keeping up with the kologinczaks: Anya's Birth Day

Anya Cecilia Kologinczak was born on February 3rd at 8:47 a.m. via c-section. She weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. and measured 19 in. long :)

Anya at one month :)

That's right guys, our little Anya is here and is already a month old! Crazy, huh?! I know I've been a slacker with posting all about her birth story, but then again I have been pretty busy taking care of a newborn and an almost 2 yr. old! I've been trying to learn the ropes on how to deal with two kids instead of one and let me tell you it's no piece of cake! Not only am I trying to get my routine going with Anya, but I'm also juggling my "extra" time so that Isabela doesn't feel left out. It's definitely been a little overwhelming and hectic at times, but all in all everyone is doing great and adjusting to this new life as a family of four!!! I still can't believe that Anya is here and that I am now a mother of two! How amazing is life?! I always dreamed of becoming a mother and I feel completely blessed to have had my dream come true :) God has been very good to me! Isabela couldn't be more thrilled and excited to have a baby sister! Since the moment we brought her home from the hospital she has been nothing but super sweet and attentive towards her. She is constantly giving Anya kisses and hugs and it makes me smile every time I see them together :) She is a great big sister and I can only hope and pray that they will be the best of friends. So without further ado here is Anya's birth story...

On Wednesday, February 3^rd Jaccob and I headed to the Portsmouth Naval Hospital at around 6 a.m. to have my scheduled c-section. Of course I had gotten zero amount of sleep the night before because my nerves had gotten the best of me...I was a complete mess and I couldn't stop crying. Why was I crying you ask? Well first of all I was really sad that I was leaving Isabela...I'd only been away from her for a couple of hours at the latest ever since she was born (which by the way was almost 2 yrs. ago!), and here I was, about to be away for at least two to three days. I knew she would be well taken care of by my mom, but I was still really emotional. It also didn't help that I was thinking worse case scenarios and that if I didn't make it through the surgery she would never see me again!! Can you tell I was a complete basket case?!?! Haha! At the time though, not so funny. So anyway, with all that aside I was scared out of my mind about having another c-section done. I'd had such a horrible and painful experience with Isabela that I was afraid of the same thing happening again.

Once I was admitted and placed in the holding room before the operation I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and was visited by every doctor in the hospital, at least that's what it felt like! I was especially anxious to talk to the anesthesiologist and go over what they were going to do. With Isabela I was given an epidural, but by the time I was taken to have my c-section done a lot of it had worn off and that's why I was in so much pain during the procedure...I even felt when they were making the incision!!! It wasn't exactly painful, but I could feel them cut across my abdomen. The rest of the experience was what traumatized me...one should never have to feel all the pain I felt due to the tugging and pulling they had to do to get through all the layers to where the baby was. I cannot fully put into words what I went through, but I think you get the picture. Anyway, they proceeded to tell me that I would get a spinal block instead of an epidural and that made me feel a little better. Pretty much I was fine until it was time for me to walk over to the operating room. Unfortunately for me Jaccob wasn't allowed to go with me while I had it administered. The whole entire time I was shaking like crazy. There was one of the anesthesiologists there holding my hand and he did a really good job of keeping me distracted. He would ask me questions like what we were going to name her and where our favorite duty station had been. Before I knew it it was over and I was laying down on the table.

Jaccob came in a couple of minutes later and literally without me even knowing they had already started with the procedure! I was amazed that I was feeling absolutely nothing and even more grateful that Jaccob was there by my side. I felt such at peace with what was going on and just counting down the minutes until my baby was born. At the very moment I heard Anya crying I started crying. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. Jaccob got a little teary eyed, said that she was absolutely beautiful, and was basically in complete awe of what he had just witnessed and experienced. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, told me that he loved me and gave me praises for doing such a wonderful job...I will forever remember that moment. I'm so thankful to God for letting Jaccob be there with me to welcome our daughter into this world, it's just amazing. Anya was so excited to be born she was crying from the top of her lungs! She definitely made her presence known ;) Jaccob brought her over to me and I just cried and cried. I told her happy birth day and that I loved her so much. We were able to get a couple of pictures taken of the three of us before they wheeled her out of the room with Jaccob following close behind her.

As they finished up with me, Jaccob was with Anya in the nursery. I “woke” up in the recovery room and within half an hour Jaccob was at my side. He kept me company the whole time and before I knew it we were taken to my postpartum room. Anya was able to stay with me in my room the whole time I was in the hospital and it gave us time to get to know each other :) She was a lot like Isabela while we were there, pretty much sleeping and eating the whole time, but boy did that change once we got home! My mom was the one who actually stayed the night with me in the hospital and I was so glad to have her there with me. Once again I don't know what I would've done without her there! We figured it would be a good idea if Jaccob spent the night at home so that Isabela didn't miss the two of us not being there. God knows I wished she could have gone to see us in the hospital, but because of the swine flu all of the hospitals in the area were not allowing children under the age of 18. Boohoo! Lucky for me I was able to leave the hospital the very next day!!! Usually you stay for at least 48 hrs., even three or four days if you've had a c-section, but I was recovering so well that they discharged me early :)

I was amazed at how well I was doing and feeling considering last time I was pretty much useless for the first week after Isabela's birth. I was happy to go home and Jaccob was relieved to go home early too, he hated sitting around the hospital, especially with no internet (me too!). Anya did wonderfully on the way home and even more so when we walked into the house. I was scared that Anya would start crying and freak Isabela out, but luckily she didn't.

Isabela was of course so happy to see us and the moment she saw Anya she was fascinated with her. We kept telling her that Anya was her baby sister and she did nothing but give her kisses! So here we are, the four of us, as happy as can be :) I'm so excited to be at this point in my life and I can't imagine being in any other place...I'm exactly where I need to be!

Daddy with his two princesses!!

My beautiful girls!!

Three days after Anya was born my dad was able to fly out here to meet her and spend time with us. He was lucky to get 2 weeks off from work! He fell in love with Anya from the first moment he saw her :) He looked so happy to see her and he absolutely glowed when he held her! It was too cute!! I was able to take some pictures of my parents with both their grandbabies and it was so sweet to see them holding them...it's like they had my sister and me when we were little all over again. I'm so thankful for having them with us during those first couple of weeks, they definitely helped us out a lot. My dad also did us a huge favor by taking some wonderful pictures of us. The girls and I had a photo shoot with him one day and we got some amazing shots! He is our very own professional photographer!! Thanks again dad!! We love you.