Annelisa is 1 Month!

Annelisa's first month was filled with lots of first! Her first walk in her stroller, first time in her nursery, first time in her crib, first time in her bath tub, first time being sick. 

At the end of  her first month, Annelisa: 

• discovered her face in a mirror
• started to smile 
• has stolen many hearts
• visited Dr. Starnes, her pediatrician, three times
• likes tummy time
• likes to eat! 
• likes to be held
• enjoys taking a nap with mom
• makes her mom and dad very proud! 

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Now for the outtakes from her photo shoot! 

Annelisa's First Month: Part 4

The Blessing of My Best Friend: April 10-12, 2012

My best friend blessed us immensely during Annelisa's third week. Laura came to spend three days with me and in the process encouraged me, stocked my freezer, and helped me get out with Annelisa for the first time. 

I needed good girl time! It was a gift from God to talk and do life together again. At the end of our time together, we both wished that we lived closer so we could be mommies together more often. Until then, we have phone dates, face time, and trips to visit each other!  I look forward to the future and the opportunity to bless her when she needs me!  

Laura, Caleb (6 months), Me, Annelisa (3 Weeks)

Annelisa and Caleb 

Annelisa's First Month: Part 3

Children's Hospital Plano, TX: April 2-5, 2012

I never expected to spend another stint in the hospital with our precious baby girl. However, if we had to spend almost a week in a hospital for Annelisa, this is the hospital that I would want to be admitted to. 

The series of events that ended with us at Children's began on Thursday, March 29. We had my follow-up appointment with the lactation consultant at Centennial. This appointment was to check our progress in breast feeding by completing a weigh-feed-weigh, to check how much Annelisa was really getting from me. When Annelisa was weighed it showed that she had lost more weight since leaving the hospital. She did successfully eat 2 ounces of breast milk during the feeding, but since she was still showing some jaundice and had lost more weight our pediatrician needed to be called. The lactation consultant called the doctor for us and relayed all the details of our appointment. Our pediatrician wanted to see us the following Monday, April 2 for an additional weight check. 

Monday, April 2, we went to the pediatrician for the weight check, Annelisa had lost more weight, she was down to 6 pounds, 12 ounces...she weighed 8 pounds at birth. In addition to the weight loss, her temperature was low, ranging from 95.5 degrees to 97.3 degrees during the appointment. (A low temperature can potentially be more dangerous than a high fever in young infants, because they could be too ill to mount a fever in response to a virus.) Plus the previous weekend, she had seemed extra lethargic. She wasn't waking to feed and just seemed too sleepy. Our pediatrician wanted me to supplement with formula until her two week check, but advised me to call if anything seemed off or if she developed fever.  I was devastated from this appointment. I didn't want to supplement with formula again, I wanted to successfully feed my little girl. We went home with my mom to try to feed her 30 mL of formula in addition to breast milk during the subsequent feedings that afternoon. At the next two feedings, Annelisa hardly woke up, she wasn't feeding well. My mom and I worked very hard to keep her awake and try to keep her eating. After the first unsuccessful feeding, I called to talk to the doctor, she encouraged me to try again in three hours. So I tried again, knowing in my gut that something was wrong, very wrong. Annelisa was only 11 days old, I felt like I hardly knew what I was doing, yet, I knew something was wrong. I called the pediatrician again, knowing that we were likely going to the hospital. Our pedi, guided me through what to expect at the hospital ER and how to pack our things to be prepared. Then we left for Children's. 

While at Children's my husband was amazing! (I think he's pretty incredible all the time, but he really was everything and more for Annelisa and me.) I was very emotional during our first days there. As a new mom, watching my little baby go through so much and not being able to take it away from her or make her feel better, was a very scary thing. The details of everything are clearer now, but during these days Christopher did a much better job of relaying the how and why of what happened. 

Below is his summary of what occurred while we were at Children's. 

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Because newborns have an almost non-existent immune system for the first month of life, it is standard practice for a spinal tap to be performed, IV antibiotics to be administered for at least 48 hours, and close monitoring for 48 hours.  Hence the reason she was admitted so promptly.

