Hannah Is Here! Part 1

It is crazy to me that this time last week I was getting ready to head to the hospital for Hannah's induction!  This has been the longest/shortest week of my life it seems!  Wednesday afternoon Austin's parents came into town and we met my parents for dinner before heading to the hospital that night.

We took some pictures before we left the house.  Last belly shot! 

B, how did you get in your sissy's crib?!

Our last pic as a family of 3 before Hannah arrives!

After dinner at the restaurant my Dad asked the waiter for a birthday dessert for Miss Hannah.  So cute!

We had to be at the hospital at 8pm Wednesday night.  All checked in and ready to get things started!

Beth, Amber and Paul came to visit!  Beth made an awesome goody basket full of snacks for us to have at the hospital and gave me the cutest necklace with Hannah's name on it.  Such sweet friends!

And the pain has started....  I have no idea what time this picture was taken.  I do know that we got very little sleep Wednesday night and the nurse started the Pitocin at 5am followed very quickly by the epidural at 6am. Awe, the epidural was my friend.  Getting the epidural wasn't that bad actually, I felt pressure and a little discomfort but it was all worth it.  FOR SURE!  It's so weird, I actually have a very foggy memory of anything during labor.  It's all kind of a big blur to me and I rely on Austin's clear memory of it all to tell people what happened.  He's the one that reminded me of the back labor I was experiencing before the epidural.  Let me tell you that is NOT fun!!  The back labor was worse than the actual contractions!  

Not feeling so hot at this point.  I was piled with blankets and had to get oxygen because Hannah wasn't handling the contractions very well.  Her heart rate kept getting low each time I'd have a contraction so they were trying to get me extra oxygen to help regulate her heart.  At first the nurses thought it was her reaction to the Pitocin but it was realized later after they took me off Pitocin/put me back on it/took me off it again that she just wasn't handling labor as well as the Dr had hoped.

Contractions!  Her heart rate is at the top and was still looking good at this point.

Feeling pretty good (minus the vomit bag sitting next to me, the epidural made me pretty nauseous but luckily nothing ever happened)

Tracy and Mom waiting for Hannah to get here!  Both of our families were there all day as well as my best friend Beth.

Mark figured out it was going to be a long day so he took a little nap in the waiting room.  Ha! 

And then everything changed.  QUICKLY!!!  Both our families left for lunch because we promised them nothing would happen while they were gone.  Yeah, we were wrong.  My Dr came in to check on Hannah and me and wasn't pleased with how low Hannah's heart rate was getting and how slowly I was progressing.  She walked out of the room after she said she'd be back in a few hours to check on us again and about five minutes later (after she checked all the activity that had been going on the last few hours on the nurses monitor) she and the nurse come quickly walking in saying Hannah wasn't going to be staying in much longer and that I needed to go ahead with a c-section and that it was going to happen in 30 minutes.  Insert Kelly losing it HERE!  I started crying and was really upset because I just really didn't want a c-section but I knew it was what Hannah needed and I was ok with it, I was just disappointed because it wasn't the labor I had always imagined.  But, you do what you need to and I was just ready to make sure she was ok and have her here!   The crazy thing when I look back on it is that I was never nervous about any of it.  It was a whirlwind with different Drs coming in, forms being signed, Austin getting his scrubs on and then our families showed up about five minutes before I was wheeled out of the room.  It was all SO FAST and next thing I know, I'm in the operating room!

Austin and Kelly ready to become Daddy and Mommy!  A VERY swollen and emotional Kelly, but still excited to meet my baby girl!

Next up, Hannah is here!!!

Hannah Lee Townsend!

Introducing Hannah Lee Townsend  

Born Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 1:11pm. 

8 lbs 7 oz

20.5 inches long

We got home from the hospital today and are completely in love with our little baby girl!  

Birth story and LOTS more pictures to come!

The End is NEAR!!!

So, this morning Austin and I headed back to the Dr for Hannah's non-stress test.  Apparently this girl is WAY too relaxed because she didn't want to have anything to do with being monitored.  She slept the entire time and wouldn't move which is something they were monitoring her for.  My Dr checked me again and once again, not dilated AT ALL.  :(  She sent me over to the hospital to get Hannah checked out further to make sure she's still ok in there.  We had a biophysical profile done which is basically an ultrasound to measure her amniotic fluid, her movement, make sure she's practicing breathing, etc.  If she didn't pass 100% then my Dr was going to send me directly to labor & delivery and we'd get the induction started.  I'm not going to lie, I was semi-hoping she'd score 95%, I'm miserable!  But, our girl is stubborn and just didn't feel like moving on command this morning apparently because she passed her test with a perfect score and we're back at home.  Not before finding out her estimated weight though....  Drum roll please.......little Miss Hannah isn't so little.  She's approximately 9 lbs 4 oz and off the charts in all areas of size!  Yep, that's right, she's over 9 lbs.  No wonder I'm miserable!!  I have to say, my mood went south from there.  I was shocked that she was THAT big.  This has been my fear for a long time considering Austin was 9 lbs 9 oz but my Dr never thought Hannah would end up that big.  Well, she was wrong.  So, we head to the hospital Wednesday evening and start the induction process.  After getting the report and seeing her size, we may be switching up the labor plan but we'll see how it goes and won't really know until we're there.  So now we just wait more and hope for a smooth delivery!  Sometime on Thursday we'll finally be able to meet our baby girl!

Waiting...

We are still waiting on Miss Hannah's arrival!  This morning we went for Hannah's 2nd non-stress test this week to make sure she's doing good in there.  Well, she's doing great and doesn't want to go anywhere!

Hannah and Mommy hanging out getting monitored.  We both passed the test. :)  Like that big belly?  It's so white it glows I think.

