Sorry I haven't written in a week. I've been preoccupied with my baby. She's such a sweet, adorable, perfect little angel. It's so hard not to spend every single second with her whether she's awake or not! Right now she's napping in her pack 'n play so I'm stealing a second to play on the internet. So, I figured I'd better write her birth story before all the details escaped me. Luckily Kris and I took notes (yes, we're that geeky!) otherwise I would have forgotten most of this.

At 11:30 pm, Monday, September 6th, I had my first non-Braxton-Hicks contraction. This one hurt. It was decidedly different. It woke me up from my sleep even. I fell back asleep and at midnight, I had another one. I had contractions every half hour until 2:30 AM when they started coming every 7-10 minutes. I labored through them for a while. Eventually I woke Kris up with my "noises" (moaning or breathing loudly through them.) He helped me breathe through a couple before telling me I should get in the tub. So, the sweetie, that he is, he went to run me a bath. I soaked in the tub for about an hour and during that time, the contractions starting coming every 3-8 minutes. I could tell Kris was getting a little excited to think that this might be 'it.' I decided that I'd had enough of the tub, and Kris was really tired, so I got out and we headed back to bed. We both knew we needed our rest if this really was 'it.' After I got out of the tub, the contractions slowed to every 6-10 minutes again. Kris fell asleep fairly quickly and I slept for about 2 hours, waking each time I had a contraction and then falling asleep again. Not the most restful sleep I've ever had but I took whatever I could get at that point. Around 6 AM, I could lay there any more. I got up and started pacing the bedroom and hallway while sometimes leaning over the bed during a contraction. I think I was having back labor because my lower back hurt all the time - contraction or not. I decided to get back in the tub but only spent about 20 minutes in there this time. It just wasn't helping like it was before. The contractions were still 3-10 minutes apart. They just wouldn't get on a schedule! Around 8:30 I called the labor assessment department of the hospital out of desperation. I asked them if there was anything I could do to get my contractions down to a 5 minutes or less interval. They said all the standard things - walk around, drink water, relax, etc. I'd been doing all this for 6 hours and it wasn't helping! I called my boss around this same time to let him know I wasn't coming in that day. At 10 AM, I told Kris - that's it - we're going to the hospital. My contractions were still 3-8 minutes apart but I didn't care. I needed to know if they were doing anything or not. As you may remember, at my last doctor appointment the Thursday before, I was 2 cm dilated. I needed to know if that had changed at all. So, we headed out. I now understand why women yell at their husbands to drive faster while on the way to the hospital. It seriously felt like Kris was driving about 30 miles per hour down the highway. Of course he was going 60ish and I kept my mouth shut. We arrived at the hospital about 10:30 AM and guess what? On the way to the hospital, my contractions started coming every 2-6 minutes. Looks like Kris and I timed this perfectly! Kris dropped me off and then went to park the truck while I headed for the elevators. Either people couldn't tell I was in labor or they are all mean, heartless because they didn't just let me have the first elevator that came, no, they all had to get on with me and proceed to push every floor. Granted, I was only going to floor 3 but still, I really didn't want to stop at 2, you know what I mean? OK, I finally get to labor assessment and just as the nurse is getting ready to check me, Kris arrives. Turns out I'm 4 cm dilated and the contractions are coming less than 5 minutes apart. And just like that, I'm admitted. I'm brought to my labor room (room number 7 by the way) and immediately undress so I can get in the jacuzzi. My back is still hurting and I'm hoping the jets will help. I labor in the tub for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until finally, at 12:30 PM, I ask Kris to get a nurse. I want to ask for an epidural. Kris is surprised by this since I wanted to try to do this naturally and here I was going from no drugs straight to the epidural. Something in me just kept saying though - "Don't be a martyr. You've been doing this for 10 hours already and you're only 2 cm more dilated than you were on Thursday. You haven't slept in forever. Just get the epidural so you can rest." So, I did. Well, I did at 1:30 PM. First though they had to start the IV so they could get the bag of fluids in me. Can't have an epidural while dehydrated. They also started my antibiotics at that time since I was GBS positive. And they gave me a shot of nubain to take the edge off my contractions since I was now confined to the bed. At 1:30, the anesthesiologist arrived and put my epidural in. I felt some slight pressure, said "ow" once and that was it. They did have to poke me twice to get the epidural in the right spot but it didn't bother me. Kris said it was the longest needle he's ever seen. Yes, he watched them put the epidural in. No, he's not a squeamish person. I was also checked again and found to be 5 cm