Yesterday Anna-Grace was two weeks old.  She has a doctor's appointment and has grown nicely!  She is now 5 lbs 14 oz. which is over her birth weight.  They measured her to be 19.5 inches, but I'm wondering if that's a little off... I have a hard time believing she would have grown 1.5 inches in two weeks.  Her appointment went well and the doctor said she was perfect, I had to agree.  I also had an appointment yesterday and I am also healing.  I still need to take it easy, but overall I'm feeling much better.  It will be so nice when I can do little things like laundry and feel like getting out and about more.  I know it will come - I just have a hard time "resting" since I feel so lazy!  I've watched way too much HGTV lately.  Thankfully Jason has been holding the fort down and taking care of everything.  He is awesome.

Last night Jason and I were in the family room watching a movie after the kids went to bed (The Help - it was wonderful, by the way).  I have to stay up to feed her around 10:00 before we head to bed.  Anyway, I looked over at Jason holding Anna-Grace and just had a feeling of unbelief that we actually had another baby.  This year has gone by so quickly and I just can't believe she is actually here and we have four kids.  I feel so blessed to be able to have another life to love and nurture.  We are all really enjoying her.  The fourth time around, things have just been easier.  The transition from 1-2 kids has by far been the hardest for me.  So far, number four has been easy.  She is a good sleeper though, so that helps a lot.  One-two was also probably the hardest for me since my big girls are only 18 months apart.  Those first six months of Caroline's life are a huge blur. : )  The other kids are big enough now that they are helpful and understand why Anna-Grace needs me a lot right now.  They have been wonderful!

Today all three big kids went to Great Wolf Lodge with my parents and sister and her family.  It's nice to have a quite day today while they are gone and I know they will have a blast.  They will be home tomorrow evening and then Thursday and Friday the kids and I are going to make gingerbread houses and make some sugar cookies.  I'm trying to still do a few fun Christmas traditions this year, just scaled down. 

Last Monday I was scheduled to have an amnio to check Anna-Grace's lung function at 8:30.  Jason and I dropped all the kids off at school and then nervously/excitedly went to the hospital for my amnio.  I went back and they started the ultrasound and she was measuring small, only 34.5 weeks and I was 37.  They estimated she weighed 5lbs. 3 oz.  The doctor made the decision not to do the amnio, but that she needed to be born that day regardless of her lung function because she was so small.  He did not think there was any problem, but that possibly she was not getting the nutrients she needed to continue to grow.

We headed up to labor and delivery around 10:00 am and my c-section was scheduled for 1:30.  Those few hours actually went by pretty quickly.  I was prepped for surgery, the doctors all came in and talked to me, Jason's parents came in and prayed with us, the kids all came in to say hi.  Next thing I knew I was being wheeled into the surgery room and Jason was told to put on his scrubs!

The surgery itself was not the greatest.  I had trouble with Caroline's delivery due to adhesions and I had even more this time.  I was out for most of it, but remember lots of pressure and tugging and I guess it lasted a couple hours.   I'll spare you the details... The important part is that Anna-Grace Ellen was born healthy and crying at 2:28 pm, she weighed 5 lbs 13 oz and was 18 inches long!  What a miracle she is and we are so thankful and blessed that she was healthy and did not need to go to the NICU.  I am thankful that I am recovering well.  I had my tubes tied during the surgery too - my body cannot handle another c-section.

After surgery, I went to the recovery room and was able to see Anna-Grace right away!  I did not get to do this with Caroline and I am so happy I was able to this time.  My mom and the kids came back a little later and I got to see them as well.  Our hospital stay was good.  The nurses were wonderful and it was great to have some quite and down time.  We had a few visitors, but mostly I rested, attempted to wake up Anna-Grace to nurse and just relaxed.

We came home last Thursday and things are going well.  The kids adore her, she has been a very good baby so far and I am feeling better every day.  She is SO SLEEPY.  Madelyn was like this too.  It is very difficult to nurse a sleepy baby!  Especially one that will not even wake up when you rub her down with a cold washcloth!  I am very persistant though, and she is still gaining weight even with her sleepiness.  She has started to have a few periods of awake time each day and it is so nice to see her pretty blue eyes.  She came home with a bili blanket because she had jaundice.  She stayed on it for a couple of days and now is doing great.  Now for a few pictures...