Anna Lynn McCullough

I'm finally going to tell the story of the day Anna was born. This will be very long, but pretty funny.

The Thursday before she was born was my last day at work. My doctor told me Wednesday that I should go ahead and stay home. I had polyhydramnious- too much amniotic fluid- which was making me extremely uncomfortable. Normal amniotic levels are in the low teens and mine was 35! So, I told everyone goodbye and prepared to head home. Matt was a little concerned that I was leaving too early. After all, it was 4 weeks until my due date!

Friday morning mom and I went to Kohl's in Trussville so I could swap a couple of things for Anna. After that, I went home and rested. Shopping wore me out because I had so much extra weight and fluid pressing on my knees, etc. Matt left early Friday morning for Auburn. He was helping judge the southeast civil engineering competition that was in AU this year. He was nervous about leaving me, but it was still a month before Anna was due. I was sure there was nothing to worry about.

Saturday morning, March 20, 2010. I got up early and went to Target in Trussville. I needed to get some more things for Anna before she got here. I felt great and wasn't nearly as tired as usual. Then I headed to WalMart in Leeds to do the same. I was there for about an hour. I went home and cleaned house, did some laundry, and hung the letters above Anna's bed. I went down the hall to get the clothes out of the drier and that's when it happened.

It was about 1:30pm. I thought, "did I just pee my pants?". I ran to Anna's bathroom and sat there for a minute. I figured if the water stopped, then I had just peed. If it kept coming, my water broke. The flood continued. Remember, I had too much amniotic fluid! I ran to my bathroom because my cell phone was there. I called Matt- who was in the middle of a competition at a lake in Georgia. He said, "can you hold on one second?" and I said "well, my water broke". He said, "are you serious?". I told him I was and he told me he'd be here in 2.5 hours.

So, I'm sitting on the potty with a flood coming out of me laughing hysterically at this whole situation. I called the doctor, Steph, and then my parents. Mom and Dad got to the house. Mom came on up to try to help me find some pants to wear. However, we went through about 6 towels and the water was still coming. Finally, I made the decision. I told Mom to give me a beach towel, which I proceeded to roll up and stick between my legs. We then tied one around my waist. That's right... I went to the hospital with no pants, only beach towels and a big ol' AU tee shirt! I had to sit on puppy pads the whole way. I took my time walking around the house making sure we had everything. Mom was about to lose it!

Dad drove us to the hospital and I showed him the "special" labor and delivery door where he needed to drop off me and mom. He left to go park. Unfortunately, it was the wrong door! So mom and I walked around to the next door. I quickly realized this was the main entrance to the waiting area for the women's center. There was no way I was going in there! Mom found a lady and asked for a wheel chair. The lady- assuming we were in our car- told mom which door we needed to go to. So, we walked all the way back around the women's center- outside- to the correct door. I'm still laughing hysterically and flooding!

When we walked in, the nurses were all sitting there waiting, and laughing. They got us set-up and said my contractions were coming every 2 minutes. I didn't realize I was having any. Matt finally got there around 4. He was a wreck from the drive. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out with the family and watching NCAA March Madness. I never felt any of my contractions and never dilated any.

The next morning Dr. Sparks- Dr. Stradtman was on Spring Break- checked me again and I hadn't dilated any. He gave me a little more time, but at 3pm we decided to do a c-section. I only felt a few contractions the whole time. They gave me a shot of pain medicine before we decided on the surgery and it knocked me out. It also made me sick! I can remember hearing everything and feeling things, but I couldn't hold my eyes open.

When they rolled me into the OR, I remember the doctors talking, etc. Dr. Stradtman came in to do the surgery. I was so thankful! I don't remember Matt being there at all until they pulled her out and he said "There she is!!!". I'm so glad I could feel them take her out. I was able to open my eyes to see her when they held her up over the screen. She was beautiful!

Anna Lynn McCullough was born March 21, 2010 at 3:17pm. She weighed 6lbs 15oz and was 21 inches long. Her eyes are blue and her hair is red- the exact same color as mine! She was a month early, but didn't have any trouble at all. The pediatrician said that if she'd made it another month, she would've weighed 10 lbs. They rolled me to recovery where I got to hold her. She was so sweet and beautiful right from the start! The whole family was there when we got to our room. Everyone got to hold her. I was still pretty much out of it.

The nurse woke me up at 6am to get up and start moving me around. I was a little sore, but no real pain. I was very blessed to have no pain from start to finish! I quit taking pain meds that day because I hate the feeling they give me. We had so many wonderful visitors and I didn't want to sleep through it all!

We went home that Wednesday. She came home on her own little schedule. Eating every 3 hours and only waking up at night to eat and then go right back to sleep. She's been such a good girl and such an easy baby! We are so blessed. Now I'm going to be a stay-at-home mom and I couldn't be happier.

In one year I went from being terrified of having a baby to being completely comfortable and in love with my sweet Anna. I wish she would stay this small and sweet forever, but I know she'll grow up. And that's a good thing. Just a little sad right now.

Well, thanks for reading all of this. It was a hilarious couple of days, but totally wonderful!