I am pleased to announce the birth of our daughter, Annabelle Grace Homan, born December 27th, 2009 at 11:13pm, weighing 5lbs 15oz, and 19.5 inches long. She is absolutely as sweet as pie. For a little thing, she is super strong! She holds her head up and looks all around her. She has a full head of hair, and the cutest darn face you ever did see.
We are home now, and doing pretty well. I am breastfeeding and that is going fairly well. At first Annabelle's weight dropped lower than they wanted. It was thought that she dropped all the way down to 5lbs 1oz. However, the scale at the doctor's office had a low battery and would not zero out correctly. I think it was off. We met with the lactation consultant that same day in hopes that I was breastfeeding her correctly, and that she was getting a full meal when she fed. Their scale read 5.5 for her weight, and she had gained the correct amount of weight after her feeding. So I felt relieved. Our last appt on Tuesday revealed her weight of 6lbs! Way to go Annabelle! The girl likes to eat. She kept Mommy up most of the night last night. Daddy tried to intervine, but this time she wanted her Mommy. So, needless to say, I am pretty sleepy. I hope this blog makes sense.
Labor Story!
So on Saturday the 26th, Michael and I went to the gym to work out. I jogged about 4 miles. We decided to go to the Saturday night service at church instead of the Sunday service. I'm glad we did! I remember feeling lots of pelvic pressure and lots of braxton Hicks contractions. No biggie though, cuz I had had these for the past 3 weeks! I was trying not to get my hopes up. Michael and I went out to dinner after church and then home. A little before midnight, after we had gone to bed, I noticed these Braxton Hicks were about 5 minutes apart and getting a little stronger. I laid in bed for an hour and watched the clock. This went on for an hour before Michael woke up. I told him that the contractions were getting stronger. We broke out the stop watch, and I breathed my way through each contraction. After 2 hours of contractions, we called our midwife. She said we could come in or stay home until the contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and stronger. We opted to stay home. About 2 hours later, I had had my bloody show, and it seemed like my water had ruptured, as I kept leaking after going to the bathroom. The contractions were stronger and 2-4 minutes apart. We decided to head to the hospital. After being checked in, the contractions were a little more irregular and I was only dilated to 1-2cm. Still 80% effaced. I was discouraged. But, they wanted to keep me, because they tested me to see if I was in fact leaking amniotic fluid. I was, so we were told that we would be staying. This was all around 5:30am. We began walking the halls, timing contractions. They were getting stronger and stronger, and I had to stop walking between them and breathe. I noticed pain in my lower back. This area hurt the most. Our midwife was wonderful. She encouraged our walking and trying different labor positions. Our nurse, wanted us on the monitor. They were butting heads, but of course our midwife got the last word and we were able to move around. By 10:30, the contractions were so strong and painful that I wanted to lay down on my side. I was only dilated to a 2-3. So frustrating. My back was really hurting. At noon the contractions were even more painful, but I was not progressing at all. We decided to go ahead and break my bag of waters fully in hopes that our little peanut would progress faster. My contractions were almost unbearable. At certain points they were 1 minute apart and 1 minute long. Because I was having back labor, I didn't really get the relief in between contractions. I was trying my best to breathe through them, but they would come on so fast, that I couldn't keep up with them. Michael was wonderful. We tried everything to get the pressure off of my back. I tried the birth ball, sitting on the toilet, all fours, numerous positions in bed and walking. Nothing worked. During one contraction, Michael, who had been placing pressure on my lower back for relief, heard his own back pop. That's right, he threw his back out and was in horrible pain. Around 5pm our midwife checked me again, and I was only dilated 4-5cm. Baby would not drop down, because she was posterior. At this point, I couldn't take the pain anymore. I couldn't relax or breathe through anything. I hadn't slept in 36 hours, and Michael was in pain as well. I was moaning, and grunting and loud I'm sure, trying to get the pain out of my body. I finally cried to Michael that I needed an epidural. Within 15 minutes, the epidural was in place, and the contractions were much less intense. After another 15 minutes, I couldn't feel them. I could relax and Michael could relax! Finally some relief. By 8:30 Annabelle still wasn't progressing. I was still at 5cm. They started me on a low dose of Pit. About another hour or 2 passed. Time for another check. By this point I was worried that Annabelle, would end up being delivered via C-section. I prayed and prayed for God to turn her. He heard my prayers and when my nurse checked me I was at 9.5 cm with a lip of cervix left, and Annabelle was in position. Time to push. I had to wake Michael! He held my leg back for me, and counted to 10 for me with each push! After 40 minutes, Annabelle was out! I was sure she was a boy. Michael said she was a girl! I thought that he didn't see the baby's anatomy right! But when they laid her on my chest, I saw that she was in fact an ADORABLE little girl with tons of dark hair and wide eyes looking right at me. Michael cried, and I was so thankful that it was over and that she was here! Welcome to the world little one!
With her buddy Logan, who is just 3 months older!
Sleeping Beauty!
First Day Home!
