On April 20, 2012 we welcomed a darling little
6 lbs, 15 oz baby girl! We are so happy and so grateful she is here safe and sound! Thank
you Grandma for watching the kids while Mom and Dad took off to the
hospital! We weren’t so lucky in
NYC! It was such a peaceful
feeling to know that the kids were well taken care of and having a blast while
we were away.
We’ve certainly enjoyed this past month—being together as a
family, spending time with Grandma, Grammy and Auntie J, cousin Kate. It’s been so perfect!
Anna’s birth story excerpt from her journal:
Anna Paige
Birth Story
4/20/2012
6 lbs. 15 oz; 20 inches
Anna, we were so thrilled when we
discovered we would be blessed with another child in our little family. We had assumed it wouldn’t be, due to
my difficult pregnancies. Therefore, it was a thrill to know otherwise…and then to find that you would be a little daughter! You can’t begin
to imagine my happiness! In the womb,
you grew healthy and well. You
moved frequently as to give me piece of mind. You looked angelic in each and every ultrasound and the
whole family could hardly await your arrival, particularly your mom! I was a
little anxious about your health, due to a few scares we had regarding your
heart being in a rotated position and the implications of that. We would have to wait for your birth to
know for certain exactly what was going on with your little body.
Two weeks before your due date (38
weeks), the doctors noted that my blood pressure was a little high and that I
was having an allergic reaction to medication needed to keep you safe in utero.
We decided the best situation would be to deliver you a tad bit early due to
your healthy size and mature lung development.
On April 19th at 8pm, Dad
and I headed to Mary Birch Hospital for Women and checked in for your scheduled
induction. We were thrilled and so
eager to have you here with us!
And then we were terribly disappointed when at 10pm, the nurse let us
know that instead of starting the pitocin right then, we would push off the
induction until the morning hours! The reason? After checking my cervix (a 3
and 50% effaced), the doctor decided that labor would probably go a little too
quickly and
because of some of your possible heart issues, the doc wanted the entire
neo-natal team to be in attendance at your birth to help out in case of a
problem. And that would be difficult in the middle of the night; morning would be far better.
SO….we tried to
sleep and rest; difficult in the
midst of contractions and frayed nerves! Dad slept on a pull out chair which he later joked
about. “It feels like I just slept
in a washing machine!” he said in
the wee hours of the morning.
At 4:30am, induction started and it
was slow. Not a lot happened for a
time. But we enjoyed our nurse
Lorellie and met our Dr. Wade Schwindemann—both extremely kind and wonderful
professionals. I watched old Arrested
Development shows
from my Iphone and tried to deep breath and not be too nervous. A good friend who works at the hospital
came to visit and lightened the mood.
My doctor- Holly Caselle came to see me on lunch break. And then at about 10:30am on April 20th,
contractions started to become a little more intense and more consistent. Dr. Shae came in to give me an
epidural, although I was a little hesitant about the whole thing this early on
in the game. Pain wasn’t too bad
at this point, and I didn’t want to slow labor with an early epidural as I was
only dilated to a four. But, Dad
talked me into it and the minor pains I was feeling were now non-existent. At 11:15, Dr. S broke my water.
This was a good move as labor
contractions picked up impressively!
Dr. S predicted you would be born between 1pm and 2pm. And he was
right! At 1:00, I felt a lot of
pain, despite the epidural. I knew
it was almost time
to push. But Dr. S. thought
differently. He checked me and
decided I was only a 5-6 and would still probably experience about an hour of
contractions before pushing. Despite
the physical evidence at hand, I did not agree--as I had done this three times
before! 5 minutes later I told
everyone that it was time!! Dr. S
came in, prepped the room and sure enough, after10 minutes of pushing, sweet
little Anna Paige Marston was born!
Your Dad and I were so thrilled, but I didn’t hear any crying, so I was
concerned and wanted to make sure you were ok before rejoicing too much. The neo-natal team listened to your
heart, lungs, and checked your vitals.
Sure enough, you were as healthy as could be! A 9 out of 10 on the APGAR
scale. Thrilled, I held you in my
arms and cried tears of joy and relief!
We could hardly believe your beautiful little face. It was different than all the other children.
We could hardly get over how
perfect and precious you were! The
nurses asked if you had a name?
Dad preferred the name Cora, but I took one look at you and knew that your name was Anna. And Dad
was good enough to give Mom the final say. So I told the nurses- Anna Paige
Marston. Both your Dad and I knew that Paige would be your middle name. Paige, after a dear, dear friend of
ours, whom we loved very much and who passed away from breast cancer last year.
Shortly after birth, you latched
right on to nurse and were a complete champ! You quietly rested for the duration of the day in mom and
dad’s arms; and later were able to meet Evelyn, Dane, Grant and Grandma. All were so very excited to see you and
believed you to be the cutest baby ever!
Evelyn in particular was very fond of your sweet little face and begged
to hold you.
Anna, you are a little miracle to
us. We know that you were sent
directly from Heavenly Father to bless our family. How could we ever think otherwise? You are precious and sweet and you will be loved for your
entire life… more than you could ever imagine.
