Then to Now..

I don't know who really reads this anymore but I thought since I have a sleeping baby at the moment I figured I would document all that has been going on and try to remember it in order!

So, we went in that Monday and found that she still had not turned so the doctor wanted me to come back on Thursday for one more check to see if it may be a last minute thing before our scheduled C-section on Friday June 19th. We spent another few days worrying about what was to be and pretty much preparing for it anyway! I think I was more nervous about my water breaking or something upredictable happening than the actual surgery itself. J was just worried in general, because that is just him! Wednesday I spent the whole day doing nothing. I figured it was my last chance before my life turned upside down! (Thank goodness I did, it was worth it.)
Thursday came and I had to go to the appointment alone because J had to work. It was pretty quick. The doctor did another sonogram to just verify and she was still in the same spot, and of course she was! So we went over everything - we had to get there at 530 am so they could do all the tests and get the epidural in for the surgery at 730. So I spent the day cleaning, went to the store to pick up some groceries for my family to have while we were in the hospital, and just preparing what I could. Mom, Dad and Robby all came up that night and we went out for a nice steak dinner at a really good resturant over by us. We stayed up late trying to get things in order as best we could so we were pretty exhausted when we woke up, but excited too! We actually showered and packed and made it out of the house on time!

We got to the hospital at 530, got registered and made our way up to the labor and delivery floor. I honestly wasn't nervous at all. I had this overwhelming calm mixed with excitement that I can't explain. Plus, the nurses were so awesome! They were the best and made me feel so at ease! They got us all hooked up to the monitor and IV and started to get us prepared for surgery. The anesthesiologist came in and she was so awesome. She reminded me alot of my friend Cindy so I felt really comfortable. The epidural itself is weird and was a little painful at fist but once it was in they were some drugs worth having! Not that I had a choice in this case because I would not have wanted to feel anything!! The best way I can describe it is like someone running an icecube down your back every time they put in a dose. So strange! There was a moment where my heartrate started going up and I just felt like I couldn't catch my breath. But they gave me some oxygen and it slowed. That was the only thing I can remember that really scared me. After all that was under control they started checking the numbness in my body. She would run an ice cube up my body starting at the feet asking if I felt anything. About 15 minutes later I was all numbed up. They got J in his scrubs and we were off to have a baby.

At that moment I started freaking out a bit. I was lying down so all I could see were the lights on the ceiling. It was like something out of a movie! I remember feeling really scared and my teeth chattering a little bit. But I managed to keep my cool. They got me to the OR and it was like something out of a movie too! But J was by my side and I was keeping calm. My doctor came in and talked to me and made sure I was ok and the anesthesiologist was there too. She hooked me up to oxygen and talked to me and reassured me that I was fine and to let her know if I needed more meds. They put a sheet up so I couldn't see what was happening but J could look over it and watch. They started the surgery and he would look over a bit and then come and sit down and make sure I was ok. At one point he's looking over and he says, "what does that feel like?" and I said " alot of pulling and tugging." He says, "that's not what they are doing, I'll tell you later.." and smiled. He was so good through the whole thing, he is probably what kept me calm.

Then Finally at 8:06 a.m, what seemed like only a few minutes later, they pulled her out and Catherine Georgia Montague was in the world! J said the first thing he saw was her little white butt and she immediately cried. We both burst into tears! It was one of the sweetest moments of my life. They wrapped her up and showed her to us. Then took her over and started getting her all cleaned up. I was in a daze but I remember I asked if she had my toes! He said he couldn't tell though. They were asking me also what i thought she weighed- i guessed 6 or 7lbs but she surprised all of us and weight 8.4! She was 19 inches long. So after that they took her off to have the doctor check her out while I was being closed up, J went with her. I was given something to sleep a little and the next thing I remember I'm done and being wheeled off back to the room we started in. They had an overflow of patients using the maternity ward so we had to wait for a room. We were there for about an hour or two and then were given a room. Soon after they brought Cate in and washed her hair then gave her to us to cuddle. J brought Mom, Dad and Robby in to see us then we sent them off to get some lunch. I was so exhausted I was just in a daze!

Finally they had our room ready so they took us up to the next floor. I was still numb and exhausted. Lucky for us, it was nap time and we got a few hours of rest in before Mom, Dad and Robby came back. The next few hours were me still exhausted, getting feeling slowly back in my legs, Nurses coming and going checking in about every hour. The next few days were just me getting strength back and slowly starting to function again while trying to breast feed and get to know our sweet little girl. It was a hard few days but we made it through! We got the go ahead to go on Monday and I was so happy to be home!

So now it's a little over a month later and we're doing great! We struggled a while with feeding but we are into our groove now, I think. It's still hard some nights to get up but we are working on that. I've gotten some good advice so hopefully we can get this little one to sleep through the night before I go back to work Aug 31st.

Well, I think my brain has reached it's limit but I hope all of you now know the excitement of Cate's birthday!!

Love to you all!