Anna's Birth Story

Our day started at fiveish with showers and last minute packing. Then we bundled Rylie up in her blanket and put her in the car. She woke up with a big smile and said, "Thanks for getting my Dora blanket, Dad." We looked at each other and said how thankful we were for such a good girl, that was cheerful even when being taken out of her warm bed and put in the car at six in the morning.

We dropped her off with my Dad and headed to the hospital. We checked in and they led us to our room. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was the same room I had delivered Rylie in almost three years prior. We were left alone to unpack and get settled. Then our nurse, Sandra came in. We were a little taken aback at first by her because she was way more bubbly and enthusiastic than we felt at the time. She turned out to be the best nurse ever! That is her rubbing my back in the picture. She stayed with us the entire time and was very encouraging and gave great back rubs.

Since I was GBS positive, she started me on an IV of Penicillin and at the same time started the Pitosin. My Doctor was supposed to be there soon, so she started me on a high dose of the Pitosin. As the morning wore on, my contractions grew stronger and stronger. Sandra estimated that I would deliver by noon.

During that time, we had several visitors, including our friend, Scott. He had been admitted to the hospital the day before so he came to visit from his room towing his IV.

Sandra got a phone call from my Doctor saying that he had scheduled a C Section at a different hospital for noon and wanted her to turn my Pitosin down to slow my labor down until he got there. Then he called back and said the C section was delayed and he wouldn't be there for several more hours. This was irritating because I was in pain and I wanted it to be over. I was ready to meet my little Anna.

My labor was slowed down quite a bit, but my pain wasn't. My water had broken around eleven, so my contractions were regular and strong. Sandra had me get on the birthing ball for awhile. This really helped relieve some of my back labor pain.

After about ten hours of labor, I was exhausted and in more pain than I was during my entire labor and delivery with Rylie. I hadn't wanted an epidural, but at that point I gave in and asked for one. It felt like it was taking the Anesthesiologist forever to get there. When she did get there, she kept explaining everything in great detail. At that point I wanted her to stop talking and get me out of pain. It was hard to remain perfectly still while she was giving me the epidural, and I was having contractions, but I did it. She actually gave me a block so I could still feel everything below my waist. I'm not sure why she did that, I had wanted the full epidural, but at least I could walk right away afterwards.

Eventually it was time to push. It was much harder and more painful than Rylie's delivery. After what felt like forever, I heard the Doctor say, "She has hair!" While I finished pushing my Doctor kept trying to style Anna's hair. Then she was out! I heard her little cry and they put her on my chest. Her little lower lip was pouting so pathetically. My sweet girl was finally here! She was absolutely beautiful and healthy! She weighed 7.8 and was 20 1/2 inches long. My Mom had her cell phone on speaker so all the friends and family waiting outside could hear the whole delivery. After they cleaned Anna up we were flooded with visitors and love!

We are so happy to have Anna Sophia here and we are very thankful for her!!!

Our Day

I had forgotten how busy your day is when you have a little one that is totally dependent on you! Even though Rylie is pretty independent and a good helper, she still needs a lot from me too. Then of course there is the laundry, dishes, etc. that vie for my attention as well. I'm not complaining about it, I'm very happy and blessed with our new addition. I just need to figure out a schedule for our day. If I were to let her, Rylie would watch TV all day, and I definitely do not want that! If anyone has any good scheduling/organizing ideas, let me know!

Here are some pictures from our day. The one with the snow and the tree are actually from yesterday. Yes, you read that right, snow! Snow in Spring! It's almost April! I didn't think Anna's first snow would come until next December. I know this is not that unusual in other parts of the country, but it is very unusual for the Pacific Northwest. When we woke up this morning there was more snow on the ground and the news said it may snow more tonight. The other pictures are from Rylie helping me make the Chocolate Trifle for our Flock Group potluck tonight. I loved the chocolate face! I think the Trifle turned out pretty good for my first try. Thanks Michelle for the PC Trifle Bowl!

My Aunt Jo and Aunt Paula came to visit last week and I got a great picture of Aunt Paula holding Anna, but it is in my other computer which isn't working right now. It was great to visit with them though, they live a few hours away so we don't see them all that often. My Uncle Rich is on the show Axmen on the History Channel. He is a Yarder Operator for Gustafson Logging. I had DVR'd the last two episodes and finally had a chance to watch them last night. I was excited to see how much of him they showed!