Unfortunately, they had difficulty performing a spinal tap on her.  Three different doctors attempted a spinal tap on her, and only the last doctor was mildly successful enough to get a little bit of spinal fluid that a culture could be run on (to test for meningitis, etc.).  I was told the reason for the difficulty was that Annelisa had a “common anatomical anomaly” in which her sack of spinal fluid doesn’t extend as far down her spinal column as it does for most children.  There’s nothing wrong with this condition other than the fact that it makes it extremely difficult to tap for spinal fluid.  The doctor that was ultimately successful in getting fluid said that they encounter a baby like this once every year and a half.  Therefore, apparently Annelisa’s special. :) 

Ultimately all of her tests (urine, stool, blood, spinal fluid, etc.) came back negative for any infections.  X-Rays also indicated nothing out of the ordinary.  Plus, her heart rate, respiration, and oxygen levels were thoroughly monitored nothing seems to be wrong there.  However, when her final spinal tap was being performed, she had explosive diarrhea that the doctor indicated was unusual and most likely indicative of some sort of virus.

Of course, the negative test results beg the question, what went wrong and why was the exact cause not determined?  The doctor that monitored her and discharged her wasn't entirely sure why she had the symptoms she had.  He presented two theories:

1)      She had a “transient” virus that had already started to work its way through her system by the time we took her to the hospital, and therefore, was not picked up by the lab tests and stool cultures.  There is a good chance this is the case given the diarrhea she had during her spinal tap.

2)      She merely was having trouble feeding and got off track which led to dehydration.  All of the nurses and doctors have encouraged us that any feeding issues were not our fault because feeding at this age is a two way street.  Allison was doing what she was supposed to be doing but for whatever reason, Annelisa appears to have struggled a little bit figuring out how all of this works.

Regardless, during her hospital stay she improved dramatically.  In particular, she put on 12 ounces almost overnight and left the hospital weighing over 7.5 pounds.  Plus, her coloring and demeanor improved dramatically and she started feeding a lot better.

Since getting home, Annelisa has performed like a champ.  She is eating well regularly, and her urine and fecal output is gloriousJ  She seems like a normal baby now. 

In spite of the challenges and uncertainty associated with the hospital stay, I believe a couple of blessings have resulted from it:

1)      Given that Allison had polyhydramnios during pregnancy which can sometimes be associated with a defect in the child, we were still a little worried that something wrong would pop up with Annelisa.  However, given all of the tests and monitoring that were performed on her during her hospital stay, we feel pretty confident now that any major problems have been ruled out so we don’t  have to anxiously await for something bad to be discovered.

2)      Trying to care for a newborn covered in wires while staying in a single hospital room without your usual stuff (such as a bed, swing, etc.) is quite difficult.  Suddenly, the prospect of caring for a baby at home doesn’t seem so daunting in comparison.

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All in all, we were so thankful to have tons of love, support, and prayers from friends, family, and acquaintances while at Children's. God was so good to guide the doctors and nurses to help our little Annelisa get well. I told the nurse that discharged us on the 5th, that they were all wonderful and that I hoped to never see them in that same way again. 

Precious Annelisa all hooked up to her IV. So thankful that she is well! 

Going home from Children's! Check out my shades! :) 

Annelisa's First Month: Part 2

Newborn Photography Session

Still Life Photography 

My best friend, and resident photographer, Laura Wilkerson recommended a friend and fellow photographer, Laura Stiller, for our newborn session. We couldn't be happier with our choice! We will have three more sessions with Laura during Annelisa's first year. I'm so glad we chose to capture these moments in time and they haven't even happened yet! I'm sure the 6 month, 9 month, and 1 year sessions will be quite different from the sleepy baby, newborn session we enjoyed on March 30, 2012! 

