And life changed on October 17th

October 16th at 10:00 pm: Some girls from our community group asked how I was feeling and if I thought Baby Girl was anywhere near coming and if she was still breech.  I told them that I thought she was nowhere near coming b/c I hadn't had any symptoms and she was still sitting so high.  Plus, I had seen my midwife earlier that day and we decided not to check and see if I was dialated.  Little did I know that Baby Girl had her own plans...

October 17th at 1:00 am:  I woke up and had to use the restroom very badly!  When I stood up out of bed, I felt a little trickle...hmmm...what was that?  Then I had what I thought must be a real contraction because it felt like "that time of the month" cramps.  But since I'd never been in labor before and was still convinced she wasn't coming yet, I went back to bed.  I woke up 30 minutes later with another contraction.  I went to the restroom again and this time....gush!  Yikes!  That was definitely NOT normal.  

I woke up Ron and told him we needed to go to the hospital.  In his state of sleep induced stupor, he asked, "why?" (hee hee)  I responded that either I was in labor or I was leaking amniotic fluid and we needed to go to the hospital in either case.  He said I should come back to bed and then we can pray about it.  Again, I laughed and said that we could pray about it, but we still needed to go to the hospital.  We called the doctor and told them my symptoms and they said they would have the midwife on-call at the hospital call me back and let me know what to do.  MY midwife was on-call and said "come in my friend!  I hear you're in labor!"  Now this was amazing because it's only a 1/15 chance that I'd get my own midwife - what a blessing!  

Since I thought she was no where near coming, I hadn't even packed my bag yet!  Whoops - that was on the to-do list for this week.  Hmm... well, Ron took a shower and I packed my bags.  The picture below is the very last belly picture taken at about 3 am on October 17th.

3:30 am: arrival at the hospital and sonogram to confirm that she was still breech.  They told us we could either have the C-section right then or we could wait further into the labor to see if she would still turn.  Ron and I prayed about it and felt at peace about doing it immediately.  So at 5:50 am on October 17th, Anne Katherine Goode made her screaming entrance into the world!  Her namesake "Anne" is from several things - my grandmother's name, my mother-in-law's middle name and my favorite childhood book Anne of Green Gables.  Katherine is just a name we liked and doesn't have any specific significance.  We'll call her Annie or Annie Kate.

I have to admit, after she was born, it was difficult because I felt totally disconnected to what was happening around me.  The anesthesia made me feel really strange and I was shaking like crazy for a few hours after the surgery.  Ron got to watch the entire procedure as he peeked around the curtain.  His description of the surgery was that it looked like a deer being gutted!  Lovely.  While they were wiping Annie off, my midwife came over and said, "Well, your daughter and your husband are both just over there balling together!"  Typical :)   Over the next few days, I made Ron go home to sleep so that he would be of more use during the day; we can't both be super tired!  So in the early morning hours, I got to feed, hold and take care of Annie by myself.  This was GREAT for us so that we got to bond and connect - so important!  Our stay at the hospital was fantastic - we LOVED our nurses and felt so supported by them and well cared for.  We love Brigham and Women's Hospital!

We are home now and all doing well!  The picture below was taken a few days ago after dinner.  We are settling into life and trying to get on a schedule.  I have to admit, this is both the greatest and most difficult thing I have ever done.  I didn't expect it to be so demanding and hard, but I also had no idea that I could be so completely head over heals for this little girl!  She melts my heart every time she coos, sighs, streches, makes cute faces or wraps her fingers around mine.  

Stay tuned for more of the Goode's unpredictable adventure!