The birth story

March 12, 2012

There was not a lot of sleep going on at our last night. It was daylight savings time. "Spring forward" is never good when you have a little one that doesn't like to go to bed! As of 7:00 last night we still hadn't heard from the hospital. So I waited until 7:30 since it was close to shift change and I called Labor and Delivery. The nurse that I talked to said that they were supposed to call us early in the day. Then I hear her call out to another nurse..."the C-sections weren't called!" Oops :) So she told me I was first up on the schedule and to be there by 5:30 AM. So we quickly called Grandma Sue to come sleep over with Dylan. Having Gma sleep over combined with the time change had Dylan hyper. I think it was about 12:30 before we got him to bed. I think both Jeff and I each slept about an hour. We were both so anxious and excited.

It is such a crazy thing to know that you are showing up to the hospital and they are going to cut you open and take out your baby. So...I twiddled my thumbs in bed until 4:00 and then got up to shower and get ready for the day. It was so nice to have a planned delivery! Jeff and I left at 5:00 to head to Provo. We were both pretty dang nervous. Jeff said a prayer before we pulled out of the driveway and I was immediately calm. It was going to go well and I was no longer worried. Love my hubby. For someone that doesn't love to be part of any medical situation he has been AMAZING during both of my deliveries. He is such a great support to me. I am so lucky to have him!

We got checked in and into our room around 5:45. Then it was crunch time. Surgery prep. Of course they started the IV (it really hurt by the way) and gave me 2 liters of fluid before surgery. Let the swelling begin! I was so happy to see Jay (the anesthesiologist. He was the same one that I had with Dylan. He remembered me and quite a bit about Dylan's delivery. So on with the epidural and catheter. It was such a nice change of pace after the emergency situation with Dylan's delivery. It was just me, Jeff and my mom at the hospital. They wheeled me into the OR at 7:35.

It is so weird to be the patient when you are used to being on the other side of things. Once they put the drape up you are pretty much cut off from the room. I could see Jeff, Jay, my monitors and that was it... But you sure can hear the hustle and bustle around the room. It is also so strange to have zero control over your body. I was shaking so bad and I couldn't stop it. Also the meds in the epidural were causing my blood pressure to drop. Since my body is used to having high blood pressure I get very nauseated and sick when my pressure drops. So bring on more fluid and meds to bring it up. I counted at least 6 liter bags of fluid they gave me in the first 24 hrs. I was so swollen by the end of the day it was crazy! My delivering doctors were Dr. Dayton and Dr. Woolsey. I hadn't seen either of them during my pregnancy, but really liked them both. However this C section was MUCH more painful than Dylan's was. It was bad, really really bad. I of course couldn't feel any of their cutting or anything but I had this intense sharp burning pain in my pubic area (TMI?) It was like someone was trying to rip out my catheter. It really was awful. My heart rate was through the roof, so Jay was trying to get on top of my pain. There were some meds that he couldn't give me until Lucy was out, so I was just trying to grin and bare it. While they were working on getting Lucy out they were asking us about Dylan and his birth. They said "oh she is definitely going to be bigger than that!" Ya people I hope so!

At 7:55 AM on Monday March 12, 2012 I heard the most AMAZING sound in the world. My baby girl's first cry. She came into the world howling. And I bawled and bawled and couldn't stop. I'm sure to every mother that is the greatest sound, but even more so to me. When Dylan was born he didn't cry or hardly breathe and he had to be rushed away and placed on a ventilator to breathe for him. We didn't get to hear him cry for several weeks. I really couldn't stop crying and thanking my Heavenly Father for such an incredible blessing. I sent Jeff off with her while they weighed her and at one point Jay had to make sure they were happy tears and not pain tears! LOL. I can't even put into words the overwhelming relief I felt at having a healthy baby. After they did her measurements and Apgar scores Jeff brought her in to meet me. The most beautiful baby girl I've ever laid eyes on and she is all ours! I don't think I have ever seen my husband so smitten. It was instant. He couldn't stop talking about how gorgeous she was.

After a few pictures and kisses, Jeff went with the nurses to take her to the nursery for her bath while they sewed me back up. Bring on more pain. Yuck. When they were putting everything back inside and making sure it was in the right place I definitely felt it. It took about 40 minutes to close me up and then we headed back to my room where my mom was waiting. She said that she knew when she was born because she could hear her screaming from my room! Jeff came back a few times to check on me and give me updates on our little angel. I had to stay on L&D for an hour and then they transferred me down to mother baby. Jeff snuggled her and rocked her for her first few hours. It was a little over 2 hrs from surgery when they finally got me settled and brought her to me. My goodness she is a doll. She has so much dark hair and a dark complexion. It amazes me how it is love at first sight with your babies. Gosh I love her so much!