Some of my favorites, I couldn't post them all! I love the pictures of my husband loving on our little girl! :) 

Annelisa's First Month: Part 1

Week 1: March 22-28, 2012

Our first week with Annelisa was filled with family! Our little family! Christopher took the week off of work and we spent the week with just us, learning about life with our new little lady. Here is our first week in pictures! 

First night home! (Sunday, March 25, 2012)

Monday, March 26, 2012

Tuesday, March 27, 2012: Annelisa hanging out in her Bouncy Seat

Tuesday, March 27, 2012: More Bouncy Seat

First Walk in the Neighborhood, Wednesday,  March 28, 2012

I will be posting some of my favorite newborn photo shoot pictures in my next post.

We were very blessed with a quiet first week home with just us! We learned a lot about each other and Annelisa. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!

Week 37: Annelisa's Birth Story!

I think most of us have doubts from time to time that God's plan is best in our lives. I was at this point with my pregnancy wondering what God's plan was, when Annelisa was going to be born, and wondering if I'd be ready when the time came. By God's grace, when the time came, I was ready because of all the things God did to prepare me in every way!

It all began on Monday, March 19, 2012, Spring Break was complete and I returned to school with a plan; see I almost always have a plan! I operate best when I know the plan. The plan was to work ten more school days, and in that time prepare everything for my substitute, finish up grading for the fifth six weeks, and make sure all my school things and home things were ready for the birth. This Monday went as it should, I was uncomfortable, but thankfully my feet didn't really swell. I had been very productive over spring break in catching up on most of the grading I needed to do. I had one assignment left to grade and I devised yet another plan to accomplish it by Open House on Thursday. That evening we had my weekly appointment with Dr. Halderman (not my OB, but another in the practice) to check my progress and a Non-Stress Test (NST).  Everything went well. I measured 41 cm and was dilated to 1 cm with 90% effacement. No real progress from the previous week. Annelisa seemed to be on track for an April birth day and being a large baby girl! We went home relieved with some of our questions answered about the likelihood of a Cesarean, which we wanted to avoid, or even an induction, which we also wanted to avoid. We were encouraged by Dr. Halderman to keep up the good work and to be prepared.

Well, Tuesday came with plenty of swelling, particularly in my feet! It wasn't that painful, but it prompted me to try to sit and leave school as promptly as possible to put them up. Earlier in my third trimester, I had swollen feet and each evening I was able to drink enough and keep them up enough to have them resolve by the next morning. This time those tricks didn't work. So, Wednesday came with swollen feet in the morning only to increase as the day progressed. My plan for the week was working nicely, I was making progress on the assignment I needed to grade and progress on preparing things for my sub. I still had plenty to do, but progress was key (and encouraging)! Wednesday night was characterized by plain discomfort, my hips hurt, I was having tons of contractions off and on, but nothing regular, and my skin was achy from stretching over my baby bump. I got stretch marks the previous Friday...there was no more room in my skin for this baby!

Thursday, March 22, I woke up extra early to get to school early to finish grading my last assignment. This was totally a God thing....I finished grading at 7:35 AM....I prepped the items I needed for my lesson and for open house that evening, knowing that the day was going to fly by and I was going to have zero down time to do anything during the day. 7:50 the first bell rings, my students start to come in, the day begins and quite the day it would be. It turned out that this was going to be my teammate's last day before her maternity leave.  Knowing this, I had a conversation with my homeroom about how my days were coming to an end too, (little did I know!), that everyday there was the potential that the baby could come, or that my doctor could order me to stay home at one of my appointments. This was another God thing...my kids and I both needed to have this conversation...especially since this day turned out to be Annelisa's birth day! Another thing God did was He encouraged two teachers to approach my principal about covering my classroom for Open House that evening and my principal agreed. I had nothing to do with this, they offered it as a gift to me to rest and God knew that I wouldn't make it back and prepared a way for everything to be covered and prepared. This was a blessing to me before I knew what the day would hold and that evening as I was being prepped for the Operating Room, it took a whole new meaning! At the end of the school day, my teammate and I said our good byes and I wished her well with many prayers for a smooth transition home, then I rushed to leave for my weekly sonogram appointment. I was running late, I was stressed from the days activity, and focused on getting to the doctor's office.