8 Hours of Sleep!!!!

Thank you to my wonderful husband for taking over the feeding last night, allowing me to sleep for the whole night! It was wonderful! It made me feel like a normal person again! I had forgotten how hard these first couple months are. I love the cuddly newborn stage, but I really hate the sleep deprivation! Combine that with the extra hormones and I'm a mess!
Thanks Dad for this picture. He took it with his phone at the hospital. I think it's the nicest one of Anna and I that I have. The other ones I have of her and I were taken immediately after she was born while they were still working on me, so they aren't the best.
I'm really trying to not turn this blog into just a photo blog, but it's been hard finding the time to write and my brain hasn't been functioning enough to think of something coherent to say. I did a devotional at a baby shower tonight and I don't know if it made any sense at all! One day, some of the "Mommy brain" will subside and I'll be clear headed again.
We had a fun day on Saturday at Rylie's Ariel Birthday party. She really enjoyed her day and looked adorable in her mermaid dress!
Easter was Anna's first official day at church. Her and Rylie looked beautiful in their matching dresses (thank you Deborah!) Ryan preached what I heard was a wonderful sermon, I ended up in the nursery with Anna. We had lunch at my parents house and the cousins had an Easter egg hunt, Rylie's first. Then we went to Ryan's Mom's for a yummy ham dinner. Rylie had great fun with her boy cousins. I got to eat Cadburry Mini eggs, my favorite! (Thanks for introducing those to me, Dee!)
Tonight Anna and I went to a Baby Shower for the girl who was the Flower Girl in my wedding! Boy do I feel old! Her baby is so pretty! She had more hair than Rylie and Anna combined. While we were there, Ryan and Rylie went on a date to the movies. They thought Horton Hears a Who, was very funny, and Rylie loved the popcorn!
Off to wake a sleeping baby to feed her!

He is Risen!

Rylie's Ariel Birthday Party!

My Prayer

Please, please, please Lord, more of this!

Don't you just love spitup all over the hair 45 minutes after the bath?! So much for baby smelling goodness!

Newest Dad News

My Dad is doing good! He is probably going home from the hospital in a few hours. He had a good meeting with the cardiologist this morning and he gave him a few ideas. His other tests have come back good, so this is all a praise! When my Mom came to see him at the hospital this morning, she found him in line at the espresso cart with his IV's hanging out of his arm!
Yesterday, Rylie took a nap with no pull up and no wetting the bed! I was so proud of her!
When it was the girls nap time, Rylie asked if Anna could sleep in her room in her crib. She's been sleeping in the bassinet in our room. I agreed that it would be ok, it was so cute to have my daughters together in their room!

Update on my Dad

For those of you that didn't hear, my Dad went to the ER last night with chest pain. He had been having them steadily since Sunday morning. They have been running lots of tests and have ruled out a heart attack and a pulmonary embolism (really bad blood clot), praise the Lord! They want to keep him overnight again so that they can run more tests. He's not too happy about this, but it's good to have a thorough diagnostic exam. Please pray that he would be comfortable and that the doctors would figure out what is going on with his body!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is my Anna's first St. Patrick's Day and also her first time at a restaurant. We usually spend St. Patrick's Day with my side of the family. My sister-in-law, Pam always makes corned beef and cabbage for us all, but her kids have fevers, so we spent the evening with Ryan's side of the family instead. Patty (otherwise known as Nana), treated us all to dinner at Red Lobster. Anna slept through the whole experience, but Rylie enjoyed her cousins, Aunts, and Nana!

Anna's First Bath!

God's Anger

I don't often think about God's anger towards His people. It was very evident in the Old Testament, but what about now? I know that He is loving and gracious and forgiving, but He is also still a Holy, righteous God who cannot tolerate sin. I know that He is patient with me and that I am secure in Him. I also know that I have a sinful heart and that makes Him angry with me. Scary thought! We often talk about how sin "offends" a Holy God, but I think that word makes me think more of hurting God's feelings, not of angering a just, holy, righteous God! My sin does that! I need to have this view of my sin! I am very thankful for His forgiveness, graciousness, and mercy!
Note: I wrote this a few weeks ago, when I was actually reading my Bible. I have to confess that since Anna's been born, I haven't read it at all! :(

Girl's Doctors Appointments

Both my girls had their checkups this week. Anna now weighs 7.1, which is good because when we left the hospital she was 6.14. Since she had some feeding issues earlier, I was really pleased to see that she is gaining weight. The Doctor said that she has a clean bill of health and looks good! She didn't like the PKU though, poor thing!

Rylie's appointment went well too. She is in the 50% for height and 75% for weight. She has a slight heart murmur, which I was surprised to hear, but the Doctor said it was not a big deal and her heart sounds healthy. Rylie was enjoying the appointment, showing off all of her skills for the Doctor, until she had to get her shot. After that she didn't like the Doctor's office so much. Poor thing is still sick with a cold. She has been feeling miserable.

