Annabella's birth story

Happy One Month to my sweet Annabella May! I thought i would celebrate this day by writing your birth story! Let's start with...I totally called it :)
I told a few people DAYS before Annabella was born, that I would be going into labor on Saturday night...I said, "I think that's a good day to have her!" Now lets fast forward to Saturday! We woke up Saturday morning planning on going into Anchorage to have Macey get a picture with Santa. We got mostly ready when I realized the milk in my cereal was really warm...our fridge wasn't cooling! So we called my dad and asked him what he thought it could be, he told us a few things we could do like clean out a few different fans and filters. We looked up You Tube videos and couldn't figure out what it could be.

It was now 1130 and we needed to hurry up and head into Anchorage so that Macey could see Santa before her nap time so we left the house. While we were pulling out of the driveway I remembered the few things I needed to return in Anchorage we had left in Jake's car, which we had left at my parents house the night before! So we drove all the way out to my parents house to get the bag of things to return to the store. We had to drive really slow because the roads were pretty bad and when we got to Palmer it was already so late we just decided we couldn't make it to Anchorage and get out of the Santa line before Macey had to take a nap so we went to Carrs and got a cheese roll and donut becuase I was SO mad about the fridge and it not working out to see Santa.
After that we headed to my parents house and picked up Jake's car. My sister in law had told me about Santa being at the sportsman's wearhouse Saturday so we both drove to Sportsmans but Santa wasn't there yet so we wasted some time at Sears. I have NEVER seen Sears so packed in my life and we had to wait in line to check out for a LONG time. Finally we made it to the Santa line at Sportsmans. It didn't look long so Jake took Macey around to see all the animals while I waited in line. WELL! It took an hour! We FINALLY got to Santa and Macey refused to get anywhere near him! She started crying when Jake got close to Santa! So we got a stupid picture of Jake holding Macey kind of next to Santa and left. So we're in the car driving home and Macey is SO tired, it is now 2:30 and she usually takes a nap at 1:30, she can make it to 2 if she woke up late in the morning. So of course there's no keeping her awake on the drive home. When we get home I really tried to keep her asleep but she ended up waking up and since the little nap in the car was a little power nap, she couldn't go back so sleep!! ughhh
We kept going in her room and rocking her or scolding her or laying her back down or singing to her and it took an hour and a half to fall back asleep! While all this was going on I walked on the tredmil like I do most every day for 30 min. So by the time she got to sleep it was 430 so we had to wake her up at 5 otherwise she wouldn't be able to fall asleep that night. After we got her up we ate dinner and played a little.

At about 730 I asked Jake, "so are we just going to take Macey to my parents before she has to go to bed tonight or should we wake Macey up whenever we think it's time to go?" And Jake said, "well I don't think we should do anything! Otherwise she will just be at your parents house for the next few weeks!" And i said" what!? What are you talking about few weeks?" And he said, "well we are never going to know when you will be going into labor so we shouldn't take Macey until you're having contractions!" And i said "well, I am...i've been having them for almost an hour, not consistently but I can feel them, they come about every 7-10 minutes" And Jake said "really!? well let's time them, see how far apart they are". So until 8 we timed the contractions, they didn't hurt, it just felt really tight during them and they were lasting 5-6 min apart by 8 so we called my mom and told her that they were 5 min apart and I probably wouldn't be having the baby soon but we wanted to get Macey to her house before Macey had to go to bed. So we left our house at about 815, my mom and dad were having David and Jenny over that night so they were busy but my mom was literally jumping up and down excited. We called Jake's parents and told them what was going on and his mom said "you're kidding me!", my mom called my grandparents and they said they hadn't laughed that hard in a long time! They couldn't believe I had predicted when I would be going into labor! I'm sure it was a combination of a very stressful day and me setting in my brain that Saturday was THE day!

