Anna Michelle is finally here!

One of the last posts I wrote a few weeks ago, I was talking about how Keith and I were ready for Anna to arrive but she was not...well, insert foot in mouth because I ended up going into labor the evening of her actual due date. Earlier that afternoon, on the way home from work, I stopped at Dairy Queen for a blizzard (ice cream craving!) and also stopped at Lowe's to pick up some wood blinds for our front living room. I had wanted to put the blinds up Thursday night as a surprise to Keith while he was at his soccer game, but I ended up needing his help so I coerced him into helping me before he left. Some might ask, why in the world did I want to put up blinds being 10 months pregnant but I've heard that I was supposed to get a sudden spurt of energy right before I went into labor so I can officially check that box as this happened to me...Keith had just left the house for a late soccer game in Carrolton and as soon as I heard the garage door close and Keith leave the driveway, I felt the first contraction. I hadn't had any Braxton Hicks contractions during my pregnancy so I wasn't sure if this was the beginning of labor or just wishful thinking. As 10:30 pm rolled around, I started having contractions about 10 minutes apart and started to jot them down on a scratch piece of paper. Right around this time, Keith came back from his soccer game to find me sitting on the floor in the living room right in the middle of a contraction and I had him screw in the last set of blinds so the project would be finished! The next 2 hours my contractions were closer and closer together so at 12:30 am, I called my doctor and was instructed to head to the hospital and check-in. Keith quickly packed the car with all of our bags and we headed out the door and quickly realized the next time we would drive back to our house, we would return as a family of three - which was a scary thought! We checked into the hospital around 1 am and by then, my contractions were just minutes apart and SOOOOOO painful. I was already 5 cm dilated (my doctor said it was impressive for a rookie) and wheeled to Labor & Delivery within 15 minutes of arriving and filling out paperwork. Thankfully I had an epidural in place about an hour later and I was in a much happier place and could actually carry on a conversation with Keith without almost wanting to hyperventilate or yell and scream. When we finally realized that we would have Anna sometime the morning of June 24, we called our family to let them know and were pleasantly surprised when we heard a knock at our door and Keith's dad walked in at 3 am to keep us company. A number of hours later (and no sleep for any of us) Anna Michelle made her debut at 9:40 am! I was able to hold her for a few minutes and only had a few tears streaming down my face and then the nurses took her to a little table to take all of her measurements. Keith was able to take lots of photos of Anna getting weighed and measured and the nurses even took one of Keith cutting her umbilical cord.

Clearly, this wasn't their first rodeo and they made sure Keith took every possible "Kodak Moment Photo" of Anna and her first few minutes in the world.

Unfortunately, Anna had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid right before she was delivered and had a hard time breathing and getting all that stuff out of her lungs, chest and throat. Three NICU nurses ended up coming down to our room within 15 minutes of her birth and took her straight upstairs to the nursery to keep a close eye on her and make sure she got rid of all that extra fluid. I was supposed to be able to hold her for at least an hour in the labor room but since she was having trouble breathing, I found myself in the room without Keith or Anna and it was just me and a nurse. It was a little lonely but I knew Anna was in good hands and Keith was able to go upstairs with Hal, Janet and Vicki to watch her get her first bath and monitored by the nurses.

 Keith sleeping on his bed for 2 nights. Not the most comfortable sleeping arrangement but at least we had our own pillows and blankets. We hadn't slept in over 36 hours so we both tried to take a quick nap to try to recover...easier said than done with a newborn!

We were next moved to our postpartum room where we would spend the next few days recovering and getting to know our little one.

Anna's stats:
Born: June 24, 2011
Time: 9:40 am
Weight: 6.1 pounds
Length: 20 inches

We love her so very much and are having such a wonderful time getting to know her and also learning how to be parents. Our world has drastically changed and we are very thankful for the changes God has brought our way. Anna is already loved by so many people and we are blessed with great friends and family who have been absolute rocks for us over the last 2 weeks. We could not have done this without you!