Grace's birth story.

So yeh...I realize this is 5 years late.  Sometimes I feel maybe I should change the name of this blog to "better late than never"....since there are many a time that I post things from weeks, months, a year in the past.  But really- I am glad to have some things posted late rather than never...and this is one of them.

{I posted Parker's birth story here. And Nolan's birth story is here.}

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Since Parker was a c-section....subsequent pregnancies would be delivered by c-section.  {Yes- there are doctors you can find that will do a VBAC and such...and at one point I was going to try to find one, but due to other circumstances, I did not and I'm going to save you all that long and drawn out story this time.}  So I think we scheduled Grace's c-section around my 28th week or so.....her birthday was to be January 19, 2010 @ 1pm unless she decided to come earlier....which she did not.

Since my c-section time was so late in the day…we had time to get Parker breakfast and then leisurely take her to my mom's house.

Our last picture as a family of 3.  (Oh my goodness, how young I look here! Ha!)

We got to the hospital right at 11:00am (we were scheduled for 1:00)....I had to wait about 15 minutes in the waiting room before they could check me in because they were helping other people.  Then they took me back to a small observation room.  I say small because it really just fits the bed in there and not really much more room.  They immediately had me put my gown on.  Then I got into the bed and the nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitor.  Then a nurse started the process of asking 1,257 questions while another nurse started my IV and fluids.  While they were doing that...the nurse anesthetist came in and started asking a few quesitons, too....and gave me this little cup of a basic solution (this is to neutralize the acids in the stomach in case of an emergency and they have to use general anesthesia during the csection)....it tastes awful!   But it's not much and then it's over with.  Then eventually the actual anesthesiologist comes in and puts in the epidural...all the while, the nurse is still asking questions.  My doctor came in at some point to say hello and check on me.

So I got my epidural, my IV fluids, and prophylactic antibiotic... and was good to go.  The almost 2 hours seemed to fly by and I didn't have time for anyone to come and visit during that time.  I remember feeling like it was a little 'rushed'…not anything they did to me necessarily…but I remember they were really trying hard to get me into the OR at my scheduled time of 1pm.  And they did!  I remember being wheeled in and looked at the clock and it was 1pm on the dot.  

Now at this point, Geoff was not in the OR.  They left him in the observation room to put the scrubs on... and said that once they got me settled someone would come to get him.

Well…like I said…they wheeled me into the OR at 1pm and started getting me ready.  Eventually my doctor came in.  Probably by 1:10 or so my blood pressure dropped.  I didn't know that this is what was happening at first.  All I knew is that all of the sudden, I didn't feel so good.  And it was like I couldn't even think clearly.  I remember saying over and over, "ohhh…I don't feel good."  And then I remember my doctor asking me what I'd said and then me repeating myself and then him acknowledging what I said.  Then the anesthesiologist confirmed that my blood pressure had dropped low and he was giving me something to help with it.  It took it minute or 2 to kick in, I guess…I'm sure it seemed like a longer time to me than it was.  And then not long after that... I felt nauseous.  So they gave me some zofran for that and it did help.  Meanwhile….my doctor has started cutting me to get the baby out…because one way to alleviate this drop in blood pressure is to get the baby out (after all…I was laying flat on my back which meant she was laying right on top of my inferior vena cava).  Ok…so all of this has happened and Geoff was still not in there!  I don't know when my doctor started saying it…but several times he was asking where's the father and would someone please go get the dad.

Geoff did make it to the birth.  Barely.  A little back story….when the doctor had come in to see us while we I was being checked in and such…Geoff had asked if he could look over the curtain during the surgery…. and my doctor told him that he could.  So, literally, right when Geoff got into the OR…he told him to look over the curtain and this is what he saw.  The doctor had basically been holding her there so that Geoff could see her be born and, also, I guess to just see.

Meeting me for the first time.  It's hard to tell in these pictures…but one of the very first things I remember thinking when I first saw Grace was that I thought she looked so much like Parker.

Holding her for the first time.

And oddly enough…I remember that by 1:40pm they were wheeling us out of the OR and back into our observation room.  Then family took turns coming back to meet her.

And our first picture as a family of FOUR!

Whew!!  I am so glad that I finally have this written out!  It has been so sweet to think about and 'relive' it in my head over the past few days…especially since her birthday is today.  I remember thinking how eventful her birth was compared to my c-section with Parker…and yet…Nolan's birth takes the cake on  'adventurous' c-sections.  ;)

But regardless how any of them made it into this world….I'd do it all again.  Many times over.  

But today we celebrated this girl.

Such a sweet and beautiful little girl she's becoming.  So proud to be her momma.