Carma's birth story

{disclaimer: this is about a baby being born, so proceed with caution. granted, it's via c-section so nothing gets real dilated but there are pretty graphic pictures of her emerging from my belly, so get ready to scroll quickly if you're squeamish like me!}

As seemingly slow as the rest of my pregnancy went ('specially the first few months when I was sick...) the last few weeks went by soooo fast and before I knew it, Baby Day had arrived. We spent the morning getting last minute things ready, having some sweet family time where Chuck gave me a blessing, and getting the boys to school before it was time to head to the hospital.

Once there, we got to hang out in pre-op for a while, slowly getting ready for the surgery. I awesomely got pretty woozy after my IV was put in, hence the super cute 'cool washcloth on the forehead' look I sported for a bit. I was pretty done with fasting at that point (no food or water since the previous night, blech) so Chuck sweetly gave me the room service menu so I could start planning my meal schedule for the weekend. He knows me so well :).

Naturally we whittled away a fair amount of time taking goofy pictures of each other and ourselves, including this one. I told Chuck it looks like he just found out we're having a baby!!

And then it was time to head into the OR! As always, my surgical team was fantastic. Elise was my main nurse (I think her official title was my 'circulator'?) and was amazing. Terri was the surgical tech and was really sweet; she kept assuring me afterwards that my scar was still low enough that I could wear a bikini, despite my assuring her that it really wasn't a priority :). Dr. Klomp was a superstar, of course, and the assisting ob, Dr. Thompson, was great as well. And my anesthesiologist, Matt, was awesome - from the spinal and throughout the c-section, he was right there monitoring me and checking on me and reassuring me. I know I said this with Jack, but I rely so heavily on the person in that position - everyone else (including Chuck!) has divided attention and other jobs to do, but the anesthesiologist is solely focused on my well-being and comfort and I love being able to bring up concerns or discomfort, etc, without feeling like I'm being a problem. 

OKAY, NOW IS THE TIME TO SCROLL ON BY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE CARMA MAKE HER GRAND ENTRANCE IN TO THE WORLD DIRECTLY FROM MY STOMACH AREA. SERIOUSLY, IT'S REALLY GROSS.

Still here? Okay, I don't want to hear about it if my abdomen gives you nightmares tonight...

And there she is! The c-section went smoothly in that Carma was delivered safely and there weren't any major complications, but it was a little intense; my uterus was a lot thinner than it's gotten in the past and something about it attaching to the bladder and tearing and being trickier to close... ahh, I even had Dr. Klomp explain it to me twice, and that's still the best I can do.

At this point, I was just so happy to hear everyone's admiration of my new sweet baby! As I said before, the first comments were about her chubby chubby cheeks and her dark hair and how beautiful she was.

As usual, they whisked her off to be cleaned up and measured and such, but then they brought her back to me for some skin-to-skin time.

This was the first time I've gotten to do this and it was pretty sweet... for a little while and then I started to feel pretty sick so they took her back :). 

 Mom and Dad and Carma! 

(Also, how cute is Chuck in the scrubs and mask and such? Just when I think his eyelashes couldn't be any more striking...)

At this point Chuck and Carma headed out to recovery and I lingered in the OR to be, you know, put back together. I amazingly didn't get nauseous at all (I credit Matt) but I did feel pretty crummy in general; hot, tired, and some weird discomfort in my shoulders - which apparently stemmed from the fact that my uterus had been temporarily removed from my body and was kind of plopped on top of me... I kid you not, I have pictures. Dr. Klomp and Dr. Thompson and Terri did a great job of tucking everything back into place and Matt did a great job of keeping me as comfortable as possible - I definitely got hooked up with another cool washcloth on my forehead :). 

(sidenote: am I the only person who loves cool washcloths on my forehead? I'm pretty sure they cure all ailments...)

 And then I got to join my husband and daughter (yikes, gotta get used to that...) in recovery!

 I made Dr. Klomp pose for a quick picture with Carma :). And that's the fantastic Elise in the shot too, she'll be featured more in a future post. [OH, and just to disprove the notion that scheduled c-sections = looking awesome in all your pictures, there's a super hot view of me and my wild hair after my cool hat/hairnet came off, haha. But since it's a picture of me holding my sweet baby for the first time, I naturally think it's the most beautiful thing in the world!] We spent an hour or so in the recovery area; Carma was a superstar and nursed really well right there and Chuck and I mostly just sat and marveled at how gorgeous she was and texted out pictures so that everyone else could chime in with how gorgeous she was :).

 I'm so grateful for this blessing in our lives and for all of the people who have shown so much love and support to our family. I'm especially grateful to Chuck for co-creating such a sweet baby and for being such a rock - strong and immovable and steadfast - in my life.

 And that's Carma June's birth story! 

Muuuuch more to come: first visitors, our hospital stay, how she came by her name, our first days at home, her nursery, etc, etc. OH, and maybe even some non-baby related things, like the boys' last weeks of school - field trips! assemblies! etc! I promise it will all get recapped soon-ish, but for now, I'm off to hook myself up with a Norco and a nap...