Beautiful Girl

On March 16, 2010 true beauty entered our lives…our little girl, AJH, was born at 11:21 am weighing 8 lbs. 11 oz and 21 inches long. I regret that it has taken me almost three months to sit down and write about her birth, but since then I guess you could say I’ve been a little distracted.

In the time I’ve had to reflect, I’ve decided to give this blog a little “makeover.” As I sat down to write my first “baby” post tonight, this quote kept running through my mind: “Live in the moment…and make it beautiful.” I first saw it on a kind-of ugly, mirrored, framed picture at T.J. Maxx. It wasn’t the cutest thing, but I bought it anyway because it made perfect sense and was something I thought I needed reminding of, especially when things weren’t seeming so “beautiful” in my life. So often I rushed through each day without taking time to realize how beautiful life truly is.Luckily, now I have a constant reminder, and she weighs about 10 lbs. and has her daddy wrapped around her finger.

I guess all moms and dads say this, but she is truly perfect. Seeing her smile brings me more joy than I knew possible. Every day is a new adventure and I plan to do a better job at documenting her life in writing as she continues to grow.

I’ll start with her birth…my last day of work was Friday, March 12th. I was ready to pop. I could barely walk and had to take the elevator to get down to the cafeteria (because, as you know, food was my number one priority!). I made it through the weekend and was told if I didn’t go into labor before the following Wednesday I would be induced on March 17th: St. Patrick’s Day! I was thrilled and went out and bought numerous festive outfits, as seen in my previous posts. Well, after a snack of Pizza rolls, and seeing Ben play in a rec. league basketball game, my water broke around midnight on Monday, March 15th. I was pretty nervous, but everything was ready and so within an hour we were pulling up to RMH. Ben talked me into not notifying anyone until we were 100% sure I was actually in labor, though, I was pretty positive when the water wouldn’t stop gushing and the pains started getting worse. By 1:30 am I was in my gown and waiting for things to really get started. By 4:30 am I was begging (no, more like SCREAMING) for my epidural. I thought it would be great if I could avoid any medication, but when I realized I was having back labor and was practically passing out in pain, I thought it was time to get some relief. After a 30 minute war with my curved spine, and several intense contractions, the anesthesiologist finally got the epidural in and I was feeling somewhat relaxed. I rested until about 8:30, when I was told it was time to push. I foolishly thought this would only last a few minutes, as my mother had told me all four of us had come with only a couple of pushes. Boy was I wrong! Three and a half hours later, AJ finally decided to make her big debut. Ben and my mom were champs in the delivery room, helping me get through each agonizing push. At one point I wanted to give up, started throwing wash cloths and ice chips, but after an extra dose of epidural I felt strong enough to get through. It was difficult, but when this beautiful little girl was placed in my arms, I forgot it all and couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

Ben was so overcome he decided to cut the cord, despite his previous fears. Once he was in the moment, he was unshaken and couldn’t be happier to take part in every aspect of her birth.

Our first family photo:

Annalee wasn’t too sure about us at first…

But I think we won her over!

Since then we’ve been enjoying every minute of parenthood. I will slowly catch up my posts for her first 12 weeks and the many moments that have been making our life beautiful.