Once I arrived for the sonogram, it dawned on me that I wasn't hungry and really hadn't been all day. This was not normal. Usually on my way to the doctor, I snacked on something in the car and drank lots of water to catch up from the day; this Thursday, I wasn't interested in food or drink, but I tried to drink water anyway. Shelley, the sonographer, took me back to the exam room and she started the exam. I had been having BPP sonogram's for almost six weeks at this point, so she asked how I was and I started talking not really paying attention to the measurements as closely as I usually did. This was another God thing...He protected me from seeing how things had changed. As the exam went on, Shelley was quieter than usual, she had me change positions for the heart rate, which she hadn't had me do before, still God protected me from detecting that things had changed. She finished up and told me that my fluid level had spiked...I had polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid)...I usually had around 31 cm of fluid and this Thursday I measured at 39 cm, which explained my increased discomfort during the previous couple of evenings. She wanted to consult with the OB who was still at the office, so I waited in the exam room. A couple of minutes passed and I still wasn't worried, Shelley and Dr. Fadahunsi came back into the room. Dr. Fadahunsi told me that she had called and talked to Dr. Kidd (my OB) and they wanted me to go to the hospital for monitoring instead of doing my NST at their office. At this point, I started to worry....she proceeded to ask me several questions: have I felt the baby moving normally today? I honestly hadn't thought about it much that day, I had been so busy and with the poly I usually only felt big movements anyway; she asked me how I was feeling? which wasn't great, I had felt sort of off for a couple of days digestively and with my appetite.  Then came the real worrisome comment, that Annelisa's heart rate was low and not regular, hence why I was going to the hospital.

At this point, I was told to not go home and have dinner then go, but to go straight away. I asked if I could go to the restroom before going to get my husband on the way and both the doctor and Shelley chuckled and said I had time for that. I left the office quickly and called Christopher who hadn't come with me, since I wasn't scheduled to see a doctor that day. I called his desk and he didn't answer, I called his cell and he didn't answer...I think to myself that he must be busy in a conversation or something. At this point, I begin balling and driving when he returns my call. He hadn't expected my phone call yet due to the type of appointment I was supposed to have. I try to talk, but can't, I was able to finally say that I was coming to his office and we were going to the hospital. In his wonderful way, he stopped asking questions about the details and told me he would be waiting downstairs for me. Thankfully, he only works ten minutes from the doctors office. I managed to drive there, through tears and prayers. I parked at the front and moved to the passenger seat, as I didn't need to drive! He hurried us to Centennial...we went up to Labor and Delivery and checked-in, still not knowing what the evening would hold. Praise God for the nurse who worked with us first, she was cheerful, funny, and lighthearted and yet was clearly very experienced. As the monitoring progressed and Annelisa's heart rate continued to set off the alarm on the monitor, she began to gently tell us that she thought it was going to be someone's birthday today...at which point, I asked her how this was going to happen since I wasn't in labor....she told me likely through a C-section...God had been working to open my heart and mind to this possibility for weeks, I wanted to have a vaginal birth in the delivery room and not an operation...but since my diagnosis with poly we had known this to be a possibility...and here we were with a gentle nod to begin to consider this a reality.

At 6:20 PM we'd been at the hospital for about an hour, and the nurse came in with IV supplies and told me that she was just being prepared, they weren't starting anything yet, and that my doctor would be by shortly. At this point, text messages were flying, we had been texting with so many family members, friends, and co-workers, things were starting to move. We hadn't packed our things for the hospital yet, Farley had been home all day by himself and would need to be let out much sooner than later, I wasn't ready with sub plans or even lesson plans for the next week yet...I was feeling very unprepared, yet God again encouraged my heart with the sounding of the alarm for our daughter's heart rate...me being unprepared didn't really matter, God had a plan, and it was time to trust Him and walk in it! At 6:50 my OB came in, and we discussed proceeding with a C-section that evening or beginning an induction...the decision was made to c-section due to the likelihood that I could labor all night and still end up in the OR the next day due to the polyhydramnios. The nurses' shift change happened during our conversation.  After the decision was made to c-section a flurry of activity ensued...I was prepped and ready for the OR in under 30 minutes.

