Miss Annalise made her appearance at 1:02 am on November 30th, weighing in at 5 pounds 15 ounces, and measuring 17.5 inches long. She is absolutely perfect. Here's the story on how she decided to grace us with her presence.
I woke up at 5am on Thursday the 29th, just a typical work day. But as I was getting ready for work I noticed I was getting slight cramps that were coming and going rather frequently. I wondered if they were early contractions as I had heard they could feel this way, so while it did give me a flicker of hope that she'd be here soon, I didn't get too excited because I had heard those types of contractions can last for weeks. Once I was just sitting at my desk I noticed them more and more. I began keeping a log of how long they lasted and how often they were coming. They were lasting about 30 seconds each and were 7 to 10 minutes apart all morning. Come lunch time they started getting stronger, were lasting a minute each, and were about 5 minutes apart. I got anxious since some doctors say to call the hospital when they get to that frequency. But I could still hide the fact that I was having them and could talk and walk through them so I figured they weren't real. I decided to head home from work early, around 2:30 pm, just in case since the contractions were still coming every 5 minutes. I laid down in bed because I had been told that real contractions won't subside when you rest but Braxton Hicks will. These didn't stop. I decided that they must be real contractions, even if they weren't so bad. They had gotten to be four minutes apart for an hour which is when my doctor said to call. But since they weren't so bad I decided I had time to take a shower and get myself put together. By the time I got out of the shower they were 2 to 3 minutes apart so I called the doctor and we left for the hospital a little before 7pm.
Dan and my mom were with me. The drive wasn't bad at all, the contractions were still mild. Once we got to the hospital I wouldn't let Dan drop me off at the front but insisted on having him park in the lot across the street and I made the walk with him. I was so nervous that I would just be told that I was having Braxton Hicks contractions, that I hadn't progressed at all, and to go home, so I was really taking my time getting up there. When we got there I signed lots of paperwork then got hooked up to two different monitors. One to monitor my contractions and one to monitor baby. As soon as I was hooked up and got what I though was a contraction I looked at the nurse and asked if that was really a contraction or if I was just overreacting (since they still were mild cramp feelings) and she assured me that they were indeed contractions. The doctor stopped in to check my progress and I was so happy to hear that I was already at 5 cm! I had only been at 2 at my exam the day before. So with that progress and my contractions coming right on top of each other, they admitted me and got me to a delivery room. The nurse told me that I was handling the contractions so well that she was confident I'd be able to have a natural childbirth. I was feeling fine, walking and talking through my contractions. Then at about 9 pm the contractions changed from mild cramps to full on pain that made my whole body shake. After just three of those types of contractions I was begging for an epidural. Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was busy in an emergency so I waited over an hour for that epidural. Looking back at that hour, I don't remember much, but I do remember repeatedly telling Dan that I didn't want to do this anymore and that I just wanted to go home, for some reason I just really wanted to be in my own bed, as if that would have made it better. The epidural finally arrived, I didn't feel the needle at all, and within minutes I was completely pain free. From that point on, I was thinking "wow, this childbirth thing is a piece of cake." I felt completely fine, no pain at all.
By 11:30 pm I was at 10 cm but Annalise was facing sideways which makes delivery much more difficult. I commented that she's been facing sideways the entire time I've been able to feel her which made the nurse nervous. She said if the baby had been facing sideways all the time that she probably wouldn't turn before we needed to push. They'd let me push for 4 hours before sending me for a c-section. But she had me lay on my side for an hour to see if we could get Annalise to turn. Thankfully she did! I started pushing around 12:45 am on the 30th and she was in my arms at 1:02 am! All in all I think I had a pretty easy labor and delivery (Dan and my mom will disagree since they saw me during that hour I wanted the epi, but that's all behind me now.)
I will never forget that moment they put her on my chest. Yes, she was all purple and covered in goo, but she was my purple goo covered angel. I can't even describe the love and happiness that came over me in that moment. And the love has grown every second I've spent with her.
After they cleaned her up they put her back in my arms for a little bit. But they were concerned about her being so small at her age so they brought her up to the nursery and Dan went with her. I felt lost during that time, my mom and brother had already gone, and all I wanted to do was hold my baby. Dan quickly came back, he didn't want to watch them pricking her and while I was a little nervous that neither one of us was there with her, I was glad to have him there with me. From there, I got wheeled up to a recovery room and they brought Annalise back to us soon after. All of her tests came back just fine, she's just a peanut. We are all doing wonderfully and are just so very happy.
I can't believe she's already a week old, the time has flown by but at the same time I feel like I've loved her forever. I'll post again soon with her one week update!
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