Welcome to the World...

I have to say that I feel lucky and very blessed because I had a really good easy going pregnancy. I must say that the last 4 weeks were really hard, and I was so ready to be done being pregnant!!!

After two false alarms and going to the hospital and returning home after a hour or so... I was happy to return on August 28th for a scheduled induction. I was hoping Baby C would come on her own... but she was happy just hanging out right where she'd been for the last 41 weeks.

Here is "the story" of how it all went... (FYI... it's LONG! Feel free to just look at the pics.)

August 28th just before 8 am, I called the hospital to see when they wanted me to come in. I thought that they would have called me much earlier but I guess they had a busy night. So they told me to come about 9 am. So, we got ready and I ate a very light breakfast; a banana and a glass of milk. Once we were all set to go we all got into the car and drove to the hospital. (Cruz's Parents were in town just for this occasion... and they came with us.) We got checked in, and they said it would be a little before they could get me going, but to change into the hospital gown etc... and get ready. So I did. About 10 am I was hooked up and waiting for the pitocin to do it's thing.

Not long after I was starting to feel the contractions. Ouch. I was dilated when I arrived at the hospital to a 3+ and by lunch I was at a 5. Cruz and his parents had lunch; Cafe Rio. Drool, it smelled so good.  I wanted a bite, but I wasn't allowed to eat real food. I had a popsicle, and some broth. I had decided to get an epidural. I was super nervous about it, because my SIL had permanent nerve damage from hers. The anesthesiologist came in, and introduced himself and got to work. Right as he was putting the needle in his phone range, and it was this ghost sounding ring tone... very halloween... and it totally creeped me out... and made me think "Oh, no what is that sound... does it mean he messed it up?" LOL. He'd told me "Sorry, that is my phone" but somehow I missed the ghost sound was the phone. Now, it sounds funny... but at the time it made me even more nervous.

Once the epidural was going life was good. WOW! I hadn't felt that good for at least a month. I had no pain, and was feeling great. And that is pretty much how the entire rest of the day went... the doctor would come check to see how my progress was going... and we were moving along quite well, until about 6 pm to 9 pm and we hit a road block. The baby was trying to make it's way out... but my hips were not opening large enough for her. So, since I was past the maximum amount of pitocin level they said that we needed to have a C-Section. I knew that this was something that they were considering since the baby in the last few weeks of pregnancy had been measuring quite large, and yet wasn't engaging for labor. I felt fine about having a c-section, and knew if it was best for the baby then it was the thing to do. Though I did feel a little sad, and wasn't really looking forward to the recovery part... but such was life.

We texted all my family, and just like that I was in the operating room ready to have my baby. Seriously, it all happened so fast. It was crazy. I was already numb, and they gave me some other meds and I was set to go. Cruz was right there at my side, well... my head actually. ;) Once he got in the room it was just minutes until we heard our sweet baby Claire cry for the 1st time. What a great set of lungs she has. That cry was so amazing, and made me cry right along with her. I wanted to see her so much! Cruz went with the baby and they got me all sewed up... which felt like it took forever. They did hold the baby near me so I could see, but all I wanted to do was hold her...

Then they wheeled me back to my room, and I got to hold Claire for the first time. 9 pounds and 4 ounces of pure joy, happiness and complete LOVE. She was so cute, and chubby. She had cubby cheeks and on the top of head she had hair, but she also has these few really long hairs and they kind of stuck up like tweety-birds hair, she was here... our baby! I got to feed her right away, and she was a good little eater. It was a perfect ending to a long day, It was amazing to see her and hold her... really there are no words to describe it.

They then took us to a different room for the night. The ride to the room was kind of like bumper cars. I think we hit all doorways and anything else we could... not too fun after a c-section. Once in our room we did as we were instructed hurry and order some dinner before the kitchen is closed. 

Once our food came, I found out that they didn't want me to eat yet. :( Sad news for me, since I was hungry and had a hot tray of food next to me. They said that it could make me sick, so they brought me a red jello. I must say jello never tasted so good. 

It was mid-night, and we got all settled and then we went to bed.

I couldn't sleep, odd because I was so exhausted. 

Both baby and Cruz were fast asleep. I could not be happier.

♥ ♥ ♥ 

The next day my parents came to visit, they were able to stay for a week.

We were so happy to have them come.

It was my Mom's birthday. (Thursday, Aug. 29th) 

Happy birthday to you... here is a new granddaughter for your birthday gift.

(Don't expect a gift like that every year.)

It was so nice to have my parents down. I missed my family. Thankful for all of the well wishes via text, phone, and Facebook. We felt love from all over the world actually!

We were told that we could go home from the hospital on Friday, Aug 30th.

Sounded lovely to me. As long as the doctor said everything was good, I could plan to go.

We had a wonderful hospital stay. The labor and delivery nurses and staff were all wonderful.

We had no complaints except for the lactation specialist, she was annoying. Plus she fell on top of my stomach, while holding baby Claire. For some reason even though it hurt when she fell, I really only had a mad feeling towards her, and just wanted her to get out of my room and never come back. 

She said "I am so sorry, I am going to feel bad about this all day."

to which I thought to myself... "YOU, are going to feel bad all day... uh, I am the one you fell on; I WILL BE THE ONE HURTING extra because of it... not you. Plus you fell while holding my newborn baby... she could have got hurt..." I wanted to just say "GET OUT OF HERE" because after we got reconfigured, she wanted to continue to help me nurse Claire. She finally noticed that I was in pain, and asked... "Oh, did you have a C-section?" UH, YES!!... and you just smashed me. I guess this anger feeling was partly due to all the hormones, but wow... I was really mad at her. 

Anyway... all of that lead to lots of visits from hospital people, making sure I was really ok. The doctor said I was ok, I could have had some bruising because of it... but we didn't notice any in the following days. They gave me my pain meds a half hour early, and before we went home we had visits from nurses, doctors, and even upper management. I guess they were just making sure we were not going to take legal action or something. I just wanted to go home by that point. Though they did give us some nice freebees to take home with us after that. The rest of the hospital stay was really a blur. I just loved holding my little baby girl, and that was really all I cared about. 

Friday, came and I finally got to take a little shower. It seriously never felt so good. 

Not long after that Cruz got the car, and we went on our way...

baby c in the carseat, she looked so tiny... and off to our home.

It felt so good to be home.

It was our 5th wedding anniversary!

Love you husband-o.

Thanks for making a beautiful baby with me. 

Love you more than ever.

The next few days, Cruz was such a huge help. A whole new part of our relationship...

we are a Mom and Dad now. (Crazy!)

Baby Claire, we are madly in love with you.

You are a good little sleeper, and most of the time you are a good eater...

if we let you get cranky before we feed you it's a lot harder... so we try to make sure we get you eating before you have a melt down. You almost always fall asleep while eating, and we have to keep waking you up. While you are a "BIG" baby, you still wear newborn clothes, and diapers even at 3 weeks old. We put socks on you every time we look at you because you kick them off after about 10 seconds. You have beautiful little eyes, and your daddy can not wait to see what color they are. So far they are looking brown but sometimes they do look greenish. In the sunlight you have some copper tones in your hair, and both grandparents say hints of red.

We adore every inch of you. We are excited for every moment... and are so happy to be your parents.

Love you baby c.