now. Yay - half way there! For the next 2 hours, I slept. At 3:30 PM, I was checked and found to be 6-7 cm dilated. Man, this sure is taking a long time! So, the doctor broke my water to try and get me to dilate faster. I got back to sleeping and resting. Two hours later, I'm checked again and am only 7 to 7 1/2 cm dilated. The doctor put an internal contraction monitor in me (and a catheter) to check the strenth of my contractions. Turns out that while I was having them every 1-2 minutes and sometimes they were doubling, they weren't that strong so they weren't dilating me very fast. At 7:15, I'm checked again and I'm still only 8 to 8 1/2 cm and the baby is at -1 station. Yes, it's taken me over 8 hours at this point to go 4 cm. The doctor decides to give me a "whiff" of pitocin (the lowest dose possible) to see if they can get my contractions to strengthen. At 7:45, I'm checked and at 9cm. I guess that pitocin is helping, even though I'm shaking pretty badly at this point from it. They up the dosage one notch to see if they can get me to complete. At 8:35 I'm checked again and only at 9 1/2 cm. Come on already! I'm starting to get frustrated. Can't I just push already! I mean, I can feel the pressure down below that I need to push. But, of course, I can't. My cervix isn't ready. At this time, the pressure and urge to push keeps getting stronger and stronger. So, around 9:15 PM, they give me a bullus (spelling?). Basically, they give me a shot of the epidural medication so the pressure down below will lessen. Finally at 9:45 PM, I'm given the all clear to start pushing. Because of the shot of medication, I can no longer feel the pressure and don't know when I'm having a contraction. So, Kris or the nurse or the nursing student have to tell me. Kris is holding my left leg. The nursing student is holding my right and the nurse is telling me when to push. Kris and the nurse are counting with me. As the shot of epidural starts to wear off (it usually only last an hour), I can feel the pressure again and I start telling them when I need to push as I can feel the contractions starting. I think this helps though because I can now feel where I need to push, not just the need to push. When the baby is almost crowning, the nurse has both Kris and I touch the top of her head. Wow, was that cool! A few pushes later, the nurse tells me to stop pushing so she can call the doctor in. Fine, fine, that's fine. That means I'm almost done! Yes, yes, get the doctor. Yay! Um, where's the doctor? Why isn't she here yet? Hello, I need to push. Where's the doctor. Yeah, at this point I start getting a little "testy." I think I "asked" 2 or 3 times where the doctor was. I needed to push and I needed to push NOW. I did a few "little" pushes while the nurse wasn't looking because the urge and need was too great. Kris caught me a couple times and told me to stop it. Finally, FINALLY, the doctor arrived. I don't know where she was or what she was doing (sleeping probably) but she didn't have time to even tie her shoes while she was running into the room and getting her scrubs and gloves on. So, I'm given the clear to push again and a few pushes later, the baby's head pops out. They start suctioning her. I look at Kris and he's crying. He's crying big tears. I almost start to cry just looking at him cry. But my work is not done. They tell me to push again and I deliver her shoulders and then she slides on out. Annika May was born at 11:47 PM. They continue suctioning her before placing her on my belly. They clamped the cord and let Kris cut it. I stare at her in awe (my little monkey!) the whole time. Then they take her over to the warming bassinet to check her vitals and do whatever else it is they do. She hasn't really cried yet though. She's made little noises, but no crying. They continue suctioning her. I ask Kris if she's okay. He assures me (he's by her and the nurses) that she is. That she's just full of mucous and they need to get it out. That she's pinking up so she's getting enough oxygen. I ask him to count fingers and toes. :) They just can't get all the mucous out with the bulb syringe so they call in the nurses from the nursery. While waiting for them to arrive, they give her the vitamin K shot, weigh her, etc. When the other nurses arrive, they stick a tube down Annika's throat and suction out her lungs. They have to do this 4 times before getting all that gunk out. Finally, FINALLY, she is brought back to me. I hold her, touch her, coo at her and feed her for the first time. I'm amazed as she latches on perfectly the very first time and starts eating away. Kris and I bond with our baby, decide on her name (remember, we had 2 we were still deciding between) and fall madly in love with her and each other all over again. Oh, and we have our first family picture taken by our nurse. About 2 hours after birth, we're wheeled to our recovery room where we'll spend the next 2 days before going home. No, labor didn't go as I'd envisioned. I didn't envision a 21 hour labor, an epidural, pitocin, etc. But you know what? I don't care about any of that. My daughter was born healthy and that's all that matters. Welcome to the world, my precious.

I'm uploading another 10 pictures. This time they are mostly of the grandparents and great grandparents per Grandma Pat's request. Happy now?! :) Time to go feed Miss Thing!

