Thursday night nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and I went to bed as usual. At about 4am I woke up thinking I had to go to the bathroom, and proceeded to have the runs for the next hour. By 5am I was getting contractions every 4 minutes, but they weren't lasting very long. Lee was working nights, so I called him to come home. He asked if this was it, and I said I think so, but even if it isn't, come home because I feel like crap!

He arrives at about 5:30am. We try to call my dad to come watch the boys, but can't get a hold of him. So we call Lee's mom, who lives a good 40 minutes away. In the meantime the contractions are getting stronger, to the point of having to breathe though them. Kaye shows up a little after 7am, and we high tail it to the hospital. (Only about a 3 minute drive.)

Now here's the funny part: I get to the admitting desk, and they tell me to go right up; they're expecting me. I thought that was kind of weird, but I thought maybe Lee had called them saying we were coming or something. So we get to the labor and delivery floor and they tell me I'm early! WHAT??!!?? Hahahaha. Turns out they had me on their induction list for that morning at 8am. Um, kind of forgot to tell me! So by the time I got done explaining to them that I had no idea why I am on the list, and that I am in labor NOW and they get me a room, it's 8am. Doctor shows up and checks me: I am 7cm dilated. He then breaks my waters trying to get labor moving. (What!?! seemed like it was moving along just fine to me, hahaha!) Than the contractions promptly stopped! Finally, after about a 20 minute pause, my body resumes the contractions with a vengeance. I start getting really sleepy for some reason. Then I tell Lee to quick page a nurse, because I feel like I'm going to throw-up. Both the nurse and the doctor show up, and I promptly start getting sick all over myself and Lee. Doctor checks me and tells me I only have a little lip of cervix left, so he tells me to start pushing and he'd move the lip. OUCH!!!! Doctor moving the lip hurt soooooooooo bad, and I am still throwing-up, so I just start pushing with all my might. I never had the strong urge to push like I did with my last 2 babies.

One push and her head was out... they told me to stop pushing while they suctioned the head, then I pushed again and she was out! Her shoulders hurt soooooooooooooo bad coming out! I don't remember the shoulders hurting so badly with the others! After the shoulders were out it felt so much better! I had a very little tear going down, but didn't need stitches. She was born at 9:15am, about 5 hours after my first sign that I might be in labor. Lee even got to cut the cord!

They laid her on me, she was crying so frantically, I kept asking what was wrong with her, but the doctor and nurses said she was perfect: apgar scores of 9 and 10. She weighed 10 pounds 6 ounces, and was 22 inches long. The placenta was delivered about 10 minutes later, and then I felt great! Then the nurse came over with this big needle and proceeds to jam it into my thigh! I yelled and tried to grab her hand, doctor informs me that it's a shot of pitocin to help my uterus shrink back faster. Gee, she could have warned me or something!

Fast forward to her 2 week check-up: Annora's doctor looked her over, and stops by her neck. He tells me to feel this hard lump by her neck. He says that's what bone feels like when it's healing!! It wasn't clear to me yet, so he told me... she must have cracked her collarbone during delivery! Then it all made sense... how she cried every time the nurses had taken her temperature at the hospital (they would yank up her arm to put the thermometer under her arm, on the same side as the break!)... and how she'd cry whenever she was picked up under the arms (I had started just picking her up cradling her butt about a week ago)... I was just so sad knowing how much pain she'd been in! So I asked him what we do now and he said nothing, it's healing wonderfully on it's own... she'll just have a bump there for most of her childhood, then it will gradually go away. During labor my hips hurt sooooooooooo badly, and birthing her shoulders hurt way worse than her head... I just wish I could have prevented all the pain she's had to endure!