Charlotte Grace Dazey

*Long post*

She's here.  I  was posting via facebook the day of her birth  but I thought it was time to document the day in words because I might possibly forget the little things.  So here goes.

Charlotte was born Friday, September 17th.  That whole week, we pulled what I like to call the Crazy Dazey's.  Something to do every night, not because we had to, but because we wanted to. Monday Kevin helped out a family from our small group who was affected by the flood, Tuesday we began the process of getting a new roof, which continued into Wednesday.  Tuesday and Wednesday night we went to see the rangers play baseball, Thursday Drew had his first t-ball practice, and then Friday was upon us. So after Drew's t-ball, we headed up to north richland hills to let the kids spend the night with mamaw and papa, so ya know we could sleep in on Friday ( yeah right)  Well, it being a school day, kids were tired then add tball on top and drew was pretty much a mess.. finally after getting them bathed and stuff, we just left.. we weren't helping and I was getting way stressed, but of course mamaw and papa did fabulous and got them down.  Kev and I then went on a date night to Rosa's and I allowed myself to indulge.  Since I was diabetic for this pregnancy sweets were a no no, and allowing myself to feel full wasn't possible because feeling full meant a high blood sugar for me.  I figured one meal would not hurt and I enjoyed some delicious sopapillas..mmmmm sugar.  The we headed home to pack.  Pack you may ask, you were 39 weeks and hadn't packed. Nope nada. I had no worried about going into labor, and I had other people to take care of.  We picked up a movie on the way home and popped it in.  Needless to say, I think it was 1230 or 1am before we headed to bed.

So on Friday morning, I woke up at like 730 and made myself stay in bed until 8.. that's definitely sleeping in ;) Got up and showered and began cleaning.  Kev was still in bed so might as well make the time pass by being productive, so I was on my hand and knees scrubbing the shower.  I had nervous energy, what can I say? Kev finally comes and tells me to go relax and he very kindly finishes scrubbing.  Love that man!  Of course I woke up completely congested and couldn't take anything because I was suppose to be NPO.. notice I said suppose, I was munching on ice chips and sipping water... i didn't want to get dehydrated.

10 am finally rolls around and we head to the hospital.. at this point I had quit talking.  Those of you who know me, know exactly how thrilled I was to have scheduled this birth ( not!), and the thoughts of having to have surgery were  making me very nervous.  As apprehensive as I was though, I also had a peace that this was indeed God's plan for me, and  needed to follow it.  There were times that I did think about cancelling the csetion or prayed that I would just go into labor so I could refuse the csection, but all that being said, those were MY plans, not HIS plans. So I talked to God, told Him, that I did indeed trust Him and would follow, even though it was a hard path.

We get to Arlington Memorial, I check in with both of our families and our kids, and we head up to labor and delivery.  Dr. Atkins is there and they get us in a room.  Which was nice actually because with Michaela they put us in triage, and listening to women in labor when you are not is also for heart breaking for me.  So I get ready and we wait.  Suppose to be there to do blood work, etc, but things are kinda busy, so we just hang out.  Luckily the hospital has on demand movies so we settles in and began to watch "where the Wild Things are" ( very weird).  Dr. A came in and said one of his patients needed and emergency Csetion, so it would be closer to 1.  OK no big deal, did I mention that nothing had been done as far as prepping me and that I hadn't eaten since 9 pm the night before?  A week earlier I had prayed with our small group concerning my attitude about the whole thing and asked God to help me be a witness to those we would come in contact with this day. 

So about 1230 he comes back in and says that a family had come in through the ER and needed an emergency C for an unfortunate situation.  Didn't want any more details the that, we began praying for that family and continued to wait.  At this point our kids were driving around napping in papa's car, my parents were there, they had started to prep me then stopped, and my good friend Mandi had come to hang out. So we waited, and waited and waited...

At 330, I finally sent Kev out to check with Dr. A.  I was starving at this point, apparently it was very crazy and one emergency after another kept popping up, and because we were scheduled we had to wait.  Kev came back and told me I was finally getting an IV.  Well, that was something and at least it would keep me hydrated and possibly kill the hunger pains.  I has been sneaking Ice chips and water at this point. A wonderful nurse came in, took her time finding a good vein and got it in on the first time.  Hallelujah! I have rolly veins, and  have to have someone who know what they are doing or I get stuck like 5 times and a my veins roll and blow. Not a pleasant experience.  So then we go back to waiting, and waiting and waiting.  The whole time my attitude was good.. Dr A said he wished I would get mad or something and my nurse gave me permission to through a hissy fit, but what was the point, our kids were doing great after a nap, they were coming back periodically, got to visit with family, and I wasn't stressing out my nurses.  They were all very grateful.  I was definitely a God given peace at this point because I tend to get very cranky when I'm hungry, and I was doing great.  Just figured other people needed to have their babies sooner then I did.

