After getting married on 8/21/10, Justin and I tried right away to conceive, as we had talked about for a few years. On 2/16/11 I took my first of four positive pregnancy tests (yes I was in disbelief!) and that's when our lives had officially changed as we became aware that our family would grow! We soon headed to the doctor and heard the sweet heartbeat of our little miracle and then made the announcement to the family and later, our friends. Our due date was deemed 10/24/11.
We decided to get non medical ultrasound pictures taken at 17 weeks and find out the sex of the baby early. On 5/22/11 we drove down to Owings Mills, MD and walked into a licensed ultrasound company called My Little Bo Peep and saw the best thing that our eyes had ever seen before. There was our little baby girl, all ten fingers and ten toes and smiling...yes smiling away!
We kept a hard secret from everyone for a week and on Memorial Day weekend we brought a cake for dessert to a family picnic and the inside was dyed pink to reveal that we were expecting a girl. It was a great day and I'm glad we decided to do the cake gender surprise.
My pregnancy fortunately went very well. I didn't get sick at all, didn't have weird cravings, didn't have bad heart burn, didn't lose too much sleep at night. It was very enjoyable! Although sometimes the little miss would kick me all day and all night. I called her my tiny dancer. :)
Here's a little proof at 37 weeks...
Here's me at 38 weeks pregnant:
And so it goes... Monday, October 10, 2011, which happened to be Columbus Day (my maiden name is Columbis) this year, I went to bed that night feeling very nauseous and discontent. I was up throughout the night getting sick, had chills but felt hot...just a very rough night with no sleep. I called the doctor the next morning, told them my symptoms and because I was 38 weeks pregnant, they wanted me to come in to make sure everything was OK. Justin had off work because of the holiday the day before, so he took me to the doctor for a last minute appointment at 1:00. They checked me and said that I was 2-3cm dilated and 90% effaced. And because I was up the night before getting sick, I was very dehydrated so they sent me to the hospital to get an IV and replenish my fluids. We arrived at the hospital and I was hooked up to an IV, a baby heart monitor and a contraction monitor by 3:00. We waited in the room while I was being administered fluids and talked about how crazy it would be if I went into labor that day, because of how much I was already progressing. The RN that was monitoring me asked me if I was feeling the contractions that were showing up on the monitor. I told her that I didn't even feel anything. She then informed me that I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes. By 5:00 the doctor on staff, Dr. Malloy, came in to check me again and said I had progressed to 5cm dilated and that we were going to have a baby that day! We were beyond shocked but SO excited!
I labored for awhile and spoke to a few visitors while I updated facebook of my progress and sent out mass texts to tell everyone that Annaliese was going to be arriving shortly. They broke my water probably around 7:30 and right away the contractions became unbearable, so I received the epidural. By 8:45 I was 10cm dilated and it was time to push! They prepped me for delivery and from 9:00-10:00 I pushed with all my might...as much as I could with not having any food that day and no sleep the night before. And finally with a little help from the doctor, Anna arrived at 10:02pm. The most beautiful moment of my life...our lives.
This is our pride and joy, Annaliese Marie Skidmore.
She was born 13 days early, on a full moon - October 11, 2011 at 10:02pm. Weighing in at only 5lbs 15.2oz and 19 1/4 inches long. I believe she was the smallest baby I had ever held. Mommy thanked her. (wink wink)
So that's how it all went down, in a nutshell. It was by far the best day of our lives. Annaliese has been and will continue to be a blessing for us and for both of our families. We look forward to every day with her and to see her grow.
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