hold it up. I call her my little piglet because she makes little snorts and grunts when she finally gets food and then devours it.
Well, our little girl is finally here and we can't wait to discover who she is! We love you Bea Bella
