Annabelle Faith Crocker

Our newest daughter joined our family November 15, 2009. She came into this world at 11:55 am. weighing 7lbs and 11 ozs and is 19.75 inches long. She has a smattering of dark hair and a great set of lungs. For those of you who are not freaked out by the whole birth thing, this is the story:

I had my 39/40 week prenatal appointment on Tuesday. The baby looked great, healthy and good heart rate, about 7 and a half pounds. Wednesday morning my doctor called me and said he would not deliver her any way other than c-section and dropped me from care. I scrambled, got a whole bunch of names of doctors and was blessed to find a Dr. Hall who would talk me on.

Thursday I got the chance to meet Dr. Hall. I was impressed. He was ok with me doing a normal birth. He told me I could try some Castor oil to get my body ready and maybe even put me in labor, so I picked some up on the way home. I took it that night, it certainly cleaned me out for a few hours but nothing really happened.

Friday, early morning (3 ish) I woke up with contractions. They came consistently so I let Matt know but after several hours they went away. I went on with my Friday like normal, having some contractions all day. Friday night they picked up to the point I couldn't sleep through them.

We called the doctor for advice on Saturday morning. I didn't really think the contractions were doing much, but did want to spend another night awake with them. We went into the hospital and I was right, contractions that were not really doing much. I went home with a couple of ambian and hope for a good nights sleep. By the time we got home the contractions were coming every couple of minutes and would last about 1 min each. We called for advice again and the Dr. Hall wanted us to go back to the hospital.

I still felt like the contractions were not doing much, but I was sick of having them and just wanted to sleep! They decided to keep me overnight and give me morphine to stop the contractions and see where we were in the morning. I sent Matt home and was excited to lay down for what I thought would be 6-8 hours of sleep. It wasn't to be. I woke up within 2 hours in full blown labor and had to call Matt back to the hospital. Did I mention it was snowing? We ended up getting over a foot and poor Matt had to drive in the storm repeatedly.

I labored all Saturday night, opting for the epidural around 4 a.m so that if I did need an emergency c-section that I would be able to be awake for it. We got some sleep, but was awake by 10 am. I started feeling the pressure of the baby and was told my doctor had gone home to take a shower and I would have to wait for his return. When Dr. Hall returned, it was time for Annabelle to arrive. My epidural had worn off by this point so I could tell when to push. It took about 45 minutes, but soon, baby was here. It was intense and so different to be an active participant instead of just a passive patient.

When Annabelle was born she was given to me right away and it was wonderful. Matt and I got to hold her and check her out before they weighed her and measured how big she was. Dr. Hall was amazing, encouraging and patient and it was a total God thing that he ended up being my doctor for this birth.

We are home today, we could have stayed longer in the hospital, but I knew Elie was soooo excited to meet her new sister and i just wanted to be home with my family. I am in need of sleep and a massage but feel incomparable better than I did after my c-sections. I would do this again any day over a surgical birth. Annabelle is doing well, I am so blessed that I get to be her mommy and can't wait to get to know the little person God made her to be.