Kate is a week old today and what a week it’s been!  I’m sorry we didn’t get an update up sooner but things have been a bit busy in our little corner of the world.

I’m not sure how curious everyone is but I’ll start from the beginning.  If you’re just here to scroll through photos my feelings won’t be hurt one bit. 

Kate was born on Monday, September 22nd at 4:40pm by c-section.  She had measured 3 weeks ahead for over 2 months and we were expecting a very large (9 pound+) baby.  I wanted very badly to have her naturally, as I did Noah, but it just wasn’t meant to be.  We had an amnio the week before and found out her lungs were mature but since she wasn’t in a good position for an induction we waited.  Turns out we would have been waiting a very long time because she never dropped and she probably never would have.  The minute the doctor delivered her he said “this is an 11 pound head on an 8 pound body!”.  Her head seemed huge at the time and it was a struggle to even have her via c-section.  Two doctors and a surgical tech were pushing on my belly (I thought they were going to break my ribs) and she didn’t emerge until they used a vacuum to pull her out.  It seemed pretty traumatic at the time but turned out well and my recovery has been amazing.  I would almost say it’s been easier than it was with Noah but you forget a lot in two years and his delivery certainly wasn’t without drama either.

The four days we spent in the hospital flew by.  The staff was amazing, friends and family came to visit and brought food, gifts, and lots of laughs.  Noah came to visit but was more impressed with the technology of my bed than his new sister.

We came home on Thursday and it didn’t take much to settle in.  It’s so nice to be home.  Noah is taking the most time to adjust but doing relatively well.  More than anything it’s nice to have our complete family of four.  The plan is to stop there.

So here’s how it all went down – in photos…

Walter, my mom and Rachel were there for the birth.  We hung out in the labor room while they pumped me full of fluids and other assorted IVs and prepared for the surgery.

They gave me some super foul drink to help neutralize my stomach acids.  For some reason it didn’t go down as easy as the “shot” it was described as.  The flavor was like a super bitter, tangy Sweet Tart.  Never. Again.

Surgery time was getting near.  They had Walter change into scrubs about 3 times his size.  Wasn’t he stylin’?

  

I’m not predjudice.  The hat looked just as bad on me.  I actually walked to the OR on my own free will.  That was a little weird.  I wheeled my IV in and everything.  Look at that belly!

In the OR they got me ready for my spinal.  This photo needs no caption, the way I was feeling is written all over my face.  On a side note, I was kind of surprised that the OR wasn’t bigger.  It did look exactly like it does on most TV shows though.

Walter wasn’t allowed in when they did my spinal anesthesia.  This was his view.  The story of how this went isn’t pleasant.  My friend Amy describes hearing about it like “eating tinfoil”.  I’ll just say it wasn’t pleasant.

He was brought back in and we got down to business.  I was squeezing his hand so tight that my pulse dropped off and they had to keep asking if I was with them.  I was, but I wasn’t enjoying myself.  When I looked around all I could see was RED.  I saw the used sponges hanging in the count bag and the lights above me reflected what was below.  For the most part I just kept my eyes closed and focused on breathing.  I think I made everyone nervous but I just couldn’t participate during the surgery.

They are PUSHING on me here.  Walter took all of these photos with one hand because the other was getting squeezed to death by me.

I’ll spare you the photos between the one above and the one below.  If you’d like to see some grossness just come over for a slide show.  The photos are available.

And she’s out!

But not happy.  At this point I was just yelling out – “Is it a girl?!”  “Does she have hair?!”  “What color is it?!” 

While I’m sure my doctor was busy doing other things he was great about entertaining my 50 questions.

She seemed to know who Daddy was.  Again, all of these photos are one handed.  Are you as impressed as I was?

Mom and Rachel waiting at the nursery for her to arrive… and she finally did.

And when we asked Kate what she thought about the whole experience -

Right after the surgery I was wheeled back into my labor room.  I was surprised I didn’t have to go to recovery first.  They really did take amazing care of me.  Shortly after we got there Kate arrived.  They hadn’t bathed her or put the gunk in her eyes because I wanted to nurse her.  She had chunks in her hair and ick all over her body.  After she nursed they took her back for her bath, I thought it was really nice they were willing to do that.

     

After work Raven came to visit.

She was much more presentable after her bath.

Day 2

  

  

Big brother Noah came with Apoe and Agoon to visit.  He wasn’t real sure about the whole thing.

  

She totally rocked her hearing test while he was there.  Do you think XM will want this for their site?

And then we had visitors.  More than I could have ever imagined.  It was so nice to know how many people cared, even if they were only there to see the new lady in our life! 

From here which day was which gets a little fuzzy.

     

Grammy came and spent the night with us because Noah needed to sleep in his own bed on the second night (or he wouldn’t get any rest at all).  She was amazing and even took the night shift.  We had such a good time she’s since moved in with us and continues to be an incredible help.  Thanks Grammy!

  

She had jaundice pretty bad and we ended up having to supplement with formula.  We’re still struggling with breastfeeding vs. bottlefeeding because of some issues both she and I are having.  Why couldn’t this have been easier?

Noah came by every day and got a little more curious each time.

We got some beautiful flowers too.  This orchid was a gift from my mom.  Noah also received an orchid when he was born (from his Agoon).  Believe it or not both he and the orchid are still alive!

And these are from Walter’s work -

This is her going home outfit.  The photos where you can see the outfit better she’s screaming her head off.  We’re going to try to do photos in it again.  All of my sisters, myself and my nieces and nephews came home in this, it was made by my great grandmother.

And then we were off.  The nurse pushing me was our nurse this time and before with Noah too.  She was amazing!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 8:31 pm and is filed under Kate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.