Claire's Birth Story Part 2

Once the doctor arrived he spoke with another doctor at the hospital who specializes in turning babies and that doctor said that it would be practically impossible since my water had broke already to turn her. He advised that a c-section would be the safest way to get the baby here. My doctor came in and told me that he agreed and that is what we would do. As soon as he said that a bunch of people started filtering in and out of my room getting blood samples from me, putting in IVs, getting me tested and prepped for an epidural, etc. I was getting poked all over, including my foot! I had never had my foot poked before in order to get a blood sample, so that was interesting.
Once all of that was finished my nurse brought my husband his little suit that he had to wear into the OR. Zack got all dressed and then they told him to wait while they took me back and got the epidural going. It took forever to get the epidural in, I was poked 8 times in order to try and it was so painful each time. That mixed in with the contractions was the worst pain I had ever been in. Luckily they finally got the epidural to work and within seconds it felt like the numbing process started. They brought zack over to me and he stayed right by my side the entire procedure.
Once the doctor started the operation the anesthesiologist kept us updated through the entire process. He was great! Once they were ready to bring her out into the world they told Zack so he could take pictures. He got some great photos, which I wont be sharing because I just feel like that is too personal. Once she came out the first thing Zack said was she has a lot of hair. He followed the baby over to the cleaning station and watched as the nurses cleaned her up, weighed and measured her and wrapped her up to bring back over to me. They worked really fast to get her over to me as soon as possible. I saw her about 10 minutes after the operation started and then I held her about 15-20 minutes, as soon as my doctor was finished stitching me up.
I thought it worked out perfectly. I had heard stories of women not being able to hold their babies for 45 minutes to 2 hours after their c-section so I was really happy that I got to hold her so soon and they didn't come back to get her until a few hours later so I got lots of time with my baby girl.
She was just so perfect when they first handed her to me.
We just had our two week appointment and she was 8lbs 80z and 20 inches long so she grew a lot within the last two weeks, which is good.
Zack and I are just so happy that she is here and healthy and beautiful. We couldn't have asked for more.
My recovery process has been pretty good so far, I will probably talk more about that on a later date, it hasn't been easy that's for sure, and doing little things like dishes and laundry can sometimes cause a lot of pain. Other than that both Claire and I are doing great. I love that little one of mine. And just because there can never be enough photos of my baby:

don't mind me and my bed hair, I really had no time to get ready once labor started. She is just so little in this picture,

This was the sweetest moment of the day. Watching Zack come around the huge sheet with her in his arms was the greatest thing. A change came over him almost immediately and I could just tell how much he loved his little girl already. He has been so sweet with her and so helpful to me, I could never have done this without him. 

I promise not all of my posts will be baby related but once you have a kid it seems like your whole life is basically taken over by baby stuff. :)

XO

Caitlin