So we got to this midwifery at 9:45pm. Jennifer greeted us and I got into my night gown and talked to her a bit and she checked me, I was only 2 cm dilated but she said the baby's head was RIGHT there. So I got into the shower and it was very soothing and relaxing, I stayed in there for quite a while when Jake suggested getting into the bath so I didn't have to stand for so long. Judy was now there so she ran the bath for me and I got in. Judy and Jennifer really kept their distance, It was really nice to just be me and Jake most of the time. Jake said he felt like I shooed them away like when they asked me questions I wouldn't answer more than a word or two so he thought maybe they thought I didn't want them around...
I was in the bath for a while and I really started thinking it was slowing my contractions, because they stopped hurting and it seemed like they were getting farther apart so I told Jake that and that I wanted to get out and go walk up and down the stairs to make sure labor wasn't stopping. So I got clothes back on and Jake told Judy and Jennifer what we were doing. We started climbing the stairs and timing my contractions and they weren't hurting but they were 3 min apart. We kept walking up and down up and down soon they were 2 min apart. I told Jake "thank you so much for walking up and down these stairs with me" and he said "Kristina, I would do anything for you, I would throw that chair through the window if you wanted me to!" haha I love him.
 Soon my contractions were one min apart and it was starting to get hard to walk up the stairs so we decided to go back to the room. This is when things started to get a little fuzzy...

When we got upstairs I layed down on the bed but my contractions were on top of each other now and they hurt like crazy. After I went pee (which was like the 10th time already) they checked me again and I was at 9 cm! But my water still hadn't broke, so they asked me if they would like for them to break my water since I was definatly ready and with Macey when my water broke it scared me because it was really loud and kind of hurt so I quickly said "can you do that!? YES!" So that was wonderful, it relieved the pressure and I couldn't even feel it and it didn't make a terrible popping sound! Jake then looked at me and said, "well Kristina you've got 12 minutes till midnight if you want to have this baby on Saturday!"
By the way, Jake was SO good during my labor, even the midwives both said multiple times that he "was such a good coach" and that he was so loving and supportive and said the right things at the right times and stayed quiet when needed and they felt like they weren't even needed. So anyway I pretty much immediately started pushing after that. The midwives didn't say to I just said I'm sorry I have to push now. I seriously pushed four times RIGHT on top of each other and there she was! They put her on my chest and I said OH! And Jennifer said "oh did you want me  to wash her first?" and I said "No! I was just surprised!" When she came out she wasn't screaming like Macey was the second she came out so Jake and I were scared. Both of us said why isn't she breathing, why won't she breathe!? But Judy quickly reassured us and said "don't worry she has a whole minute to start breathing" so we were both patting her back and worried but as soon as Judy said that she started coughing and crying! Annabella May Collins was born on SATURDAY December 15th at 11:55pm. She weighted 6lbs 9.5oz and was 19 inches long. She is beautiful, precious, a gift from God.

My recovery has been amazing compared to Macey, not that it was bad with her though. I had to have two stiches with Macey and none with Annabella so it has been great. I gained more weight with Annabella though so it will take longer to get rid of it too...Also Macey's placenta came almost an hour after she was born and if it doesn't come with in an hour you  have to go to the hospital to get it out so they were giving me tons of herbs and things to make it come out. With Annabella's it came out immediately!

After Annabella came we called our families and told them to stop by if they wanted. My mom, Jake's mom, Jake's sister and sister in law all came. Jake fed me yogurt and I finished my gatoraid, they got all of Annabella's "stats" and we visited. The midwives said even though My due date wasn't for another 11 days that she showed all the signs of being a 40 week baby, that she was defiantly ready to come.  For example she had absolutely no vernix or blood on her (we didn't even give her a bath until she was 6 days old) and her fingernails were really really long and her skin was dry and pealing just to name a few.  After everyone left we rested a bit and then left the midwifery at 3am. My parents took Macey to church and then came over with Jake's mom after service. Macey loves her baby sister, it's amazing how motherly she is for being so young. I think that is the whole story! I'll probably remember some little detail and write it in the comments late but for now I will just end with, Happy one month Annabella!! I can't wait to see your personality and watch you every second of the day grow into a beautiful young woman who is in love with the Lord who created you!