Winnie Joy Fackrell

My amazing friend, Heather asked me one week before Winnie joined our family if she could come into the hospital to take pictures! I was so excited that she wanted to do this because I love having documentation of events and I knew Regan was not the person to put in charge of this. She was in our hospital room from 4:30 until 9:30 and I am so grateful for her. She took some beautiful pictures of the process we went through, and I love the story that these pictures tell. 

 I got an epidural in the afternoon, but it started to ware off and I needed to push for more medicine to help with the labor pains.

 We did a lot of waiting in our labor and delivery room. We were admitted at 10:45 am and Winnie was born at 8:05 pm.

 Regan was a huge comfort while I was laboring. There is not much spouses can do, but he was encouraging.

 We had the best nurse and she made us feel so comfortable. The hospital and nurse experience was so wonderful and I am grateful for people who care about what they do.

 The epidural was making my whole body itchy, but especially my feet! Regan was kind enough to scratch my feet for me!

 Just waiting. We watched Man vs Food on the tv, checked our phones a lot, and talked about our new family of 5 kids!

 I am so blessed that my Mom was in Ohio to help watch our kids while Winnie was being born. After she took my Dad to the airport to go home to Utah, she brought the kids to the hospital to see us! It was so wonderful to see the kids before Winnie came.

 They each drew the most precious pictures to welcome their new baby sister!

 Regan explained to them what would happen once Baby Winnie was born!

 Out of all of the kids, Sunny was the most excited to hold baby Winnie. She is the best big sister and has taken on the role of second mommy!

 My Mom has been such a source of comfort to our family. She sacrificed so much of her life to be with us to help with our transition. The kids loved having Grammy at our house, and I loved having my Mom with me.

 Emery was probably the most anxious to have Baby Winnie come out of my tummy! He has kissed my tummy at least 200 times since being pregnant and he was so excited to meet his sis!

 My Mom and the kids stayed for about an hour, but nothing was progressing, so they went home at 7:00. Little did we know that things would be progressing very quickly once they left.

 The notes from the kids and the roses from my Mom were so awesome.

 Once the kids left, Regan and I just waited for a few minutes just anxious to have things start to roll.

 All of a sudden, I felt major pains and I knew that my epidural had run out. I called the nurse in and told her that I was having huge pains and that I felt like I needed to push.

 I can't even describe the pain. It was the worse pain I have ever been in. This is the first time I have ever had a baby naturally.

 My doctor was tired from delivering a baby the night before, so she didn't come to the hospital, but there was a doctor from her practice that was there to deliver Winnie. His name was Dr. Bell and he was so awesome! He literally came into the room, introduced himself and delivered Winnie. He was so calming and helpful. Poor guy, I was seriously just screaming like a crazy person and he was so calm.

 Once I pushed for 20 minutes, I could feel the head coming out, I have never experienced being able to feel everything that was happening during labor. There were so many people in the delivery room, but I obviously didn't care because I just continued to scream. I kept saying, "it hurts so bad..." Once Winnie was out, I felt INSTANT relief. Like, all was right with the world again relief. I cannot believe how intense the pain was one second, and the next I was completely fine.

The umbilical cord was so short that when Winnie was out, the Doctor couldn't show her to me. Regan cut the cord, and the Doctor rubbed her body to get her moving.

 All I wanted was to hold her and see what she looked like. When Winnie came out, she didn't cry. Right when I saw her, I knew she was our biggest baby! She was covered in the waxy vernix.

 With every single baby I have had, I have always had the same reaction once they put the baby on me. TEARS and crying! Babies are such a miracle and I am always so overwhelmed with the this miracle.

 It's so incredible to me how you can love someone so intensely right away.  The second I held her, I had so much love for this amazing girl.

 I was so grateful that Regan was there to help and support me because it was much more difficult than any of my other babies.

 This is my very favorite picture. Both Regan and I just staring at the newest member of our family. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I was exhausted, but I was so grateful that she was healthy.

 I was able to hold Winnie for a long time before they took her to weigh and check her. I have never been able to do that with any of my other babies and it was so special to have her so close to me for so long.

 Winnie was so beautiful and such a great baby from the start.

 Proud Dad!

 I decided to bottle feed her from the start because of my bad experience with the other 4 kids and nursing. I have never been able to produce enough milk for the babies and it the pain would never go away. I knew that I wanted to enjoy feeding and bonding with my last baby, so I decided to go with the bottle. It has been such a good decision.

 We facetimed my Mom to tell her that Winnie was born an hour after she and the kids left! If I would have known it would have been so close, I would have had them stay in the waiting room to meet their new baby sister!

What an amazing experience! I am so grateful for our little baby winnie to be a part of our family.  Winnie was the Christmas present we didn't even know we needed. She has brought so much happiness and joy into our family. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knew that our family was not complete and that we needed to have Winnie in our family.
I am grateful for a mom who loves us so much and sacrifices so much to help our family. She is the most selfless person I know and I am so blessed that she is my mom. She helped our family so much during all of this and are so grateful. I am so grateful for my friend Heather and her willingness to sacrifice her time to document Winnie's birth. I will treasure these pictures always. She is so talented.

It has been 8 weeks since these pictures were taken and we are even more in love with our beautiful baby Winnie. She is the most special gift our family has ever received.