Annie's Due Date

The big day has finally arrived...the date I was anxiously counting down to: Annie's due date. So glad I'm not spending today at the hospital, but instead, I'm already at home snuggling with our precious little girl. Words cannot describe the love I feel when I look at her, or the joy she has brought to our lives!

She is growing so fast. The first picture shows her in the NICU at Erlanger. The outfit was so big on her. We had to roll up her sleeves, and even so, there was lots of wiggle room! Now, she fills it out very well, so well, I'm not sure she'll get too many more wears out of it. We are so thankful she is happy and healthy. God is so good!

Annie's Newborn Pictures!

How precious are these pictures! We were so blessed to have my precious Sarah here this past weekend to take pictures of Annie! She is so talented!

NICU

As many of you know, or have read, there were concerns about Annie's heart during my pregnancy. In addition to that, I had Group B strep (which is very common and natural, and not harmful to me in any way), which can be harmful to a baby. Thankfully, I received two rounds of antibiotics while I was in labor to prevent risk to the baby. Plus, she was 4 weeks premature. The combination of these factors caused the drs to have her transported to Erlanger, where she stayed in the NICU for four days. Most of this was precautionary, but they felt it was important because her heart rate and breathing were not ideal. They wanted to perform further tests on her heart now that she was out and also wanted to make sure she hadn't contracted anything due to the group B strep. They described her as "floppy" and not as responsive as they wanted her to be. Some of this could have been attributed to her being a preemie, but they wanted to make sure.

During her stay at the NICU, they did several tests on her heart, all of which turned out beautifully. It appears she does have a small murmur, but that's all! What a blessing. She was jaundiced and her temperature was a little low (which apparently is a sign she could be getting sick), so much of her time there was for observation. They were able to remove her oxygen and warming lights on day 2 there, so the remainder of the time was mostly observation. While it was stressful being there and seeing her hooked up to so many machines, it was a blessing that she was so well cared for. Also, seeing some of the other babies in her pod made us realize just how blessed we were. For example, the baby next to her weighed one pound, ten ounces. When Annie had her hospital pictures taken before she was discharged, the lady asked me when she was born. My response was "the fifth" and the lady asked me of which month. Some of the babies are there for months. So, though we would have loved to take her home right after she was born, we are thankful that she was only there for a few days!

Our little miracle has arrived

http://animoto.com/play/m331b9D201dj6bjS50echA

Our little miracle is here. She was born July 5, 2011 at 4:12 p.m. She weighed 6 lbs. 13.5 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long (not exactly the small baby I was told she was, especially considering she was 4 weeks early).

The night before (Independence Day), we had dinner at my mother-in-laws. It was sooooooo good, and I ate until I was miserable. I had been having contractions all day and was in full nesting mode. The contractions were about 10 minutes apart and not too painful. But, even so, I had spent the day cleaning light fixtures, ironing, cleaning the blinds, etc. You know, all those things Annie was going to notice as soon as she arrived home. Hahah! I also decided that I should pack my hospital bag! Glad I did that!

When we got back home from eating at Karen's, I was trying to finish up homework for my EDS class, which was scheduled for Saturday, the 9th. But, I couldn't hold my eyes open. I was so tired. I ended up going to bed quite early that evening and told Jamie I couldn't wait for Annie to arrive. The next morning, I got up about 8 o'clock. I was halfway to the bathroom when my water broke. It was at that moment it hit me that I wasn't quite ready. :) I had a dr. appointment with Erlanger scheduled for 10:30. I called Nona (my dr. from Erlanger) to find out if I should come see her or go see my OB, and she told me to go see Dr. Davis. So, I arrived at his office at 10:30. He checked me and said it was definitely amniotic fluid and told me I was dilated to a 4, and that we would definitely be having a baby that day. I was admitted to the hospital around 11 and Annie arrived at 4:12. It all happened quite fast!

In the delivery room, I was very blessed to have a dear friend, Heather Dickey Bresch, in the delivery room with me as my nurse. Of course, Jamie was there. My college roomie, Sarah, was also with me. Sarah is a professional photographer, and she is interested in getting into birth photography, so it was a great opportunity for her to practice and decide if that is really something she wants to do ;). (After the fact, I assured her husband I would talk her back into having children one of these days). Above is the video she made of the day! It's not gross, I promise. As a matter of fact, when we first discussed "birth photography" I was very skeptical until she assured me it was only capturing the sweetness of the day. And, she did exactly that. She is insanely talented and I'm blessed to have had her be part of the birth of our miracle.

As for the delivery itself, I did have an epidural, only it didn't work. BUMMER! So, I got to experience it the good ol fashioned way! :) I only had to push for about 20 minutes, but during that time, Annie's heart rate started to drop and so there was a few moments of panic. The heart rate drop was because the cord was tightly wrapped around her neck twice, but once she was far enough out, Dr. Davis was able to cut it, which helped matters alot! Annie had to go immediately to the nursery for oxygen because her breathing was distressed, so I didn't get to hold her, only kiss her before they took her away. Thankfully, Jamie was able to go with her. One bright spot to the epidural not working was that I was able to get up fairly quickly and go to the nursery myself. Once I got the nursery, I was overwhelmed with love for our little angel. And, holding her for the first time was one of the most memorable and emotional experiences of my life. We were already head over heels in love!

Because she was four weeks early, and her heart rate and breathing were not ideal, they decided to take Annie to Erlanger that evening. I'll share more about that in my next post. But, God is so good, and we are so blessed to have her here!

Baby Update!

As promised, I am going to do better with updating the blog. :) I went to the dr. yesterday for a check up. The dr. and I had decided to do my glucose tolerance test a little early so I had it done yesterday. For those of you (boys) who may not know what that is, you have to fast and then drink this sugary drink and then have your blood drawn to see how your body responds to the sugar. This is to rule out gestational diabetes. I had heard horror stories about how awful the stuff tastes, but it really didn't taste nearly as bad as I thought it would. But, I now fully understand why the dr. usually does the test later on after the morning sickness has passed. I'm just thankful it stayed down. I was really afraid it wasn't going to...that much sugar on an empty and weak stomach was not so good. I'm thankful to report that I just recieved a call from the dr.'s office saying the test came back normal. This was such an answered prayer!!

I must say I have been lucky with the sickness. While my stomach is a little weak in the morning, I usually don't have any problems. I do, sometimes, have trouble at night. Poor Jamie isn't getting very many home cooked meals. I have trouble smelling the food cooking, or I will cook it and then decide I can't eat it. And, then sometimes, nothing at all sounds appetizing to even think about eating. So, dinner meals have been slim around here. I guess that would explain why I had lost 4 pounds when I went to the dr. I was so shocked by that because I ate good over the holidays!

As for the baby, he/she is doing great. This was our second ultrasound and I was so thankful Jamie got to be there for it. Heartbeat was strong at 168 bpm. This time it actually looked a lot more like a baby. The baby was very active (my guess is all that sugar I had just drank) so we got to see the baby from a lot of angles. On the profile, we were able to see the eyes, nose, and mouth, and the hands and feet have developed. The baby even waved at us in one picture. :)Dr. says all is good and for that we are incredibly thankful. We appreciate all the prayers that have been prayed on behalf of Baby G. We conitnue to pray that he/she will continue to develop and grow into a healthy and happy little baby. Next appt is Feb. 8th, which is when they will "begin" to determine whether our little bundle is a boy or girl so we are looking forward to that. Look for a post soon!