I'm uploading another 10 pictures. These are mostly of Annika instead of people holding Annika. Click the bunny above to see them. Most of them are of her sleeping because that's pretty much what she does. She's usually awake for a while in the mornings (this morning that happened to be from 4-6 am but usually it's later in the mornings.) Otherwise, she pretty much eats, poops, sleeps, repeat. Her umbilical cord stump fell out Wednesday morning at 4am so last night Daddy gave her her first real bath. She enjoyed it and was so content - until we took her out that is. Then she let us know loud and clear that she was cold and needed to be dressed and cuddled quickly. Of course, we obliged and all was well in her world again. She's downstairs cuddling with Dad right now. She really likes Daddy. She always calms down and is so content when he holds her. I wonder if she'll be a Daddy's Girl like I am.

I updated the sidebar with Annika's stats and such.

I'll write Annika's birth story soon. I have it written down so I just need to record it here as well. Here's the short version. Annika was born Tuesday, September 7, 2004 at 11:47PM. She weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. Her discharge weight (taken at 24 hours old) was 8 pounds 13 ounces. She did pretty well with holding her birth weight. She took to breastfeeding immediately - like within an hour of birth she was feeding like a champ - lower lip flip and all. We came home Thursday at lunch time. Yesterday we had our first pediatrician appointment. Annika weighed in at 9 pounds even and was 21 inches long. Yay for weight gain! The ped was very impressed and said breastfeeding must be going well. Usually babies regain their birth weight by two weeks old and here she was almost there at 6 days old! We don't have to go back until she's two months old.

Everything is going really well here at home. Kris goes back to work tomorrow so that's when the real adventure begins! Annika sleeps pretty much all day and all night. She's had a couple rough nights (eating almost constantly from 2 to 6 AM) but some really good nights too, like last night. She ate at 11:30PM, 2:30AM and 6AM. I got decent stretches of sleep between there. Hopefully she'll get on that kind of schedule and stay there and then start spacing those out bit by bit until she's sleeping through the night. She's such a good girl!

I'll try to upload more pictures soon.

Oh, one last thing - in case anyone's wondering, we're pronouncing her name as Ah-nick-ah, not Ann-ick-ah. Kris prefers it that way. He thinks it sounds softer.

I just put up a photo album for Annika. Check it out by clicking on the bunny above. I'll update more when I can, including her stats on the sidebar. But now, I have to go - someone's hungry! :)

Ok, I just talked to Kristina and got the info. Annika weighed 9 pounds and 2 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long at birth. Her Apgar scores were 8 and 9. She is doing well. My mother, father, and brother are all there visiting right now and Annika is sleeping for them. They would all like her to wake up, but she isn't quite ready yet. That's all for now. Kristina says they will probably be going home tomorrow around noon. Keep checking back for more info and hopefully some pics!

Auntie Krystle here again, but this time for real! Kristina delivered Annika May last night (September 7, 2004) at 11:47pm. I don't recall her exact weight or length because I received the phone call at 1am, but I know that she was 9 pounds and some ounces. Kristina or I will update with the exact info for you soon. Both baby and mom are doing great and I can't wait to go see them later today!

Hi all! This is Auntie Krystle. Kristina wanted me to let you know that she in in labor, finally! She is 6-7 centimeters dilated and both mommy & baby are doing good. We will let you know when there is a newer development.

Happy Labor Day everyone! Well, everyone but me. Yep, not in labor here! Some contractions but no real excitement. One of these days, she will come out. Of that I am sure. Everything else is anyone's guess. :)

Still here. Still pregnant. :)

I did scare Kris last night though. We were at the wedding reception eating appetizers when I started having contractions. They were pretty irregular but they were anywhere from 3-10 minutes apart for about 30-45 minutes. Every time I would have one I'd look at him and say "contraction." His eyes would bug out and he'd say "Again?" Then he'd tell me to stop it. I think I was just dehydrated because I drank a bunch of liquids and they went away. Anyway, yes he still wants her to come, just not until tomorrow. He has a game tonight, actually he's there already, and he wants to be able to coach. So, I've agreed (yeah, like I have any say!) to wait to go into labor until at least tomorrow. Then I'm sure he'll be yelling at my belly again "Get out!"

And now for some football cheering before I go get ready for the game:
Go Vixen - kick Toledo butt!
And for my alma mater:
Go Gophers - kick Toledo butt!

Still here. Still pregnant. :)

Other than cramping and a few painful contractions yesterday, everything is status quo. Baby is still active this morning like she always is. I just wanted to check in for those of you looking for a "I'm going to the hospital!" post. That's not happening...yet!

