I finally have a few moments while Mali is gone to ballet and Eleri's is napping, to blog about the "big day". I really just want to get it down before I forget everything and so that one day Eleri has her arrival story. The delivery actually went so well and 100 times better than my delivery with Mali.
I woke up that morning and knew I had to put TRUTH in my heart and mind to help calm me through the whole experience. I read Psalm 145 and Psalm 121. The words in Psalm 121 were what I kept saying over and over to myself "my helps comes from the LORD."
We arrived at the hospital around 9:30 and were put in triage to get ready for the c-section. I was having a few contractions and was extremely anxious to just get it all over with. I probably should have asked for something to calm me down, because inside I was just going crazy thinking about it all. Eric handed me his iPhone while they wheeled me to the OR so that I could listen to "Be Thou My Vision" to be okay (he downloaded it while we were waiting in triage). About 11:45am they wheeled me into the OR. At one point, while I was waiting in the OR, I just thought "okay I can't do this, I don't want to do this." But it all went well and God answered so many prayers and details about the whole day. The spinal went well, at first he poked me and shot shooting pain down my leg, but then stuck me again and got it. I haven't had any pain with that at all or headaches, so praise God! The spinal was so much better than the epidural. I just felt the usual tugging and pulling and just the anticipation for her birth. I remember my doctor saying "there's the head" and feeling like it took forever for her to actually be born. She was born at 12:20pm, so in fact the c-section was really quick. I loved hearing her cry, it was sort of like a cat, just lots of little cries and complaints. Eric did great and got to cut the umbilical cord. He said it was actually pretty hard and felt totally different than what he expected. I asked him what she looked like and he said something like a baby covered in baby powder, because she was all white. I got to give her kisses and just see my beautiful girl. I was relieved and happy to see her. More answered prayers. When they were sewing me back up though, I did start to loose a lot of blood. My doctor found a spot where the placenta had started to grow onto my uterus and had to work hard to get that off. At that point, he told me that if I didn't stop; bleeding I would need to have a hysterectomy. I felt total peace at his words and trusted God to be in control of the situation, but prayed nonetheless. They got the bleeding under control and sent the tissue to the path lab. We will get the results from that hopefully this week. But I do ask you to pray. There is a chance it is just a consequence of the D&C I had or could be more molar tissue. I felt great though, compared to last time. Eric said it just goes to show what a true miracle baby Eleri is. Also, when I was getting ready to post this, I was thinking about why it might have been God's plan for me to have a c-section instead of delivering vaginally, and I felt like for whatever reason, it was because of this tissue that I was supposed to not deliver vaginally. Anyway, back to the story, I was shakey, but other than that I was fine. I was alert and had clarity of mind the whole recovery. The best part and my favorite part of the day, was when they brought Eleri to me in recovery. She was so beautiful and her eyes were open and alert. I just fell in love with her sweetness and beauty and just her being our baby. I got to nurse her and it went amazing, no problems at all!!!! She is a "champ" like Eric said. We had some sweet moments and got to spend time together (Eric too). They then took her to get a bath and I finished up and headed to the room, still feeling pretty great. I was so happy to see everyone and to see my other beautiful girl, Mali. Mali did not want to kiss Eleri because she had "chicken nuggets on her face". We still are not real sure what that was, but I'm guessing part of the white stuff she had on her since Mali saw her on the way to the nursery. When they wheeled me into the room, the first thing Mali told me was "Daddy lied" because we had bought her "The Jungle Book" DVD as a gift from baby Eleri, she finished by saying "and Baby Eleri is just a baby, she can't buy me a present." So I explained to her that she was right, that mommy and daddy picked it out and bought it for her. I was glad I was coherent to answer that one!:) Mali is just too smart! I was a little tired and did end up getting sick and really really hot (just reactions to the morphine in the spinal and because it just seems that I do that to Megan, Beth and Melissa:)), but once the nurse realized I was getting sick because my head was elevated above 30 degrees, I felt much better. I had a good night and no more bleeding problems or sickness. We just got to share and enjoy our new baby girl. Mali did great and hung out in the room for a while, she wasn't as interested in Eleri the first day. I just LOVED the look in her sweet little eyes when she came to the room at night to nurse (no we didn't have her room in, although I thought I would this time.) We enjoyed the added rest, but I did cry when Eric wheeled her back down to the nursery. We just adjusted and enjoyed this time around so much more. God was and is so faithful. Saturday my doctor came in at 6am and was ready to release me. We didn't have much of a choice, but Eric thought maybe we met our deductible so they wanted us out!:) The nurses and staff were so great to us. I wasn't quite ready to come home, so we pushed it to late afternoon. Eric was gone that day to a soccer game from about 8 until 2pm, and when he came back we packed up and checked out. We tried to get Eleri in her car seat before we carried her out so that we could get the straps adjusted right, and she would not fit! She was so curled up that her arms and legs would not go where they were supposed to. She was just a little ball of cuteness and coziness. It was pretty chaotic leaving the hospital with all of our stuff in tow, Mali and a bouqet of balloons on a windy day and our entourage. It felt good to get in the car and just breathe. We were thankful to have all day yesterday at home before Eric went back to work today. We were so blessed and continued to be blessed by prayers, meals and service! My mom did so much for us by stocking our pantry, cleaning and just preparing for our arrival home. Mali got lots of grandparent time with MeeMee, Papa, Grammie and Nana and Grandpa. She was spoiled and loved on by Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris and all the visitors that brought her a little present too. Thank you guys so much.
So how is it going now? It is great. I feel so great, I'm in a lot of pain and keeping that under control is my only issue. Eleri and feeding are going great. We have lots of poopy diapers, but are thankful for them. She is beautiful and great. Eric is enjoying getting to hold and cuddle with his two girls. He is doing amazing as a Daddy of two girls. Mali is doing so great too, and I will blog about that next, but I have to go change one of those aforementioned diapers!:)
There are so many pictures, that I can't put them on blogger, but they are on Facebook, here is the link, I think you can access it even if you don't have a Facebook account.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88882&l=287b4&id=620254096
