Annabelle pictures!

With Ya-Ya

Big binky!

Big yawn!

With daddy

Daddy time before work

Family picture

First day home

Froggy girl!

   

Sleeping upright

Sleeping on mommy

Playing with daddy

Holding bink

Annabelle's birthday!

Our beautiful girl has finally made her grand debut!  Annabelle Lynn Hammer was born January 17th at 12:44am (only 12 days late...but who's counting!)  She weighed in at 9lbs 1 oz and was 22 inches long.  It was a long labor (24 hours), but we wouldn't have it any other way - Annabelle is perfect!

 Here is mom's version of Annabelle's birth story:

We went in for induction at 1am Sunday night/Monday morning.  I tried my best to get some sleep, but I was too excited thinking about meeting our newest family member!  So dad got some sleep and mom took a bath and tried to relax.  When it was finally time to leave we were of course running late (you will learn that with dad this happens a lot!)  We finally got to the hospital and were able to skip triage - those nurses aren't very nice.  They checked us in and took us to the room where you were to be born!  I got hooked up to lots of machines - one to check your heartrate, one to check the contractions and an IV to deliver the saline and pitocin.  That meant for awhile I was confined to bed...not my favorite thing! 

I sat with dad and we got a few hours of sleep while the pitocin worked its magic.  When I really started to feel the contractions we asked the nurses to hook me up to a portable monitor so I could walk around - that was super helpful for awhile and I think it helped you to descend a bit.  But that's when things started to get pretty painful and I'm pretty sure I was scaring your daddy!  Around noon, I was 4cm dialated and contractions were very intense, so after much discussion we decided to get an epidural so I could enjoy the actual delivery (if you ever decided to come out!)  I felt much better after that and had visitors to keep me company - your ya ya, grandpa and uncle Ben all came to see me and daddy.  Around 4pm, the doctor came and broke my water and told us I was about 5cm dialated.  Boy, you were taking your time in there!

One important thing to remember is that I was not able to eat once we got to the hospital - so I sat and watched everyone eat yummy meals all around me and all I could do is drink water and eat yucky jello!  But I'm pretty sure it was worth it :)  So after the doctor broke my water, we waited, waited, waited and waited some more.  Around 9pm, the doctor came in one more time to check me and viola! I was 9cm!  Half an hour later it was time to push!  After that long day, the pushing seemed to come very quickly and boy was I tired.  Daddy was encouraging and I pushed for 3 long hours...but you were just not coming out that way.  That's about the time I started to yell at everybody in the room - they must have all thought I was crazy!  I kept telling the doctor to get this baby out of me - I was in a lot of pain!  After the nurse calmed me down a bit, they wheeled me to the operating room to deliver you by c-section.  I was very nervous and your daddy was too.  We just wanted to meet you!

They finally pulled you out at 12:44am and both mommy and daddy cried because you were so beautiful (mommy also cried because you were 9lbs 1oz and 22 inches long!)  I didn't feel so bad about not being able to push you out after I heard those numbers!  They cleaned you off and wrapped you up and daddy brought you over to me.  I had lost more blood than normal, so they made sure I was okay and then after everything was finished I was able to hold you in my arms as they wheeled us to recovery.  It was the happiest day of my life!  I nursed you right away and soon learned that you would be hungry all the time!  Grandma & grandpa Hammer and yaya and grandpa Stone and uncle Ben came to see you.  They all fell in love with you and couldn't believe how big you were!  Then they finally took you, me and daddy to our room and we all got some sleep - our first night as a family!

I'm now watching you sleep and you are 10 days old - so much of you is changing already!  I can't wait for this amazing journey with you and dad - we are so excited to welcome you to our family!

Love,

Mom

Due date!

D-day comes tomorrow and I don't feel any closer to having this baby girl!  Of course I absolutely love carrying her every day, but the aches and pains are definitely something I will not miss!  Annabelle will be worth the wait and in the long run, it really isn't that long :)  We have set an induction date of January 16th, but I'm hoping that it won't last that long...and I'd really like everything to start naturally (less pain for me, less complications, less risk of a c-section!) 

In the mean time, I'm keeping myself busy at work and trying to get everything in order for my absence.  I haven't been able to be on deck much due to pain in my legs and it is something I really miss.  In the end it will be worth it though (that's what I keep telling myself!) 

The cold weather is finally upon us in Wilmington and I can't say I'm ready, nor that I really missed it in the month of December!  Having a bundled up newborn is not going to be fun!  But we're ready for it and hopefully all the snow will fall during my maternity leave!

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and happy new year!