Family Tree Consists of 3: Witnessing Birth: My Niece Annalise

My sister-in-law is pregnant with her 3rd child. This was going to be baby girl #2 and her name is Annalise. Being that this was her third my sister in law (Bree) asked if I wanted to be in the delivery room. My first thought was gross no way but when we found out we were pregnant too I was so excited she had asked me. I would be able to see and experience what it would be like when we have our baby. Obviously it will be different bc I won't be able to experience everything but I would get a good idea of things to expect.

I happened to have a doctors appoint the same day Bree was going in for her check up, she was hoping they would tell her she could be induced. (back story she is due sept 22nd but her husband leaves for active duty with the Air Force on Sept. 30th so they wanted to make sure she had the baby before he had to leave.) after my appointment I got a text that said she would be induced Thursday morning. I was so excited. I scheduled to have the whole day off of work so I wouldn't miss anything. She had to be at the hospital at 7:30 so I told them to call me once they left and I would get up and get ready to head over. Well I woke up literally every hour that night thinking that I would miss it. I finally woke up at 7:30 and just went ahead and got ready bc I knew she was at least at the hospital at that point. I got here about 8:30 and she hadn't gotten her pitocin (this is the drug to induce labor) yet but the nurse came in soon after and got it started. They would up the dosage every 30 minutes. She has had some contractions but she said they aren't bad. She makes it look easy, she just squished her face until it passes.

Its about 10:35 the contractions are getting a little more painful she says but she must tolerate pain well bc i can never tell when she is having one. And now we just wait.

3:45 the nurse came in again to check and she was 5cm dilated the contractions got sooner and stronger, she still amazes me how she handles it. They are going to get the epidural ready to help and hopefully will see more progress.

I lost track of the time at this point but I remember the nurse saying she couldn't get the epidural until the saline bag was empty and she was about half way done. It seemed to take for ever to get through the second half, probably because the contractions were more intense and we were all thinking hurry up. There may or may not have been some yelling and the nurse tried to keep her calm but a this point Bree knew this baby was coming soon and said call the anesthesiologist to bring my epidural I won't want to be the third patient in line waiting on him and it be too late. So they finally called and my mother in law and I had to leave while she got the epidural, we were in the waiting room for about 15 min or so and finally my brother in law came to get us and as we were walking down the hall he said she is ready to push. I got so excited we had waited all day and all of the sudden everything was happening so fast. We got back in the room and the nurse was saying she had to wait 15min to push so that the epidural would kick in and Bree said call the doctor bc she will be coming in 15min. About this point wi all the excitement and it was hotter in the room an in the waiting room i started to feel a little uneasy, i didn't want to say anything so i just sat down for a minute to compose myself and then i was good to go. That was probably the only time i felt sick. More nurses started coming in and Bree kept saying in ready to push, finally one nurse told them to call the doctor and tell him to run or this baby was going to be delivered by a nurse today. The doctor came in and was ready to go. I wont give all the details but it wasn't nearly as bad as i think people imagine but the is the basics i remember happening after that. The doctor broke her water, we waited for a contraction he said push and then breathe then push again all in the one contraction and we there was the head. The doctor cleaned out the mouth and nose, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her head but no one ever really mentioned it, the doctor flipped the baby around and got the cord back around and then the next contraction he said push and the shaders were there one more push and she sweet Annalise was here. it was truly amazing nothing you can imagine without seeing it. It amazed me how everyone just happened, God made us to be able to do this and it happens just as it should. I'll admit at some point I think it was when I saw the head I got a little teary eyed well just blame that on being pregnant :) but it was just so unbelievable to be able to witness something like that. even though she was here there was more to the whole birth process and I will not go into details about that but I am glad I watched but it was definitely not beautiful like the birth. The rest of the night was just taking pictures and playing hot potato with baby Annalise. Here are her stats:

Born at 5:26pm on Sept. 13th

7lbs. 5 oz

20in. Long

And I think I heard someone say something about the Apgar (not sure if that is what it is called) thing being 8 or 9 if that sounds right.

Again I was so thankful to be able to witness this event. It has given me so much knowledge and took away some fear about what to expect come March. I was able to give Kevin a good play by play so he knows what to expect too without grossing him out. Now you can enjoy some pictures!

With her favorite Aunt