I sent Kev out to eat his lunch we had packed and to take a break.  On his way back he held the door open for a woman in labor and he jokingly said go right ahead of us! So dinner time came and went, kids ate, they were doing great. At one point Drew came back and Said " Mommy just count to 10 and the baby will come out" I told him to try it, so he very slowly counted to 10 and said ok baby come out.  Sadly enough it didn't work :)

Around 7ish finally saw a face I hadn't seen all day, the anesthesiologist! That's a good sign, so he came in asked his questions, talked me through what was going to happen, and said we would prolly start prepping in about 45 mins.  Finally a light at the end of the tunnel.  I mentioned that my blood work still hadn't been done, so they called lab again, and this older lady came to do it, and she was not  nice! Lets just say a week later my arm is still bruised and it hurts!  After they did that though all of a sudden it was a flurry of activity! The waiting was over and forget the 45 minute time frame, it was more like 15 and at 7:26 they wheeled me off.  K well yeah except  I hadn't thought about the actual surgery all day and I got really really nervous.  The spinal block makes me sick, so I was nervous about getting sick while lying on my back, and of course, Kev couldn't be in the room at this point til they got me all prepped, but everyone was great.  Now here's where I got to shock the surgical team.  As they were wheeling me in, Dr. A was looking for a mirror.  Everyone was really confused and I finally spoke up "I'm going to watch".  They all turned and looked at me.  "You're going to watch? "  It was great.  I explained that women giving birth vaginally had the option to see their children come into this world, and I wanted the same opportunity.  They thought that that was really cool, and since I had been waiting all day, at this point I should have whatever I wanted.

So anyways, the party gets started and do you know what they were talking about in process. Their favorite recipes! As I'm laying listening to all this yummy food being described, I finally spoke up and told them that it was really rude to talk about food around someone who hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours!  They thought it was funny and kept talking!

The time for Charlotte to be born had arrived! So they positioned the mirror so I could see, dropped the drape and began pushing her out.  I guess because I couldn't actually push, they do it for you.  Dr. A and his assistant were on top of the table pushing her out.  Kinda weird to see since I couldn't feel it.  When her head popped out, it was the most amazing thing ever.  Her eyes were wide open.  They had to stop pushing when they realized the cord was around her neck twice.  As a mom, that was heart stopping, a million worries began to cloud my mind. Charlotte was born at 8:27 pm, 8 hours after we thought she would be here.

 When they got her out, she hadn't cried yet as they took her to the table.  I began to immediately shoo Kevin her direction.  Poor guy, tyring to be there for me and the new baby, he didn't know what to do.  I assured him I wasn't going anywhere and to go make sure Charlotte was okay.  About the time he got to her, they had suctioned her out and she let out the most beautiful cry! I think as a mother, the only time you think a cry is beautiful is that very first one ;)  So then they got her cleaned up, weighed and measured and then Kev got to hold her while they finished up with me.  This is where I get to play the waiting game again.  The cool thing is though, she got placed in my arms, and wheeled right back to our room, where Mandi was waiting to tell the others, and of course she got to snag a quick hold to. Everyone came in, said hello, the kids were estactic that she was finally here, and then we sent them home because it was way passed bedtime.  I got to nurse her then, which was heavenly.

I'd like to say everything was all hunky dory after that, but it wasn't.  I don't know if it was a mental thing of watching them push on me or what, but man I was in pain.  The morphine they gave me ( even though I said I didn't want it) was not helping and it was becoming harder to breath thanks to the increasing pain.  They finally gave me a shot of Toredol and within 30 mins I was good to go. Didn't even have to push the pump more then 3 times over night, and I had them remove it first thing the next morning.

 We had a few hurdles in the hospital, like her bilirueben levels being too high Sunday morning and having to go under lights, 

but the hard part was not being able to nurse, having to pump, having to supplement, and then having to stay up all night to make sure her little sun shades stayed on.  God was here too, because when our pediatrician took her off the lights Monday morning, he told us that we would test it one more time before we left, and that it would most likely go up again and we may have to do some photo therapy at home, but when we left, her bili levels were down to 4.2.. which was lower then they were that morning.

So that being said, Miss Charlotte is here, and it was great and I can see God in the details.  I may never understand why He chose me to give birth via c-section, but I know it is His will.