Anna is 6!!

Anna's first official portrait. She is around 6 weeks old.

Anna at one-Laurel Park in Conway

Anna at two-UCA football game in Conway

Anna at three-Conway

Anna at four-her Little Mermaid b-day party in Abilene

Anna at five-ACU football game

Anna at six-ACU football game. Doesn't she look so much more mature in one year?

BEWARE---LONG POST!!! Wow, I cannot believe Anna is 6!!! She has grown into such a little lady. She loves school, dance, gymnastics, Barbie, Polly Pocket, art, (really she loves everything!!) and her musical theater class. I thought I would post her birth story, since many of you do not know about it.

My due date was Oct.10, 2001, but I was scheduled to be induced on Oct.8 (Monday morning). Of course we had to plan the induction around football games and thank goodness UCA had a not so good team scheduled for the following Saturday. On Saturday, Oct. 6, UCA had an out of town game. It was instate, but Ken would still be late getting home. I did not feel like going b/c I was having back labor (I didn't realize it at the time, I just thought my back hurt :), so my sister and her husband came up to spend the night with me. They did not want me spending the night alone. Ken even drove his own vehicle to the game in case he had to leave early. That Saturday night, the three of us went out to eat at Stoby's and I did not take my cell phone inside. Well, Ken had called to check on me while we were eating. We get back into the car and I see that he has called. It was right at 7:00 and I knew they were kicking off the game. I called him back and was just going to leave a message that we were eating and I was okay. To my surprise he answered! As soon as his phone rang, the other coaches in the pressbox saw it was me calling and immediately starting announcing over the headsets "Robyn's in labor!!". Everyone on the sideline thought I was having Anna right then! I felt really stupid. They were all excited that I really wasn't in labor and that Ken was staying for the game!

As I stated earlier, I did not feel well at all on that Saturday, but I just thought that was normal. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and didn't even realize I was in the early stages of labor. I was awakened around 5 am with horrible cramps. I finally woke Ken up around 8 and told him I thought I was in labor. He started timing the contractions and around 10 we went to the hospital. We get there and the OB/GYN that was on call was a partner of my regular doctor. She checked me and said I was dilated between 3 and 4. She knew I was scheduled to be induced the following morning. She said it was my decision. I could be admitted and start on Pitocin or go home and tough it out until the next morning. I knew first labors were very long and decided I would rather be at home and in pain than in a hospital bed. We came home and that afternoon was one of the LONGEST of my life!! My contractions kept getting worse and I couldn't find a comfortable position. I remember staring at the clock all day!! My mom told me to just go to the hospital. She said "they have medicine for you there". I guess she was concerned about me b/c around 5:00 her and my dad show up at the house. So...guess what? Around 5:30 we go back to the hospital. I got my epidural around 8:30 and that was the best thing ever!!! They came around 10 and broke my water. When they did that, they realized that the amniotic fluid had meconium (Anna's poop) in it. They immediately started me on an antibiotic. At 4 am I was ready to start pushing. I pushed for 2 hours and Anna's body was in the right position, but she was face up instead of face down and she wasn't able to pass through my pubic bone. So... I was wheeled in to OR for a c-section. She was born at 6:38 am. She weighed 8'9" and was 21" long.

I remember feeling so exhausted. I had been up for 24 hours and had gone through quite a bit. Of course I spiked a fever and then really felt like you know what. At birth, Anna did well, but at her noon check up the nurse noticed that she was in a little bit of respiratory distress. They ended up admitting her to the NICU and putting an IV in her little foot. They suspected some meconium got into her lungs and caused an infection. I did not get to see her again until about 24 hours later when she was discharged from the NICU. Ken did, but I was too sick (the meconium caused me to get an infection as well). He would take our video camera into the room and then bring it to me so I could see her. She was born on a Monday and we got to leave the hospital on Thursday. One of the nursery nurses told me when we were leaving the hospital "she's going to give you a run for your money!". I didn't really know what she meant by that, but I do now!!