While she was being monitored I had a few contractions and one of them was really strong and I was able to recognize it as a contraction so that's a good sign.  I didn't realize it until then but I've been having them everyday lately and just thought they were BH contractions.  They literally take my breath away!  So, it's a step in the right direction!  We met with the Dr after the test and I'm still not dilated at all but the Dr could feel Hannah's head because she's so low so we're getting close!  My Dr said she can still come at any time but if she doesn't come this weekend then I'll be back on Monday morning for another non-stress test and exam.  I am officially scheduled to be induced Wednesday evening if she still hasn't made her arrival so in less than a week Hannah will be here!  I was pretty discouraged about not being dilated still but according to my Dr sometimes that's just how it works.  She said that some people don't dilate at all until labor starts but it would be an even better sign if I would dilate on my own.  All I do know is that Hannah is one happy baby in there so I guess I can't ask for more than that!      

40 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 40 Weeks, it's Hannah's DUE DATE!!!!  I can't believe it!

Size of baby: Hannah is about the size of a watermelon, BIG!  

Total Weight Gain: 23 lbs 

Maternity Clothes: All maternity clothes

Gender: GIRL!!! Hannah Lee Townsend

Movement: Hannah loves moving around but she's out of room in there!  Her movements are big and they hurt a lot of the time now.  I think she's trying to get out of there half the time, seriously.  It's really uncomfortable when she moves but I'm cherishing each time because I know there isn't much time left to feel her moving around in there.   

Sleep: What's sleep??  I wake up pretty much at the same times each night and sometimes I wake up super early in the mornings, like 5-6am for absolutely no reason.  Not a huge fan of that....

Cravings: Sweets, ice cream

What I Miss: Moving around like a normal person and sleeping through the night

Symptoms: Heartburn ALL THE TIME, absent mindedness, swelling, shortness of breath, LOTS of BH contractions.  Hannah is dropping more each day according to my Dr but as of Tuesday when we went to the Dr I hadn't made any other progress since last weeks appt.  :(  I was soooo disappointed but we're going back to the Dr tomorrow to get checked again and then we'll have a plan set for Hannah's arrival.  I was hoping I wouldn't have to be induced but we'll see what the Dr says at the appt.  Hannah is getting too big for her Mommy and needs to come out so we'll do what needs to be done!  My Dr even said to me on Tuesday "oh, your poor belly" because it is FULL of our baby girl!  Tracy felt my belly on Monday and said "it's so hard, you don't have any soft spots" because there are none, Hannah is taking up ALL the room!  I've been telling people that for weeks, I don't know why no one believed me.  Ha!  

Best moment this week: Reaching her due date!  She's now officially late and needs to make her appearance ASAP!  We can't wait to meet her and hold her in our arms!!  Austin said earlier this week that he thinks she's going to show up today because she's her Mommy's daughter and I'm ALWAYS on time for everything!  Ha!  For real, even when I just say "I'll be at your house around 6" I always end up pulling up to the house at 6pm exactly, I don't know why it always works out like that but it does.  I'm always on time even when I'm not trying to be.  So, maybe Miss Hannah is the same way and didn't want to show up to the party early!  We'll see, there are a few hours left on her due date but my guess is that she'll be showing up on Monday.  If only she knew how much room she's going to have in the "outside world" I think she'd be out of my belly in a heartbeat!

We had Chinese food last night (Austin was trying the spicy food route to get Hannah to come out, didn't work) and these were our fortunes!  Right after I got pregnant one of my fortunes was "Daughter" and that turned out to be true so if I had gone into labor last night I was going to buy a lotto ticket with those numbers!  Ha!

Happy Birthday Tracy

Monday was Tracy's birthday so my Mom and I went over to her house with presents and cake and to give Haley some lovin'

Precious little sleeping beauty

Aunt K and little Haley

She was alert for a while during our visit!

It's crazy that there is a baby bigger than her inside that huge belly of mine!

We're having a good talk  :)

Pretty girl

Love that blond hair

This picture was almost two years earlier (8/14/09) with little Leah.  We're giving eskimo kisses  :)

 So Haley and I had to do the same thing.  I just realized I'm wearing the same color shirt for both pics

 

Tracy texted me this picture this morning and it was too cute not to include.  Haley is such a pretty little baby and is a mini-me of her big sister Leah at that age!

I hope you had a good birthday with your girls Tracy!  Love you!

Hannah's Final Baby Shower

This past Saturday was Hannah's 5th and FINAL baby shower, our little girl is already so spoiled!  I honestly never thought Austin and I would attending the shower because I thought she'd already be here by then but I was wrong!  Austin's coworkers were so nice to throw a shower for us to welcome baby Hannah.  Most of his coworkers are more like friends to us that he just happens to work with so it was a lot of fun.  They are all so excited for Hannah to get here, it's sweet.  I spent most of the night sitting so I didn't get any pics of the guests but it was a pretty good turnout!    

Two of our hosts, Jamie and Melissa

Yummy food, we also had delicious BBQ that Steve made for us

AWESOME cake pops and cupcakes!  

Cute chocolate flower pops that Jamie and Angie's daughters made for the shower, so sweet 

Daddy & Mommy-to-be 

Present time!  I can say with 100% certainty that Hannah is SET!  Austin was so funny, this bucket was full of goodies and Austin's one question out of all the stuff that was in there was if we get to keep the bucket.  Ha, yes Austin, the bucket is ours to keep.

Austin and his work buddies, Jamie and Rob all sweaty from playing washers for hours

It was a great night and we are so lucky to have so many people who are excited for Hannah to arrive!  They are all ready to teach her about Aggie football!  Maybe next year boys, the 2011 season may be a little too early for baby girl!