A Baby Story

I thought I would take some time to recall the story of how Annalie came into the world. 41 weeks into my pregnancy, I finally went into labor. Contractions started Sunday afternoon, but were not very regular, so I thought that nothing was happening. I tried to rest throughout the day and when it came time to go to youth group, I was ready to go, but then thought that I might be a distraction, and decided to stay home. In the few hours that Tony was gone, the contractions started to become more regular and were about 7 min. apart. When Tony finally came home I let him know that I was very confident that I was in labor and would be having the baby soon. Tony stayed up with me through the night as my contractions continued to get closer and closer together. By 2:30 in the morning, I knew that it was time to get to the hospital.


The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever and there were red lights the entire way. When we finally arrived at the hospital, we walked in through the emergency room entrance and the guard at the door told us to check in with the emergency room. She did not realize that I was pregnant and in labor until we started walking towards the ER check-in. She then said, "Oh, you're pregnant!" I said, "Yes, we need to get to Labor and Delivery." She apologized and directed us where to go. When we got to Labor and Delivery, the nurses could immediately tell that I was pretty far along and got me into a room immediately. My contractions by this point were 2-3 minutes apart. They were so surprised that I lasted so long at home. The doctor came in to check me and found that I was hardly dilated but almost completely effaced. I was so disappointed. I thought for sure I was dilated more than a finger tip! So, the nurses asked me if I wanted to walk or lay down. I decided to walk.


After walking for a half hour, we headed back to the room and waited...and waited. I think they put me on Pitocin at some point. By 1:00 in the afternoon, my doctor finally arrived and broke my water. He said he would be back in two hours to check on my progress. Two hours was 30 minutes too long. By 2:00 I was in desperate need to get my baby out!! I didn't make any demands of anyone until that point. I insisted that I needed a doctor and that I needed to push. At first, the nurse didn't believe me, but then saw that I was truly ready to go. She called for a doctor to come, but no one came. Finally, my dad had to go out and yell at the hospital staff for someone to help. When they saw the urgency in my dad's plea, they came running. Within minutes there were 4 or 5 doctors in my room prepping me for delivery. Within 30 minutes Annalie was out! My doctor didn't make it in time. In fact, he got to the room a couple minutes after she was born.

Annalie Grace born Nov. 3 @ 2:36 pm. Weighing 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 in. long

Annalie came out with her big eyes wide open and so alert. It was amazing. She was beautiful! Now, two weeks old, she is such a joy. Still alert as ever. I have to say that I am glad that I did not get an epidural. The contractions were definitely painful, but pushing was by far the best part. It my be too early to say, but next time, give me the drugs!

Will Annalie Ever Arrive?

There have been no new developments in the past week to report on. When I went to the doctor last Friday he said he would be surprised if anything happened this week. Well, I'm hoping he is wrong. I feel like this pregnancy has gone on forever and can't wait for Annalie to finally get here. Her room is ready, the car seat is in the car, my bags are packed. I keep watching A Baby Story on t.v which is freaking me out and I'm hoping I will be able to deliver without an epidural. We'll see. I'm about to head out for a long walk to see if that helps move things along a little faster. I've taken some pictures of the nursery. Envision me in the chair, gliding back and forth waiting, and pray that Annalie arrives safe and healthy soon.

