WOW- has it been a week??

Here we go.... Annabelle's early arrival has thrown our "normal" routine out the door. I promise I will try to update the blog more often from now on!! Until then we have A LOT of catching up to do.

7.6.11
Last picture of me before I checked into the hospital.

First off, lets talk about last week:

Dr. Lutich decided it best to go ahead and induce me and get Annabelle here earlier than expected. YEA!! A combination of factors went into that decision- high blood pressure, swelling and close proximity to original due date.

So, per our instructions Stephen and I drove over to the hospital on Wed. night at 9pm to get checked in and to get the Cervidil started. I had frequent contractions when I got to the hospital and the intensity continued to get stronger in the two hours that the Cervidil was in place. In fact they were so frequent that the Cervidil was taken out after only two hours (midnight) because they thought I might go ahead into labor on my own. Stephen and I spent the rest of the evening watching tv, sleeping briefly and waiting. PS- at this point I had already started receiving pain meds and some sleep pills.

Dr. Lutich came to the hospital first thing on Thurs. Morning at 6am to check my dilation and start the Pitocin. Turns out I hadn't dilated much at all despite the contractions, I was still at a 1. She began the Pitocin and said she would check in with me in a couple hours.

Time lapses from 6 to 10:30am and I started receiving really difficult contractions. I received the epidural around 11am. Btw- drugs are GOOD!!

Time lapses from 11am to 4pm without much progress in dilation. I went from a 1 to a 4 and stalled. Dr.Lutich wasn't happy with the progress and suspected that my hips were not large enough for Annabelle to fit through. The c-section option was put on the table. I took it! From that point we moved quickly and they prepped me for surgery.

Annabelle was born 41 minutes later!!