Welcome to Annaleigh Rose Pettijohn

Hello to all friends and family

Many know our wonderful news either by phone, email, text, facebook, Spirit or word of mouth but I've finally had a moment in her 2 weeks of life to send our wonderful news to my whole contact list even though many I haven't communicated with in a long time but good news like this is worth telling everyone. = )

The Pettijohn's of Tom and Celeste now have a new little one in to our family. We'd all like you to meet our daughter and first child Annaleigh Rose Pettijohn who is now 12 days old and counting! She was born on Tuesday August 18th 2009 at 4:09pm and weighed 7 lbs, 13 oz, 20" long. She came into this world 13 days after her due date (still in her due time though and by induction) and after 20 hours plus trying on our own she was delivered via c-section since mama just wasn't able to get her out on her own even though we tried. We are both healthy and that's all that matters. = )

We were in the hospital for 4 days, trying to learn and enjoy our little one. We had many wonderful first moments but at times stressful and our Annaleigh lost her little voice from crying (combination of her not feeding well and stress and not enough rest for mom) but it was a blessing in disguise since we were able to get used to her high pitched crying a bit slower. =) I have been recovering well and trying to rest as much as possible. Grandma was around during the first week after we got home from the hospital which allowed for extra care for me so I could sleep but also a crash course in newborn care. She was great being my post partum doula.

We've now been home for a week and can't believe all of the things we've learned and experienced. Annaleigh is still working on her sleep, feeding schedule and I'm learning when to take breaks and what do to while she's awake. We are all trying to live in the moment since that's pretty much where we need to be otherwise we get to overwhelmed. We've had our first dr. visit and even though she lost a pound after leaving the hospital she gained 5.5 oz in 4 days so that's a positive sign and already grew 1/2". We go in again this week so I suspect we'll still be making progress since she's feeding and sleeping, although she hasn't quite figured out morning and evenings but we're working on it together. Thankfully she does get most of her longer sleep between 9p-5a with a few feedings in there so that means we are getting some good sleep too, 2-3 hours at a time. Who knows when more consistent and longer sleep will come for me but that's ok, God has given me adrenaline and the hormones to help with that. As long as daddy is getting more sleep then he's on his A game to help me.

Please feel free to let others know that I may know but not have their email this good news.

Blessings,

Tom & Celeste (Beringer) & Annaleigh Pettijohn


Picture of family and our new little one below