Anna Kathryn Teet: Anna Kate is here!!!

Our sweet baby girl has finally arrived! I never went into labor on my own, so on Monday, March 28, Justin and I arrived at the hospital at 7am to be induced. It was about 8am by the time I got to my room, got strapped to the monitor, and had my IV started. Once my pitocin was hung, I definitely started to feel some contractions, but it was mostly just tightness and not painful. Around 9am Dr. Cunningham came in and broke my water. I was still only dilated about 2cm and 75% effaced at that point. Then the painful contractions started and I was so happy to see the anesthesiologist! I got my epidural around 9:45. I could still feel a little tightness from the contractions, but that was nothing compared to what it had been. The nurse came in and checked me at 11:15 and I was 4cm. I was feeling itchy and the nurse said that it was from the narcotic in my epidural, so when I started feeling lightheaded and woozy, I figured it was from the medicine. The nurse came back at 12:15 to check me again and she asked if I was feeling nauseated. She told me that my blood pressure was 80/40 and she was going to give me some medicine to bring it back up. I was feeling nauseated after that, but I think it was all in my head! She checked me again and I was 5-6 cm. After the medicine, my blood pressure came back up and I wasn't feeling lightheaded anymore. Around 1:30, my contractions seemed to be a lot stronger and I was starting to feel some pressure. The nurse said I was 9cm. She came back at 2 and I was fully dilated, so we started doing some practice pushes. The Dr. came in and after a few more pushes, Anna Kate popped out! She was born at 2:15pm weighing 7 pounds and 1 ounce, and she was 21 inches long. She was face up but she definitely had a much smoother delivery than Tristan! The nurses got her all dried off and wrapped up and Justin and I got to spend a little quality time with our beautiful baby girl. Then it was time for her to meet her big brother. My sister picked Tristan up from school that day and they got to the hospital not too long after Anna Kate was born, so luckily he didn't have to hang out in the waiting room for too long. When Justin brought him in the room, he was really quiet at first. I think he was a little confused because he still pointed to my belly when we asked him where Anna Kate was. He seemed a little unsure of everything and he didn't like the IV in my arm. After a few minutes he had warmed up to the situation and he was ready to get down and run around. Then they had to take Anna Kate to the nursery to get checked out by the doctor and to have her first bath. After I was moved to my room on the postpartum hall, they brought her back so she could eat. It was a little difficult to get her to eat at first because she was having a trouble latching on and then she would just fall asleep. I was trying not to stress out about it, but because of the gestational diabetes, she was at risk for having low blood sugar levels. They were having to check her sugars before each feed, and if they got low, then we would have had to supplement with formula, or if they were really low then she would have had to get IV fluids. Luckily they were always above the cut off but her poor little heels looked like pin cushions after that. By the time we left the hospital, she had started getting the eating thing down pat. She also looked a little jaundiced but her billirubin levels were never high enough to need phototherapy. I didn't get hardly any sleep the two nights we were in the hospital but that was more because of the nurse coming in to check on me and take vital signs than because of Anna Kate. We were so eager to get home on Wednesday! We were dressed and all packed pretty early that morning, but it was almost lunch time when we finally got to leave. It sure was great when we did finally make it home, especially because our freezer was full of food! Thank you so much to everyone who cooked, and thank you Jennifer for getting it all together!