Here is an update on my 40 week appointment this morning. This was an e-mail that I sent to our parents:

My doctor appointment went very well this morning. Highlights include:

• My weight was up one pound. Last week it was down one pound so pretty much I've held steady for the past 2 weeks.
• My blood pressure was slightly elevated (128/88). They get concerned at 130/90 so I'm borderline right now. Since my weight held steady and there was no protein in my urine, they aren't concerned about toxemia right now. I've been weighing myself daily and haven't had too much fluctuation. I will continue to monitor my weight and will be sure to get seen by a doctor if anything out of the ordinary happens.
• Since I am now 40 weeks or full term by the doctors due date of 9/2/04, the monitoring of me gets a little more intense until I deliver. I have an ultrasound scheduled for Wednesday 9/8/04 at 8:10am to check the amniotic fluid levels. Fluid levels normally start diminishing as you go further past your due date. This is okay until the levels fall to a point where the umbilical cord can get compressed. So, they'll monitor for that next week. I also have a non-stress test (NST) scheduled for Thursday morning at 8:40am along with my regular OB appointment. During the NST, they monitor me and the baby for 1/2 hour. During this test they are checking for the baby's response to any contractions I have. They want to make sure that the baby is handling them okay.
• The baby did a big flip yesterday and so this morning it took a little while to find her heartbeat. Her back is usually down on my right side but today it was on my left. She's still head down which is good. I wasn't concerned when it was taking a while to find her heartbeat because I had just felt her move on my drive to the clinic. Stinker. :)
• Lastly, I was checked and was found to be 2cm dilated (only 8 more to go!) :) and the baby is still way down low. All those Braxton-Hicks contractions I've had this week have finally been doing something! During my exam, my doctor stripped my membranes as well. This has been known to bring on labor in some women within a couple days. Of course for others, it does nothing. So, we'll see what happens!

Of course, this will be the time that she comes since we have a wedding to go to tomorrow night, Kris has a football game this weekend (and then he doesn't again until the 25th) and both my mom and sister are going out of town this weekend. It would make sense that the baby would come now so everyone's plans are out the window! I guess will see if Murphy's Law holds!

So, since baby is obviously content where she is, should we have a little mommy-t0-be update? Apparently I'm as big as a house since the "h" word (huge) gets thrown my way a little much if you ask me. :) I've gained about 45 pounds this pregnancy although I think a good portion of that (12 pounds in the last 5 weeks) is water weight. I'm pretty swollen throughout my body. My feet, ankles, calves, hands, etc. are all swollen. I had to take my wedding ring off a few weeks ago so I've been wearing a gold band on that hand that I used to wear on my right middle finger. Now that ring is getting too tight as well! My ring that Kris gave me for Christmas of 1994(!) is stuck on my right ring finger. I'm hoping and hoping that I give birth before they have to cut it off. It doesn't bother me so the doctors are letting it be. My lower back has been bothering me for a couple days now. It's sore and Kris makes fun of me when I have to move around (get out of bed or a chair) because I make these little grunting noises. I'm sorry - I can hardly bend over - you try it once buster! Everything else is going really well though. I don't have any heartburn and haven't this entire pregnancy. I do have some acid reflux at night sometimes (like last night). Fortunately, I've only had to sleep in the recliner one night (a couple weeks ago) because of it. The dog was not happy about that though. She kept coming downstairs during the night to check on me before going back upstairs to her little den in the bedroom. We have a blanket and a couple pillows on the floor and that's where she spends most of her nights. That was pretty cute of her. She's such a good puppy. Other than that, I have no complaints. I feel very lucky and blessed to have had such an easy pregnancy. Granted, the puking in the beginning wasn't so fun, but I almost didn't mind it as it made me feel better and that everything was okay. A coworker told me yesterday that I am an awfully cheerful pregnant woman for how late in the game I am. I thanked him and said that I really don't have anything to complain about. However, comments like "You're still pregnant!" are starting to bug me. Sometimes I don't want to go to work in the mornings because I can just hear all the (well-meaning but annoying) comments that will be coming my way.

So, if anyone has any ideas on how to get this labor started, please send them my way. I bought evening primrose oil caplets yesterday and had one with dinner last night and one with breakfast this morning. The directions on the bottle say to take them with food and up to 3-6 per day. I figure I'll take one each time I eat. I also bought raspberry tea since I've heard that can put some women into labor. I drank a cup with breakfast this morning so we'll see if anything happens. Maybe I'll drink another cup with each meal too.

And that's it. Think labor thoughts for me! Kris is starting to get impatient. He keeps rubbing my belly and telling her to "Get out!" Then he tells me that I need to share and that he wants to hear her cry and see her move. I could just smother him with kisses when he does that - it's so cute!