This little blond haired, blue eyed angel was trouble from the word go!  I got pregnant with her on my honeymoon!!  But what a blessing!  And how exciting….Grace, who was three when I got pregnant, was SO excited to have a baby!  And she was old enough that I knew it would go smoothly.  We were in the Navy and living in Mississippi at the time.  This pregnancy, like the last one, was pretty textbook except the nausea was just about an all day event.  It finally went away and I was SO relieved that it did.  On the day she was born, or night rather, I woke up and headed to the bathroom and felt somthing “wet”.  I wondered it if it was my water breaking or me just peeing myself.  And by this time, I was praying it was my water breaking, we were already over 41 weeks!  So, I called the doctor and headed over to Biloxi to get checked out.  They swabbed the fluid and said “go home” it’s not amniotic fluid.  So, okay, I drive the forty minutes home, get out of the truck, go in, go to the bathroom, walk into the hallway and get a *gush* of fluid.  OK!  This time it’s gotta be it!  So, I get on the phone again and the nurse tells me to put on a pad and check in an hour to see if I am leaking more fluid.  DUH!  ummmm….ok.  So, I do and we go to Gulfport to buy a lawnmower.  (we really needed a new one)  And on the way back we stop by the hospital to get swabbed again and sure enough, my water was leaking.  It wasn’t really broken, I think there was a puncture and Annalea’s head kept plugging it up.  They monitored me for a while and there were no contractions.  So, they gave us the option of staying or going home.  However if we went home then we would have to be back by that evening to induce if there still wasn’t any contractions.  We decided to go home.  We needed to get Grace to our friends with whom she was spending the night and have some dinner.  So we stopped and got some chinese.  While Brian was getting the food I was feeling something….I wasn’t sure about how far apart they were so I just sort of put it out of my mind.   We got home, set out our food, and put in “50 First Dates”.  Not five minutes into the movie I looked at Brian and told him we better go back.  Hehehehe.  That was around five.  By the time we got the bag, drove to the hospital and got a room I knew this was it…we don’t need no stinkin’ pitocin (bad spanish accent).  I was going to “try” to have her naturally but then I heard something horrible.  There was a woman in the next room screaming at her husband, “no it’s NOT going to be okay!”.  That was enough for me.  She was doing it naturally and I got an epidural.  But, I wished I hadn’t.  While he was trying to put it in, Brian was standing on the other side of the room, watching.  (he looked quite pale)  And I have to say it was scary.  I felt like someone was shocking me with electricity up and down my left side.  All I kept thinking was that I was going to end up paralyzed!  But it was finally over and I was pretty numb.  I got to seven centimeters like I did with Grace before I gave in.  The nurse checked me a few minutes later and said we were ready to go, she was right there.  (apparently 7 to 10 in seconds!)  At this time, Brian asked her if we could wait….not ME, the NURSE.  She asked why and Brian said if we wait a few minutes, then she will be born on fathers day!!  So, THEY decided to wait.  Noone bothered to ask little ‘ol me!!!  When they finally told me to push, Brian was standing beside me, and I looked at him and said I felt stupid because I couldn’t tell if I was pushing or not.   I couldn’t feel anything! After a few minutes out she came.  Our precious Annalea.  9lbs 2.6oz and 22in long.  What a big baby!  She was born around 12:15 am on June 20th 2004.  It was Father’s Day.  What a present!

We were “those” people in the recovery unit.  People were getting on my nerves walking it at five am to change the trash and chomping on their chewing gum.  They ended up putting a sign on my door that said to check w/ the nurse before going in….hehehe.

Annalea was an easy baby.  She looked at us with those blue eyes as if to say that she knew the secrets of the universe.  Though my husband said she looked like a reincarnated murderer and was angry at being stuck in a baby’s body!!  ( I never saw that…hehe)

Now Annalea is three.  She will be four this year and I can’t believe how big she is.  She is sassy, smart, and sarcastic.  But oh my gosh is she funny!  We get mad at her for doing something and then she looks at us with those big blue eyes and giggles….then we laugh at her and now she knows she is off the hook and laughs some more.  oh my is she going to be trouble.  She shares a birthday with her Aunt Tabby who was also born on a Father’s Day….and they have the same middle name as well.  From talking to her parents, we see that they share similar personality traits…and Grandma and Grandpa feel bad for us!!

She makes me laugh, she can make me smile when I am angry, and I love her kisses and night.  Annalea is just plain happy.  (unless you wake her up too early!)  What joy she brings to our lives.  Thank you God, for another perfect little girl!