Anabelle Marie Carter Arrived July 8, 2009!

I went into the hospital on 7/7/09 and was induced at 6 am on 7/8/09. Anabelle arrived at 7:15 pm on Wednesday 7/8/09. Labor was a breeze once I got the epidural--which by the way is a truely amazing medication. Contractions are miserable. Labor was easy, all the family was in and out of the hospital room until it was time to push. I pushed for about 2 hours which was exhausting, kind of like I ran a marathon. Other than her little shoulder getting stuck everything went well. Anabelle arrived crying with Apgar scores of 9 and 9. She weighed 7 lbs and was 20.5 inches long at birth. We went home on 7/10/09. It was a long slow ride home with Dad driving. The hardest part was trying to get her in the car seat! That was a challenge because neither of us knew how to use it. We arrived home with pink bows and flamingos decorating the house and lots of family waiting. The first night Anabelle did not sleep well at all. After that she began sleeping anywhere from 3-4 hour spans at a time. We had our first doctor's visit on Monday 7/13/09 and she weighed 6lbs 13oz which is normal. She checked out well! We go back today to make sure she is beginning to gain some weight. Anabelle had her first "bath" on Tuesday and LOVED it! She seemed very soothed. Dad and I are doing well. We have lots of help from family and have had lots of visitors. Dad is working, sometimes at home. Last night was a great night, we put her in the cradle at 11pm and she slept until 3pm, fed, then went back down at 4 and slept until 7:30 am. Wow what a great sleep! Anabelle very active with her arms and legs. She smiles on occasion and actually cackled while going back to sleep last night. She is eating very well. I will try to write weekly to keep you all posted. I hope you enjoy the posts!