Annabelle Kate's Birth Story

We've been quite busy ! So that's our excuse for not getting on here to update! But I'm finally ready to share Annabelle's birth story!

Last Monday, Lucy and I went to Target for new jammies - she is getting to be so big and just doesn't fit in her 3T jammies anymore. Thanks to Aunt Pat, we finally had ONE pair that actually fit her well. But definitely needed more. We picked out a few fun things in the dollar section also! :) Thankfully, Lucy took a great nap that day. I layed down as well - and I felt crampy - but nothing unusual. I just took Tylenol and tried to sleep. By the time she woke up, I felt ok. I started to make dinner @ 5:00. While I was standing at the stove, I felt a 'pop!' and got a little wet. I ran to the bathroom thinking I had wet myself - but with each movement I'd leak a little more. I came back upstairs as my phone was ringing. Matt was calling to see if I wanted him to pick something up and I told him I think I needed him at home.

I called Nathalie, and she missed her gym time and headed for our house. I was not feeling any pain at all and actually felt pretty good! I sat Lucy down on my lap and explained again to her what we've been telling her for weeks - that when Mommy had to go to the hospital that Miss Nathalie was going to come to watch her. and.....she wasn't listening.....she kept looking past me to watch Wonder Pets. So....we knew she'd be fine. (and she is! She is such a good big sister!)

We got to the hospital around 7:00. I still felt fine. I went into triage - and the nurses were so much fun. She checked me and I was a 5 - and she asked, "Can you feel that?" Pretty much all I felt was her digging at me! She told me I was having a major contraction. Again, no pain - they were all pretty astonished that I was doing so well. (as was I - since with Lucy it was awful!) I got to my L&d room and was still doing great. After about a 1/2 hour - I started to feel some pain kicking in and ordered my epi. Glorious! :) My OB and nurses were joking and laughing with me since I was so calm and just chatting with them as I ate my ice chips. I did start to feel some pain around my hip even with the epi and ordered another injection, and wow! Everything went completely numb - all the way up to my chest. NOT a fun feeling. I don't mind the numb feeling, but completely NO feeling is not good.

By 11:00, I had progressed to 9 cm. They said I'd be ready in an hour. I was so set to beat the clock to midnight. At 11:45, I was checked again and fully dilated. My nurse said we'd do some practice pushes - I did 2....she yelled to stop. They grabbed my OB and set up - started pushing again @ 11:55 and had Annabelle @ 12:02. 7....min....of pushing!!! Not prepared for that! With Lucy it was 3 hours! It was an awesome delivery. Recovery was so great also - I didn't move out of that bed for 2 days after I had Lucy. This time, I was up and about right away. Sadly, right after i had Annabelle, i couldn't hold her - I was shaking so bad from the epi. But she had some great bonding time with Daddy.

Annabelle is a pretty easy baby thus far! I'm sure we'll update more on that later. Right now, we want to enjoy our new little one!

ETA: Contrary to popular belief - we did not use the middle name Kate because of "Prince William and Kate." Yes, I've been asked this question! Annabelle's only living great-grandparent is my grandmother, Leona Catherine. We chose Catherine, but decided to shorten it to Kate.