The Day She Arrived

There are lots of new babies around these days, which makes me feel very nostalgic, and it reminds me again how fast the time goes.  I was in the grocery store tonight with Annalise and she was clowning around with the lady at check out.  I was giggling and having fun watching her, but there's always a fair dose of peer pressure to "get a move on" when you know there's a line of people behind you, waiting to check out, who do not think your kid is as cute as you do!

Believe it or not, the guy behind me said, "With that kind of personality, be sure to record every moment because you'll forget them as she gets older."  I guess he was having fun too.

He's right!  I forget the baby moments from time to time so here's the story of Annalise's Arrival into this world.  I wrote it a few days after I came home from the hospital so it's genuine but written by a groggy new mom. 

October 6, 2005

I went to the doctor's office for a check-up a couple of weeks out (probably around September 27th) and our doctor said I was looking healthy and was making some progress toward labor.  I had been going through some false labor since about the middle of September.  Rachael came out to stay with me "just in case" while John was in Monterey starting his MBA Program.  I went back to the doctor around October 2nd and I was still at the exact same place I had been, "making some progress toward labor." Not much though.  We scheduled an induction for 6:00am on October 6th which was her due date.  I went back home to wait.  Each night I would take a shower before bed, "just in case" I needed to go anywhere.  Mom was here to stay with Justin whenever the time finally did come.

On the night of October 6th, we went to bed with the alarm set to go bright and early for our appointment in the morning.  Our bags were packed and we were excited!  At about 1:00am, a contraction woke me up and I KNEW this was it.  Even though I think I knew this was the real thing, I took a shower like they suggest to make sure it wasn't just another false alarm.

We timed the contractions and they were about 4 minutes apart right away.  I tried to stay calm and I assumed I was just doing something wrong because it's not supposed to happen that fast.  I stopped very calmly to talk to Mom on my way out the door but John was trying to get me out of the house because he knew it was going to happen quickly.  Boy was he right!

We finally hit the road (from our house in Chula Vista) at 2:30am.  As soon as we got in the car, I knew we were in some big trouble.  At about the end of our street, my water broke and I was so happy that John had stocked my seat with an armload of towels!  Contractions started coming at about 2 minutes apart and I tried to hide that fact from John because I was scared - it was a long drive to La Jolla!

About halfway to the hospital, we were close to Balboa hospital and I thought about begging him to stop.  I didn't because I wanted to be at La Jolla so bad (since that was the plan) but I think he read my mind.  He drove FAST up the highway and he called the hospital on the way to let them know we were coming and that we'd need a wheelchair at the curb.  They told us later that lots of peole say that but they knew by John's voice that he was quite serious! I remember smelling burning brakes when we got out of the car and the nurses tricked me into the wheelchair by promising drugs if I could get myself upstairs.  Those jokesters were lying!!!! No drugs for me!  Annalise was on her way whether I liked it or not!

They told me "not to do anything" until they could get a doctor there (like I had any control over the situation) and I'm not sure how anything happened from there.  All I could manage was to listen to John's voice who talked me calmly through each step.  Eleven minutes after we arrived at the curb, we had a baby girl crying in our arms!  We were famous up and down the hall.

My clearest memory right after she was born was when the nurse asked if I wanted to hold her, and I said, "I can't...".  She took Annalise away from me and tried her best to comfort me by saying, "Don't worry...it will be OK."  I recognized that she thought I didn't WANT to hold her but that could not be farther from the truth.  My body was so tired, I was on pitocin, and my hands were so weak from squeezing my fists the whole car ride up that I knew I couldn't safely hold her.  I heard her crying and I knew that I'd hold her soon.  

 Hello Sweet Girl!!!

Mom came to the hospital right away to see us and John and Ginnie brought Justin a little later.  Kelly came with snacks, Dave and Susan came by and Jen (Auntie Jenny) came to see me the first day.

The first thing Justin did when he got in our hospital room was to kiss his baby sister on the forehead.  He didn't like all of the hospital garb on me and he stayed away for a minute.  Finally he got in bed with me and snuggled.  I was so very happy to see him!

 Big Brother and his Baby Sister

 Hello Little Man!!!

Annalise was a sweet and snuggly baby from the first second.  When Justin was born, he cried when they had him in the heater but Annalise just watched.  He was loud from the start, Annalise waited a little longer, but when she finally did cry - it was LOUD!  I remember thinking that we needed to keep her quiet in the hospital room because she was likely to wake EVERYONE else up!

We came home on October 7th after the doctors gave us a clean bill of health.

 Her first outfit - Sporty and Pink!

Let the loving begin!

How I spent most of my first week home

Here are some comments I wrote about Justin and his "Big Brother" revelations dated 11/18/2005:

"Mommy...Annalise will be the Princess when she grows up and I will be the Prince Charming when I grow up."

Another cute one...

Often when she's crying, he will say softly to her, "It's OK Annalise, your Big Brother is here."