Totally Worth the Wait!!!

Everyone knows that Anna was born on Thursday, April 12th, and most of you have met her already, but I have to record this for posterity so bear with me.

She was born at 7:04 am after five hours of labor. Delivery was a cinch (almost made up for a pregnancy that most certainly was not) - I had three contractions, pushed during each one, and 14 minutes later she was here. She was 7 pounds, 6 ounces and came out looking exactly like her dad, but as newborns do, she has changed a lot in just the last couple of days. The hospital stay was fine but I'm so glad to be home where we can both stop being poked and prodded and where Honey is now taking care of us and gave Anna her first bath this morning. Marissa came the day after she was born and just left this morning so this baby has gotten lots of love over the last few days.

She is fairly particular about what she likes/doesn't like (likes: eating, swaddling, and being held. dislikes: diaper changes, moving her when she's sleeping, pacifiers that don't cooperate perfectly) and has this raspy cry that she doesn't hesitate to utilize to her advantage, usually throwing in some animal sounds for effect. It's actually the cutest cry I've ever heard - not piercing in any way. Honey laughs at her cry almost every time, and she calms down easily so we're lucky in that regard.

She tested high for bilirubin so although she didn't look very jaundiced the pediatrician delivered what we call her baby tanning bed yesterday for her to stay in for two days. She can only come out for 30 minutes every three hours, so thank goodness I am breastfeeding so I get her for most of those 30 minutes. The good thing about the tanning salon we are running is that it's put her and us on a fairly strict schedule and things have vastly improved in the getting hysterical department (both for mommy and baby). She has never been happier than she has been in the bed and we're wondering how bad it would be to keep her in there permanently and how we might be able to procure a bed of our own. I cried when they made me put her in there the first time (this was bout number 18 over the last couple of days; I'm happy to report that a majority of the crying bouts are due to elation and joy rather than distress). It's a good thing Honey is here to keep telling me it's normal and I'm not crazy and make me do things I don't want to do, like let go of her so that she doesn't die.

Steve has totally risen to the occasion and I feel very glad to have given her such a good daddy as well as the greatest extended family one could imagine. All of these little ones are going to have so much fun together and although it causes me a great deal of distress that she has to get any bigger, I take great comfort in knowing how much she is going to love her family and especially her "tusin fwends."

Noelle

P.S. I apologize in advance if the blog ends up heavy on Anna reports - I'm not all crafty like the rest of the family so in a way this is my version of a scrapbook. I'll try to be rational and as least annoying as possible.