At 7:30, I was on the operating table getting the epidural. Mentally, I was scattered and running on adrenaline! So much to process, I wasn't going back to work on Friday, we were going to be parents in a matter of minutes, on and on it went. I was so thankful that Centennial wasn't busy that night, the entire OR was waiting on the epidural to kick in and for certain things to time in rather than me waiting on them. The scene reminded me of TV shows with music playing, the doctors conversing and teasing each other, and even including me in their conversation. By 7:40, Christopher had come in to join me in the OR, everything was ready, it was time for us to meet our Annelisa. At 7:50, Annelisa Grace was born, screaming with strong lungs. NICU checked her out and she was perfect! Her heart and lungs were working beautifully! Soon after seeing her for the first time, she and her daddy went to the nursery for her first bath and vitals check while I was put back together in the OR.

Annelisa's Birth in Pictures! 

Christopher dressed and ready for surgery! (Forgive the blurriness, my glasses were off at this point!)

Annelisa's first exam in the OR. 

Looking back to see her with the NICU doctor and nurses. 

8 pounds, 0.3 ounces 

Nurse Emily giving Annelisa her first bath. 

All done and ready to see Mommy! 

Around 9:00 PM, Christopher had joined me back in my room during recovery. He told me all about his trip to the nursery and how Annelisa had been cared for, he also told me that when checking her vitals she had low blood sugar, which can happen to some babies born at a high weight for their gestational age.  Due to this, she had been given formula to help stabilize her blood sugar levels. He assured me that the nurses had assured him that she would still be able to breast feed, but that it would have to wait a few hours due to the formula.We both wanted me to breast feed as soon as possible, and a c-section already delays the process compared to a vaginal birth; however, it didn't matter that it would take longer for me to start the process as long as she was healthy.

By 10:00 PM, I was holding my baby girl for the first time!

Around 11:00 PM, we were moved to our postpartum room to continue the recovery process. Wow, what a day it had been. Amazingly, I wasn't feeling tired thanks to all the adrenaline! We began our first night as parents.

She's already a thinker, like her daddy! :) 

We stayed at Centennial until Sunday afternoon. The staff was phenomenal! The nurses were wonderful and great at helping me recover from surgery and the nursery nurses were wonderful in helping us adjust as parents, teaching us tricks and strategies to try with our daughter. Stacie was our lactation consultant and she proved her worth over and over! She was encouraging in the midst of her instruction and helped us start breast feeding on the right foot. My anesthesiologist, Dr. George, was excellent! He was easy to talk to, and even came by to check on me the next morning before his shift ended.   At Saturday lunch, we had our celebration meal! It was quite the spread. Again and again, I would choose this hospital for labor and delivery.

We have been so blessed and have felt loved by so many friends and family members throughout my pregnancy and Annelisa's birth. We couldn't have managed life without the flexibility, understanding, and help from both sets of parents, our bosses, our sisters (and their spouses), and countless others! Special kudos go to Annelisa's Aunt Jo and Uncle Stuart...they really blessed us on Annelisa's birth day, they went to our house and packed our hospital bag and brought it to us and they kept Farley for us until we came home from the hospital. It takes special people to be willing to search for the various items I had pulled out to pack, but hadn't actually put in a bag yet! 

Christopher and Annelisa on Saturday, March 24th. 

Going Home! Our first family picture! 

Maternity Pictures, 3-11-2012

We had the privilege of taking maternity pictures a mere 11 days before our precious Annelisa made her debut! I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time, but measuring about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Our best friends, and Annelisa's godparents, the Wilkerson's, are our photographers. You can check out more of Laura's work on her photography blog, here.

Here are some of my favorites: