Anna Faye Warner was born at 2:01 pm on Sunday, December 5th. 7 lbs 0 oz 20 inches long.

The labor & delivery was pretty interesting...I was scheduled for an induction on the 7th, but I was bound & determined to try for a "natural" childbirth, so I tried "almost" every trick in the book to get her out on her own. I had been walking a lot...3-4 miles at a time. Saturday morning I walked 2 1/2 miles & jogged 1/2 mile. Saturday night we went to the USF Bulls game, which also required a lot of walking...got home after midnight...laid down to go to sleep at 1 am, and suddenly I felt a "pop" and a contraction and my water had broken...the contractions were immediately very regular...exactly 3 minutes apart...so I very calmly went to "packing up" for the hospital.

Checked in to the hospital by 2 am. I was managing the contractions just fine...breathing through them...and once they got stronger I discovered they were much "easier" if I was standing, so I stood through much of the early labor. But eventually I was just too exhausted...I needed to lay down, but the contractions hurt too much. Also, the labor wasn't progressing as fast the doctor wanted, so she had me on pitocin to speed things up, which also makes the contractions more intense. So after about 8 hours of labor I gave in & asked for the epidural.

I was laughing the whole time the anesthesiologist was trying to give me an epidural. It took longer than normal, due to my scoliosis, and my lower back is definitely the most ticklish spot on my whole body, so despite the pain, I couldn't stop laughing & flinching.

Before the epidural kicked in, I remember being a bit irritable...James had tried rubbing my back and I said "You can stop that." And at one point I asked him to turn on a movie and as soon as it came on I said "Ok, you can turn that off, now." And then someone called in on the room phone and I demanded that the phone be turned off...

But once the epidural was in, I got some rest and then it was surreal when the nurse suddenly came in & checked me & woke James up & said to get the cameras ready & get our mothers in the room because it was time to push!

The pushing seemed to go so fast...it may have lasted longer & taken more pushes than I remember, but it seemed like only a few pushes and she was out! With so many people in the room all giving me encouragement & instructions, I was a bit confused & apparently I was supposed to stop pushing, at one point, but I didn't get the memo & kept pushing & she popped right out! You'd think that would be a good thing, but it caused a 3rd degree tear...

Anyhow...by the time they got her cleaned up & let me feed her, it had been almost 24 hours since I had eaten anything. The one "medical issue" I failed to mention to them was my hypoglycemia... After feeding Anna I suddenly became nauseas & started dry heaving... Then the nurse sent me in to take a shower & I remember feeling so wonderful and then suddenly someone was pulling me up & asking me if I was ok & all the pain was coming back... I had fainted. From then on, I had to wear the "special" red slippers & purple arm band to alert the staff that I was a "fall risk."

:-)

Anyhow...back home, now & slowly healing & feeling better & loving our little Anna Faye!

Anna Faye Warner is due December 2nd. :)

we did a chemical/hormone test that has an 80% accuracy rating and...it's a boy! (most likely?) we'll get confirmation at my 20 week appt in july when they do an ultrasound. so...for now...james william warner (aka...jimmy) is due december 1st.

james is walking on air... i honestly didn't have a gender preference...but james...being the oldest of 5 boys & 1 sister...yeah...of course he wanted a boy...

:)

well...12 weeks along...i consider myself very lucky to have avoided morning sickness, for the most part. i'm pretty relaxed about the pregnancy. my doctors are really not much help, but then, maybe it's because i don't even know what questions to ask. but then...do i care? not really. i pray everyday, take my vitamins, eat, exercise, sleep, try to keep stress to a minimum at work, and i figure the rest will work out on its own. we heard the baby's heartbeat last week. the appointment was pretty anti-climactic...a very rude doctor kept us waiting for over an hour only to come in, literally yank my skirt down, put the doppler on my belly for 10 seconds, and that was that. but...we got to hear the heartbeat...it's honestly hard to say whether or not it was "worth it." although i hadn't heard the heartbeat, yet, before that day, i had faith that it was there & wasn't worried, so to me it was a disappointing waste of time. so...for now i just smile knowing that there is a little heart beating in my belly, although i can't feel or hear it, and i can't wait till july when we can find out if it's a boy or girl so we can finally start calling him/her by his/her name!

i haven't blogged in a LONG time, but i figured this was worth sharing, if any others out there in pleo-land still remember me....

I'M PREGNANT!!!

Keep me & the baby in your prayers, please! Due date is December 5th.