Day 7

I can't believe it's been one whole week already! Or can I? It's gone fast but slow because so much has changed in just one week, Annie already feels like she has gained back any weight she lost!

Last Wednesday morning I woke up at 5 am feeling contractions. They got worse as the day went on and so I decided to go in to the Dr. and get checked out. I had not dilated at all (I was still at 2 cm) and I thought once again we were having more false labor. The contractions faded a little in the afternoon and early evening. At night they would come sporadically, every 9, 15 or 30 minutes. Just enough to keep me from getting much sleep! So the next day I had a Dr.'s appointment in the afternoon because I was 4 days past my due date they needed to check on Annie to make sure she was doing ok. We did an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid and a non stress test. She passed both and I was still only dilated to 2 cm. My Dr. scheduled me for a C-section Monday morning but he was convinced that I would be going into labor before then. I on the other hand was not so sure, it felt like baby Annie was NEVER going to come and I was going to have annoying false labor all weekend long!!

As Mark and I were walking out to the van after our appointment (around 4 pm) I was hit with a pretty hard contraction, enough to make me stop walking. As we got home and fed the kids dinner and got them ready for bed my contractions were coming more frequent and way more painful. I felt them mostly in my lower back and they were really deep. I definitely couldn't walk or talk through them. I timed them for an hour and they were 5 minutes apart but because I'd had so much false labor and I wanted to get the kids to bed I waited a little longer. Luckily my sister in law was here to help Mark out! I timed them for 20 more minutes and they were about 3 minutes apart and super painful. I decided we needed to go the hospital now because if this wasn't real labor I was going to need something for the pain!!

As soon as we got the kids in their cribs we made a mad dash to the hospital. At this point I could only walk in between contractions. So I had to wait for one to finish before walking out to the van. By the time we got to the hospital I was started to freak out a little bit. They seemed to be coming really quickly (they were actually 1-3 minutes apart the nurse told me later on). As soon as we came around the corner to the desk my nurse greeted me and said you must be Emily, I've been waiting for you...and I said hi, I need a bathroom, I'm going to throw up! And you know what they did? Made me sign 2 papers before bringing me to triage and to a bathroom! By this point I was starting to hyperventilate because I couldn't seem to breathe through my contractions. I asked the nurse why my face was tingling and she said it was because I was hyperventilating and I asked if I could have some oxygen and she said no I don't need it! I don't know if she was trying to act calm so that I would calm down but it wasn't working.

It seemed to take forever for her to call the Dr. and do whatever else she was doing. She did check me and I was dilated to 3 cm....I said really, this is what 3 cm feels like? At that point I was convinced that I couldn't do a vaginal birth. I kept saying to Mark I can't do it, I can't do it while at the same time telling the nurse that I needed an epidural ASAP!! They finally got me back to a room and again it seemed to take forever for them to get me an IV so that I could then get an epidural. I was happy to see the same anesthesiologist who did my C-section with the twins walk in the room! He did a great job and I'm always worried about getting a bad anesthesiologist. By the time the epidural kicked in I think it had been an hour since I arrived and I had made it to 5 cm. I'm proud to say that I at least made it half way before getting an epidural!! Because I was dilating so quickly it took a little longer for the medicine to kick in but once it did it was so nice! We were finally able to relax and take in what was happening. I was in labor, about to deliver a baby! We almost couldn't sleep we were so excited and so nervous.

Over the next few hours I dilated to 10 cm (they broke my water around 7 cm) but Annie's heart rate decelerated a few times during that 3 hours. This was really frightening to us because that is the exact reason why I had to deliver the twins, because Little Mark's heart rate decelerated. I was so scared and worried and couldn't believe that I had finally gone into labor on my own and then I might end up having a C-section after all! Needless to say we got no sleep (that would be 2 nights of no sleep for me, if you are keeping track!). Around 3 am we started trying to push. I was REALLY, REALLY nervous about pushing for some reason. The nurse had told me that I should let my epidural wear off a little so that I could feel where and when I needed to start pushing. At first I thought I was getting nowhere and doing it all wrong but she encouraged me that I was making progress and doing great. And then it started to hurt. A lot. I ran out of epidural and the anesthesiologist came back in to give me more but said that at this point the pressure was going to hurt and that getting more medicine probably wouldn't help. I guess I had let myself start feeling a little more than I had meant too!

