A baby story...

...my fourth, actually.

So, here's Annistyn's story. I had no complications with her pregnancy, but I did have more of the "normal" pregnancy woes than I did with the other three. I had morning sickness for the first 20 weeks, which I had never really experienced before. At 20 weeks it got a little better, but that's when Annistyn discovered my ribs and she felt like they were the most comfortable place to be and play for the last 20 weeks. By the end of my pregnancy I was just ready to get her here. There were a lot of comments from other people about needing to take it easy and if she would come early and things like that, but I have never had a baby early. Kleyn was 5 days late and I was induced with Kaleb and Dannika. I didn't have a problem being induced again with Annistyn, but my last doctor's appointment was on Kaleb's birthday and I didn't really want to be in the hospital for that. I also didn't want to be in the hospital for the 4th of July again, but everyone kept telling me that my doctor would not induce early unless he absolutely had to. At my 38 week appointment I mentioned something about that and they said they could induce me any time after the 39 week mark. I was so excited! They scheduled me to go in to the hospital on the 26th at 6:30 am. We got to the hospital that morning and they had me all hooked up and ready to go by 7:30. I have always had my mom with me in the delivery room, but this time we had her stay home with the other kids. It was really quiet, Danny was falling asleep on the couch, and I didn't have anyone to talk to, so we both ended up taking a two hour nap before the pain got bad enough that I needed his hand. When it got a little bit closer I asked for some pain medication so that Danny would be entertained. They gave me statol, which I remember from the other pregnancies and I think it works really well. She said that they could give me a dose every 90 minutes if I needed it. I usually only get one or two doses of medication. Danny said that when they give me that medication it's almost instantaneous that I start blabbering. I vaguely remember what goes on, but it just feels like I'm in a dream. I remember laughing a lot and crying a little and talking about whatever popped into my head. Danny said the nurse was getting a kick out of it as well. After 90 minutes Danny said it was almost as instantaneous that I snapped out of it. He said it was like I was just all of the sudden awake. I asked for the second dose of pain medication and after a few minutes the nurse came back in and told me that was the last dose they had in the whole hospital. She gave me something else which just made me groggy, but didn't really help the pain much. I wasn't very happy about that one because I was sleepy for the next four hours after Annistyn got here. By 11:40 am Annistyn was ready to come and she was delivered at 11:53. It only took two pushes, but they kept telling me to start and stop and that's just a little difficult if you ask me. I cried when they told me they had to do a few stitches because I really really hate that part. Annistyn was such a cutie, but they just couldn't get her to warm up, so she got to lay on my chest for a little while. I loved being able to hold her and get her warm, but I was still really groggy. The doctor couldn't decide if her coloring was because she was just cold or if she had bruised her face during delivery. After a few days her color was pretty normal, so I think she was just cold.

We are so glad to have her here and we all love her so much. It's definitely an adjustment, but after the first week it felt like she had been here all along. The kids have already nick-named her Annie Banani. Not really what I had in mind, but when the other kids give the baby a nick name, it sort of sticks.