introducing Clara Grace, pt 1

Born March 22nd at 7:30AM
7 lbs, 8 oz; 20 1/4 inches

I know that you all have been waiting to see this {unless you’ve been following on Facebook or Instagram}, and I apologize for only just now getting the time or energy to sit down and introduce you all to her! However, I’ve been a little preoccupied with my sweet girl, as I’m sure you can imagine, and also recovering from my c-section.

I won’t keep you any longer, though, because I know there are those who like to read birth stories and all that. Thankfully, this birth story is extremely uneventful compared to the one I had difficulty thinking back on with Benjamin! Praise God – He has blessed me!

Thursday, March 21st

We had our orders to show up at the hospital on Thursday morning at 10AM for pre-op. I didn’t know exactly what that would entail or how long it would take, but we were up and ready to go {I hardly slept… go figure!} and waited around a while before finally going in to the room to be asked a million questions, get blood taken {Benjamin was proud of me for being so brave}, getting a rundown of what I needed to do before showing up at the hospital in the morning, and then meeting with the anesthesiologist.

It really didn’t take long at all. I was super excited because by the time we left out, and had lunch at Mugshots as a sort of last hurrah as a family of three. Benjamin had a hamburger with peanut butter on it… and loved it! ha!

Afterward, we drove over to Target where we met up with my parents and shopped a little before heading to our hotel for the night. It wasn’t a super impressive hotel, but hey, it was just for the night, for us. Benjamin stayed in the room with Nana and Papaw for Thursday and Friday nights and had a great time, apparently, because he kept asking to go back, ha! Anyway, there I had my last major meltdown before the big day, as it finally hit me that hey, I’m about to have major abdominal surgery and um, no I don’t want that! But, I much less wanted something like what happened with Benjamin to happen. We went out to dinner with my parents at Cracker Barrel and then spent some time at the book store before heading back to the hotel. I cried again after we did our last Bible story time as a family of three, knowing that from there on out, things were about to be very different. Thankfully my emotions and medication easily knocked me out, but not before I spewed out some entertaining lines to Carl in my sleepy state, such as my request, should something happen during surgery, that he promise the kids would never watch Spongebob.

Yeah…

Friday, March 22nd

The next morning at about 3:30 or so, we were up and getting ready for our early morning departure. I was tired but propelled by adrenaline and yeah, fear, as I took my 2nd surgical shower and packed up our bags one last time. We arrived at the hospital around 5-ish or so. It was so weird going and being put in the room in which we’d recover from the surgery.

No makeup allowed… thanks a lot.

They prepped me for the surgery, giving me my IV and my foley cath {so not fun}, before wheeling me out of the room to the O.R. Now that was a weird ride. I met the anesthesiologists that would be taking care of me, answered a few more questions, and soon Carl was given his fancy medical garb and I was taken into the O.R. without him. Instant shivering, thanks to my nerves and the fact that it was like an icebox in there. I was set up on the table and it didn’t take long for them to begin numbing me.

Actually, to be honest the only two things I can say were really uncomfortable had to be the cath insertion and the spinal insertion. It was so cold in there and I was shivering so badly that I couldn’t hold still and kept jumping whenever they hit a nerve. The nurse was encouraging and the anesthesiologist was good at what he did so no matter how many times they said, “Kristen, you have to keep still,” I was sufficiently numbed up and they quickly laid me down and hooked up my IV to different meds.

My doctor came in, her assisting doctor came in, and I puked.

Then Carl came in and my anesthesiologist said, “They’ve already made the first incision.” Really?! I mean I’m so glad I didn’t feel a thing but it was so weird to know that my belly was open already. Carl stood up and looked over the curtain… he pretty much watched the entire c-section. I complained that my chest was heavy and that my face was starting to tingle, but I was reassured that it was just the medicine moving down and it was all normal. I continually updated my anesthesiologist about how I was feeling, and every time I said I was uncomfortable, he’d do what he could to make me more comfortable.

The tugging was so weird when they were pulling her out, and at first we didn’t hear much from her as my doctor announced, “She’s still a girl!” They finally got her to cry {she’s not much of a crier still} and I couldn’t help but to burst into tears and silently thank God for my healthy girl and for seeing me through and giving me courage as I listened to her gurgling cries. Carl went to take pictures and I threw up again, which was just as not awesome as the first time. The pain medication in my IV made me terribly sleepy but I’ll never forget seeing my daughter for the first time!

I couldn’t stop crying after Carl carried our daughter to the nursery and they finished stapling me up. I just kept thinking how different this experience was and how thankful I was that she was healthy and here and that I was okay! Soon I was wheeled back to the recovery room. Clara joined us in the recovery room and we had sweet moments. The lactation consultant came in but Clara was tired and didn’t want to have any of that, so we did some skin to skin instead and I indulged in the moments that I was cheated out of with Benjamin’s birth.

… and I’ll continue this later because it’s getting late! But there’s the initial birth… next time I’ll tell you about Benjamin meeting his sister and how recovery has been going thus far!