Every contraction I would try to push and it felt like she was stuck. Well she actually was a little stuck I guess. Her heart rate started to decelerate again off and on and it was scaring me so bad. I couldn't breathe and every time I pushed hard I felt like I was going to throw up. The Dr. finally came in along with who knows how many people. The thing is, during my painful contractions and pushing I close my eyes. I don't like to talk or be touched or focus on objects. I like to just visualize and count. So I don't know how many people were there but it seemed like a lot, I think Mark said maybe 7. The Dr. kept encouraging me and so many people were trying to coach me through it. I again felt like I couldn't do it. Poor Mark was feeling so helpless and I'm sure it was really hard on him to watch me and Annie struggling. Finally my Dr. told me to open my eyes, look at her and she said at this point I have no choice, I have to push the baby out! I tried and tried and finally got her to the point where they could use the vacuum although my Dr. really, really didn't want to. I finally asked her to just do it and all she did was do it once and she was out! That was it! It happened so fast! They put her on my stomach, Mark cut the cord and then they had to whisk her away. She was born at 5:11 am, after 2 hours of pushing.

This was the first time I noticed how many people were there and that they had called down someone from the NICU to look her over. They had to start her on oxygen and then eventually had to take her up to monitor her breathing and get an x-ray of her lungs. I got to hold her for about 30 more seconds before they took her up. She had been in distress for so long throughout the pushing stage that she needed some time to work out some extra fluid that was in her lungs. As soon as I could I went up to feed her and then went back again around noon to feed her again. I finally got her back in the afternoon and was so happy! I just cuddled her up and the two of us slept in the bed together. I couldn't stop touching her hair, it was so long and so soft, in fact it's been a week and I still can't stop doing it, she loves it!

Labor and delivery was really different than I thought it was going to be. Pushing was a million times harder and different than I expected. I am so thankful that both Annie, Mark and I all survived it! She is healthy and so far a great baby. We did struggle the first couple days or so because I had no sleep for 2 nights and then very little sleep for 2 more nights while we were waiting for my milk to come in. I was so relieved when I finally got about 4 hours of sleep in a row! It was actually an answer to a prayer and I finally felt like my brain was a little clearer and I stopped crying over every little thing! Now she eats every few hours at night and it allows us to get more sleep then we ever thought we were going to get, at least so far anyway!

Now for pictures! Here is Annie right after she was born:

Ok and this is just a visual for those of you who forget how small our twins were. Here is Little Mark after he was born:

Here is Elizabeth after she was born:

And now Annie!!! At 8 lbs, she weighs 1 pound more than the twins did together!

Here is Mommy and Annie at our 1st feeding. It was so weird to be back on the NICU floor where we spent a month with the twins. I never thought I would feed another baby in that big blue chair!!

Here is our 1st family picture, all 5 of us!

Proud parents with our beautiful Annie:

Little Mark holding and meeting Annie for the first time. He was actually more interested in putting his fingers in her mouth, both he and Elizabeth are obsessed with body and face parts right now:

Elizabeth holding and meeting Annie for the first time, she wanted to touch her hair and was very proud of herself for pointing out someone else's hair, she even clapped for herself!

OUR HERO!!!!!! I love this girl, she saved us and took such good care of our twins while we had Annie. Thank you a million times over Angela, I was able to have my baby, relax and not worry for one second about the twins. I knew you were taking really good care of them. I know it couldn't have been easy taking care of 5 kids but you were so gracious about it, we love you so much!!! She was the 1st family member to meet and hold Annie:

And Jake was the second:

We are ready to go home after 24 hours in the hospital! I brought only Newborn onesies and outfits for Annie and she barely squeezed into them!

And here she is 1 week later, just as I'm sitting here typing this she is sound asleep:

On an entirely different note, Little Mark went over to the blocks tonight and started stacking them high all by himself!!!!! This was a very proud moment for us because I have been working for a long time to get them to do this and this is the 1st time he did it all on his own without us helping or showing him. The mega blocks have turned him and Elizabeth into stacking champs!

Day 6

Tonight I was burping Annie and when I looked down at her she was fast asleep with her head cranked back and her mouth wide open, which was funny enough but then....she smiled! I love when they start doing that as they are falling asleep! I can't believe she's almost been with us a week and that one week ago from tonight I was in labor! I'll have to share the story sometime, but instead I'm going to go cuddle in bed with my baby and hope for an hour of sleep.

I want to thank Grandma B for being here this week to help out. You have been a lifesaver for us once again! We look forward to spending more time with you next week!!