The Mud

So this weekend was extremely rainy, and the rain flooded all of the streets by our house. On Saturday, Tony and I decided to venture out on foot to assess the damage. We walked behind our house to Central Rd. It was comletely flooded with 2 or 3 cars stalled out right in the middle of the street, yet while we watched, two other cars decided to venture in. I'm not sure why they thought that they would be ok when there were clearly other cars stalled out. Anyway, one car made it half way through and then turned around and made it out ok. The other one, a van, stalled. We're not sure what the people ended up doing, but in the time that we were there, no one got out of the van. I think they decided to wait for the van to start up agian. By this point, Tony was on the other side of a flowing stream of water that he crossed using a piece of narrow wood. I decided to stay on the high ground so I wouldn't get dirty. That turned out to be a good decision.
All summer there has been a construction crew widening the expressway behind our house. They just finished the work and had put in new sod along a steep hill that backs up to our house. With the flood, though, there were huge patches of grass and mud that ended up in piles at the bottom of the hill. Well, guess where Tony was walking?...at the base of the hill. His flip flops kept getting lost in the mud, so he was trying to find a place to cross over the stream so he won't lose his shoes. I suggested he go up a little ways on the hill because where I was standing, it looked like a better place to cross the stream. Oops! He took a step and sunk into the mud up to his thighs. My first thought was, I'm going to have to rescue him from going under. I thought about a moose I once saw on Animal Planet that had to be rescued from a mudslide using a rope that was lassoed around its neck. Thankfully, he didn't sink any deeper, and I didn't need a rope to rescue him. Poor Tony. As he struggled to get his legs unstuck, my fear turned to laughter. It was the funniest thing to watch him try to get out of the mud. I so wish I had a camera with me. My story is not nearly as funny as some pictures would be. Oh well, it was the highlight of my day!

Tony's Triathlon

On Saturday, Tony ran his second Olympic length triathlon in Lake Geneva. It was a great day for a race...a little chilly in the morning, though. My parents came up to help me cheer him on and my dad was able to take a lot of pictures. Here are a few from that race. Tony came in 39th out of 350+ racers. He was hoping to place in his age division, but ended up being 6 seconds short of the 3rd place winner. He did awesome!!

While we waited to see Tony at each leg of the race, my dad took some pictures of me. He told me that for now I will be the model, but when the baby comes, I'm out.

The Ultrasound and Surprise Youth Group Baby Shower

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers. Tony and I went in this morning for the ultrasound and after waiting 35 long and anxious minutes in the waiting room, we got to see Annalie. She is in fact a girl measuring 4 lbs. 5 oz., in the 30th percentile and 32 weeks, 6 days old. Everything looks great! I am so relieved! All that worrying for nothing. Praise God that she is growing and healthy! Thanks for your prayers.

On another note, the youth group threw us a surprise baby shower. Tony and I had no idea. We planned to have Saturday night youth group at the home of some of our students. After dinner, and games, we were told that there was going to be cake for dessert. Well, little did we know that the cake was for us, and that the event was planned behind our backs to be a baby shower. Here are some pictures from the evening.

32 Week Doctor Visit

Sorry, no pictures yet. I've gotta get on that. Yesterday was kind of a traumatic day for me. I went to the doctor for my 32 week visit. My mom came with me so she could chat with the staff there (the same practice that my mom went to when she was pregnant with me). Her coming with me turned out to be a blessing, though. The doctor said, "great heartbeat," "great that the baby is moving a lot" and has hiccups at least three times a day. I asked the doctor if I would be getting another ultrasound (I want to see Annalie again, and make sure that she is in fact a girl). To my surprise, the doctor said that he did want me to get another ultrasound before my next visit because Annalie (and thus my belly) is fairly small. Hearing this made me start to cry instantly, thus the reason why it was a blessing that my mom was there. She had to reassure me that everything is fine and that having a smaller baby would be easier to deliver. The only thing I was thinking, though, was please God let her be ok. I can't wait until Tuesday for the ultrasound, so I can see her and hopefully get some reassurance that everything is ok. I'm sure every mom-to-be goes though times where she wonders about the baby growing inside her, and fears the worst. Sheri, I loved the poem that you posted on your blog. It was just what I needed to hear, and helped me to remember that God is in complete control. I need to do a better job trusting Him.

My First Blog

I thought that since we have friends and family scattered all over the world now, it might be a good idea to set up a blog for when Annalie Grace arrives. Right now, I am 31 weeks pregnant and counting down the weeks until she gets here. I'll add some pictures soon of my growing belly.