Arrival of Hadlee Marie

On the morning on June 1st we all got up early and went to the hospital. I had to be there by 7:30. I sat in pre-op for a long time, getting my blood drawn, my blood pressure checked, my iv put in, a million questions from anesthesia . . . Jeremy and I watched the Today show. At about 8:45 they took me into surgery (Jeremy had to stay in the hall) where they attached all the monitors and put in my spinal. This was about the time I started to get nervous only because it suddenly became "real" and Jeremy wasn't with me. And maybe it had something to do with the resident sticking a needle in my spine. Once they got me laid out on the table Jeremy was allowed in. During surgery it felt hard to breath sometimes because I was numb into my upper chest but they never had to give me an oxygen mask. I just had to not let it freak me out. My blood pressure went down occasionally and they gave me epinephrine a few times, then my blood pressure went up a little too far but they just watched that. It also felt like it took forever because the doctor said he was going to take his time going in to look for adhesions and such. Not quite as quick as the first one. But for this one I wasn't tired and was very coherent. I could hardly stay awake for the first c-section. The hospital doesn't allow video or pictures in the operating room anymore until they get to this point. They used the same incision and size as last time and said Hadlee had a hard time fitting through. I didn't feel much yanking though, just a little. Looking at this picture, it looks like Hadlee felt a lot of yanking though!

9:33 am-- Hadlee Marie was born. Dr. Braquet cut her cord.

Once the baby was taken over to the warmer table Jeremy got to cut the cord again just for the symbolism. She was 7 lbs 12.8 oz and 20 inches long. (For those of you wanting to compare, Maddox was 7 lbs 7 oz. and 20 inches also.)

There she is, fresh from the womb and screaming. She cried a lot more than Maddox did. I was sort of worried that was a sign of how she would be at home, but so far it hasn't been that way.

After they checked the baby out and made sure she was healthy and strong they wrapped her up and gave her to Jeremy. He was so cute with her and teary eyed. While they stiched me back up we hung out like this, looking at Hadlee, touching the tiny bit of her that was exposed, and talking to her.

After they got all done Dr. Braquet gave us an update on what he found inside from the last c-section (some normal scar tissue) and what he did to prevent adhesions with this surgery. He probably told me more but I don't remember much at this point. Just relief at being done and having a healthy baby.

After surgery they wheeled me out in the hallway and retrieved Mom, Dad, and Maddox from the waiting room to come meet us. Maddox was very quiet and unsure about Jeremy and I. I'm sure our clothing wasn't helping her comfort level. And why was Mom holding this new little baby? They took us to recovery after that where I got poked and prodded some more. My contracting uterus hurt the most of all of this. I mean, really really bad! I also felt nauseous because they sat me up too soon. That was my fault though because I said I wanted to try to nurse, which Hadlee was not interested in at all. As soon as the nurse reclined me a little bit I felt better.

We spent about an hour in recovery then I was wheeled to my room where Mom, Dad and Maddox were waiting. Hadlee was in the nursery for a while, then she was brought to my room. Gammy and Maddox really got to meet Hadlee at this point. Maddox kept want to see her little fingers and toes and touch them.

Gammy gave Maddox some pictures to look at while she sat next to me in the bed. She started showing them one at a time to Hadlee, over and over again. "Haddy, look, Haddy look" Hadlee was awake, so she was looking. How can you miss it when a photo is shoved an inch from your face?

At night everyone would go home and Jeremy would cuddle with Hadlee. Proud Daddy!

Hadlee was born on Tuesday and I went home on Thursday. One day shorter than normal. I was feeling pretty good and SO much better than Maddox's c-section! But Maddox also broke my heart when she had to leave with Papa at nap time Wednesday and was crying. I told Jeremy to walk her out to Papa's car at least and she was sort of being drug out the door. She turned around to me on the way out and said through her tears " Bye bye Momma". I said, "I'm going home tomorrow if they'll let me. Hadlee was a little bit jaundiced so we also had to see if they'd let her go home. The pediatrician thought she'd need a light but told me that I could have one at home. Turned out she didn't need a light anyway.

Maddox held Hadlee for the first time on Friday. She was fresh from a bath so that's why she was naked.

Hadlee had a huge diaper blow out on Saturday and got it all over her carseat, back, legs and even hands so she had her first bath. She didn't scream at all as much as Maddox did for her first bath. She cried a little bit, but has been quiet for her baths for the most part. She's a very easy baby and now that life is getting a little normal, that new baby jaunced sleepiness is gone and she gets up usually once a night to nurse. She nurses about every 1.5 hours to 2 hours during the day now. She goes through a lot more diapers and clothes than Maddox did! It seems like I'll change a poopy diaper and within 15 minutes she's done it again. The clothes changing is slowing down though. Partly due to her spitting up less and I think partly due to using up Huggies newborn diapers which leaked more than Pampers do.

As for me, I'm healing very quickly. I made it through the whole day yesterday without even an ibuprofen! I still have to remember that I did have major surgery and not do too much or I get pretty sore by the end of the day. Sometimes when I feel no pain I do things I shouldn't or too much. The pounds are coming off very quickly . . . but unfortunately the shape isn't coming back just as quickly. I'm ready to be able to take real walks, jog a little, lift a little, and fit back into my summer clothes. I'm really tired of wearing the same few things that fit and don't squeeze on my incision too much. Speaking of those clothes, I guess I better find some so we can go outside!