Day 5 + Mega Blocks!

We had some ups and downs today. Little Mark was teething really bad and even with his Daddy around he was pretty unhappy most of the day. Elizabeth did alright but wouldn't leave the house without throwing a fit because I couldn't go. Once she got outside she was happier. We got them a new toy last week...Mega Blocks! They love playing with them, putting them together and taking them apart. Here is Elizabeth working hard:

And I've never seen Little Mark concentrate so hard and pay attention to something for so long! He loves building them up:

This is his focused face:

And Elizabeth likes to knock his over when it gets high, well so does he!

But then his day got worse because he fell down a couple cement stairs while waiting for Daddy and Elizabeth to get out the door. Elizabeth was throwing her fit right inside the door and Little Mark had already made his escape for the 3 stairs that go up from our apartment. I think he was wondering what was taking everyone so long and tried to come back down them and fell. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about it! Poor buddy, we spoiled him with whatever he wanted the rest of the day, TV, bottles, snacks, Tylenol, and lots of play time at the park!

Now for Annie!! She had her 1st bath at home today! We thought she would hate it because she doesn't even like getting her pajamas taken off. Here she is looking at Daddy like what are you about to do?!

It turns out that she LOVED the bath, especially getting her head scrubbed:

I thought once we got her out and dressed her that she would definitely be upset but not one little cry!! She's such a good baby! She went on a marathon feeding last night until about 11:30 pm but then slept until 4:00 am!!! In fact we woke her up to eat, is that crazy of us? I know some people let their babies sleep however long but at 5 days old it seemed a little much, I don't know, but we loved it and are hoping for a repeat tonight!

The twins love giving her kisses:

A little blurry but it's still so sweet:

And the best part is that we captured her smiling after!!!!!

Day 4 + The ZOO!!!

Today was an awesome day for all of us! Annie and I spent the entire day bonding, eating, sleeping and pooping! And then when all the kids were asleep we snuck out for some ice cream at Dairy Queen! It only lasted 30 minutes until Annie woke up, but it was so nice to get out of the house!!

Mark and his mom took the twins to the zoo today! The weather was perfect and the kids really needed to get out of the house. Today they figured out that something special must be happening in the bedroom where Annie is because that is where we spend our time and every time the door would open they would come running (well mostly if Mark was in there, they've grown very attached to him, especially Little Mark). Before they left for the zoo though Elizabeth was really sad and didn't want to leave me. Even when the front door opened she sat on her bum at my feet and cried, it was so sad, but made me feel so loved!

At the zoo they were in and out of their stroller and Elizabeth figured out that she could stand in hers when she wasn't strapped in and was very proud of herself:

Little Mark loves pushing the stroller!

But enough of that...here are some of the fun animals they saw. They would point at lots of animals, Mark points with his whole hand or thumb and Elizabeth uses her pointer finger. Here is Mark pointing at penguins:

Bears:

Elephants:

Little Mark didn't look at the camera once the entire time!

Giraffes, although it was only for a short period of time which was too bad because it was one of their favorites!

Thank you Grandma B for helping out and having fun with the kids!!!!

Day 3

Fingers and toes were clipped for the 1st time today (technically yesterday, I'm a day behind posting:). Daddy was really concentrating! This was an attempt to keep her awake longer during the day. We put more effort into doing that today and the results payed off! You started waking and fussing from 9 pm-3 am...but then you slept from 3 am until we finally had to wake and feed you at 8 am!!! It was the longest stretch of sleep we had gotten in a really long time and it has made such a difference today!

My feet have finally turned into an ugly swollen instead of a make me want to barf pig feet swollen, I still woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a semi truck but my brain feels like it can function for the first time since she was born! Annie went to the hospital for a check up yesterday and passed everything with flying colors. We are SO grateful for that!!! We did a weight check before and after a feeding and she exceeded expectations. I forgot how stressful, painful and frustrating breast feeding can be...even with a full term 8 lb baby! We are both doing really well with it so far, another thing we are so thankful for.

The twins don't pay too much attention to her so far. Elizabeth likes to pull her hair and how awesome is it that she has enough of it to pull! It's a good inch and a half!! Little Mark likes to slap her blanket for some reason. They will smile at her and Elizabeth will talk to her, it's really sweet. They love to give her kisses too.

2 Days

And going strong. Just a little confused about day and night, but that's ok.