She's Here

On October 28 at 8:21am, Kathryn Grace entered the world.  I had prayed many prayers for her birth, not the least of which was for her to come out screaming.  Which she did.  In fact, she loves to scream.  :)  She weighed 6lbs and 14oz, and was 18 3/4 inches long.  Tiny, tiny, tiny. 

It was a frigid morning as we made the 61 mile drive from our house to the hospital where she was delivered by c-section.  I was terrified.  As we made the walk from the parking garage to the labor & delivery floor, I was a bit weepy.  I thought when we got up there that I'd have more time to sit and avoid the inevitable, but our nurse was ready for us.  There is a lot that goes into a c-section!  All I can say is that I'm thankful mine was scheduled and not an emergency. 

One of my other prayers was for a great anesthesiologist.  I had imagined some crusty old man who would have no idea how I felt, but was blessed with Donna [who was in fact, not a crusty old man].  She was quite nurturing and when I got to the OR, had a shot of valium waiting on me.  She stayed by my head the whole time, explaining what was happening, distracting me when I started to fall apart, and brought much comfort to Justin and me.  When I heard my doctor say he'd made the uterine incision, Donna took our camera and documented each step of him pulling Kathryn out.  What a priceless memory!





Justin said as soon as they pulled her out that I looked at him and said,"I feel so much better!"  I don't remember saying it, but I do remember feeling it.  One of the good things about a c-section is that you get to stay in the hospital for 4 days.  That gave me plenty of time to be taken care of by amazing nurses and kind of get the hang of things.  Although, we were quite ready to get home by the fourth day. 

My recovery has been great.  I won't lie; it was quite painful to move around for the first 10 days or so.  I may have pushed myself a bit too hard with moving around, but it was better than the alternative.  I haven't had much pain after the first 10 days and have hardly bled at all.  I went for my post delivery checkup last Friday and everything is looking great. 

I can't write about her birth without bragging about my husband.  In the hospital, he stayed with her every minute she was away from me.  I told him that when they took her from the OR to the nursery that he needed to go with her.  She needed one of her parents.  I was going to be fine.  He listened. 

He changed her diapers and picked her up when she cried for those first few days because I couldn't get up.  He has waited on me hand and foot since we got home, and especially after my mom left.  He is such a great dad.  I know he feels bad that he sleeps at night while I'm up with her, but I keep telling him that the best way for him to help is to be rested so that he can provide for us.  I have always been grateful that I got to marry him, but now I am even more overwhelmed with that blessing. 

So how is it going?  Well, we've made it 3 weeks and 3 days.  I think that means we're ok.  :)  We were blessed to have my mom stay with us for 2 weeks [perhaps against her will].  She cooked, cleaned, and even had my dad vaccuum the ceiling when he was here.  She comforted Kathryn those first few nights when all she did was scream, and all I did was cry.  I don't think we would have made it without her.  We were scared when she left, but mostly just sad that she lives so far away and won't get to see her as often.  Looking forward to Christmas though!

There is so much more to share, but I'm already on a shoestring here with "me" time.  I will share more about how her personality is, but suffice it to say that she is not much of a sleeper.  So I have to go now...haha.