Ryan is starting to feel a little better. He took the 1:00 feeding last night so I actually had almost 4 straight hours of sleep! It was so wonderful!

Rylie's Family Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Rylie!!!!

Happy Birthday Rylie Girl!!!! I can't believe my baby is 3!!!! Three years ago today, they placed this tiny little baby girl in my arms. I had no idea how she would turn my world upside down. She has completely and utterly stolen my heart forever! I am so in love with my precious daughter and have really enjoyed getting to know her and I can't wait for the rest of our lives! She is smart and beautiful and funny and affectionate. We're having a family party for her tonight and then her big friend Ariel party in a couple of weeks. I'll post pictures from her party tonight. Happy Birthday baby!

Even More Anna Photos!

I couldn't resist posting more pictures of our Anna! These are from yesterday and this morning. We've been having some feeding issues which have caused a lot of tears and sleeplessness (for Anna and me!). We've now gone to me pumping and feeding her a bottle, which seems to be working much better. She is much more content and today was much more alert. She layed on her blanket and kicked and cooed! Very cool! She is so strong, she can roll onto her side and she's pretty good at holding her head up. When she has her eyes open she looks at you very intently. I feel like I've been able to bond with her more quickly than I thought I would. Rylie loves her sister ("my baby") and has been doing good with her. We have noticed that she's wanting more attention though. Poor Ryan is really sick and hasn't been able to hardly hold Anna and it's killing him. He's been taking a ton of medicine and sleeping a lot so he can get better so he can help me and get to know his newest daughter! Please pray for him, he's miserable! I have been healing pretty good, I've just been exhausted, but that's to be expected. It's so nice to not be having contractions and to not be in limbo land! I'll post her birth story later. Ryan accidentally posted her length wrong, it was 20 1/2 inches. Not a big deal, but I want to remember everything accurately. Thank you to all of you who have made meals, etc. A special thanks to Mom who left church early yesterday in response to my emotional, "we need help" call! And thanks to Becky who has come over the last two days to play with Rylie and do my dishes!

More Anna

Anna's Smile!

Go check out the video on Ryan's blog of Anna's first smile!!!
I'll post soon about her birth story and other things, but for now I'm surrendering to the combination of sleep loss and Percocet!

We're Home!!!

ANNA SOPHIA!!!

Finally, after one long day, Anna arrived last night at 6:59! Mom did great and Anna's a keeper! She was 7lbs 80z and 20 inches long. As you can see in the pictures, she has a full head of hair. We'll be posting more about our hospital adventure later (the hospital doesn't have wi-fi!) but I hope this helps tide you over!

- Ryan

Faith

I have really enjoyed reading the Old Testament this year. One of the biggest lessons I have been learning is that of faith. I love reading the examples of people like Joseph, Joshua, and Caleb. They have complete faith in God. They know that He always keeps His promises and that nothing is impossible with Him. In the story of the spies sent out to Caanan, Joshua and Caleb are the only ones who trust God, the only ones who have faith and assuarance that He could and would accomplish His promises. They knew that if something is in God's plan it will happen, even if it seems impossible to us. Nothing is impossible for God! I need to have more faith! God is stronger than anything, I don't need to fear!

I Won't Be Pregnant Forever!

I'm at a 3! After a 3 hour long wait for the doctor (he had an emergency C section), we found out that I have progressed more. I was so happy to hear this! He said that my body is ready to go at any time, but if I don't go by Wednesday then I'm being induced at 7 am! That's tomorrow people!!! He thinks that when I do go into labor, I will go quickly (I did with Rylie).
I have lots on my mind, but it is 4 am and I need to get back to bed. Thank you Mom and Dad for keeping Rylie so I could sleep in for one last time! Thank you to everyone for all of your prayers and encouragement!

Going To Church

I really didn't think I would be getting ready to go to church this morning! I thought for sure I would be at the hospital! Friday night I drank raspberry tea and played lots of Wii bowling and baseball hoping that would help speed things along. It did progress somethings (I won't go into detail for my male readers) and the web sites say that now I should be going into labor in the next day or two (which would be yesterday or today). But, I have learned not to count on such things and I'm really trying to be patient and content with waiting until whenever it is that God wants her to be born. He has the perfect timetable anyway!

We've had a good weekend and I'll try to post some pictures later today of some of our fun. Until then, Happy Lord's Day and Happy Birthday Stephanie!