It's a girl!!!! These are words that I never thought I would hear...honestly! I really, really, really thought we were destined to have all boys! BOY were we surprised! So we finally got our Charlotte! It's still very surreal to say that we have a daughter...a girl, her, she...this is all new for us! She is constantly called "buddy" by the boys, poor little thing! I guess some habits are hard to break!
So here is the birth story of Miss Charlotte Jane Batia...mostly pictures but hey, isn't that what everyone wants to see anyways?!?!?
The night before our scheduled c-section Mark and I went on our traditional pre-baby date to Del Friscos for a delicious dinner. It didn't disappoint1 Our surgery wasn't scheduled until noon the next day so I ate WAY more food than I should have...seeing that I knew that I wouldn't have anything else to eat for almost 24 hours! We had a nice morning with the boys before we went to the hospital and everything was going as planned (yes I am a planner!) I can honestly say that was the last thing that day that went as planned...all the "plans" went out the window once we got checked in to the hospital...can you sense a fun story is about to come? But first a quick picture!
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| Heading out to the hospital...the last picture as a family of four! |
Ok...so here's the crazy/amazing birth story of Charlotte Jane. Once we arrived at Winnie Palmer, we were checked in and taken back to prep for surgery. Everything was very normal up to this point. I changed into my cutie-pa-tootie surgical gown and got the pretty blue gauze cap over my hair. The nursing team started my IV and took all my vitals...perfectly normal. The anesthesiology team came in, prepped me for my epidural and before I knew it my legs were going numb! They kept testing to see how far up the epidural was working and it was slowing creeping up towards my chest...a good thing. Our surgery was delayed about a half hour because our doctor had to go and deliver another baby. Next thing we know it's our turn and I am being wheeled into the OR! We were very excited and felt comfortable with our entire surgery team. The surgery started and that is when things got a little crazy. I don't really have a "first hand" account of what took place but this is what Mark, my doctor and the anesthesiologist said happened. I remember that Dr. Thatcher started the c-section and that it was a little more "uncomfortable" than I remember my other two c-sections being. All of a sudden the anesthesiologist came over and I remember him telling Dr. Thatcher "don't make the uterine incision!" I was a little confused and then he quickly told be that he was going to adjust my epidural. The next thing I know he's telling me "I'm really sorry but I am going to have to give you some medicine that's going to make you really sleepy" and somehow I knew that he was going to put me all the way under...that's right, a general. The last thing I remember is looking over to my left and seeing Mark and telling him that I loved him. Here's the part that I was told about and that I have ZERO memory of. Everyone said that I was telling my doctor that what she was doing was "uncomfortable" and that it "hurt." I feel SO fortunate to not have any memory of pain. After a quick adjustment of my epidural meds, the anesthesiologist realized that he could not "fix" what I was feeling and the only solution was to put me under. Mark was then taken out of the OR while all this was going on (hospital policy) and then the rest of the surgery took place. My doctor and anesthesiologist were so awesome because right before they pulled the baby out they hollered for them to bring Mark back in so he could witness the surprise (all of them breaking the rules!!!!) He came in just in time to hear and see Dr. Thatcher pull out the baby and say it's Charlotte! I am so glad that at least one of us got to experience the gender reveal! Mark said that he cried...how sweet is that? He was then allowed to stay with Charlotte while they continued to work on me. Charlotte was born at 1:16pm and was 8.6 lbs and 20 inches long. So much took place in such a short amount of time but all that matters is that we have a healthy baby girl and momma!
I didn't wake up until around 2:30 and needless to say I was all sorts of confused! My first memory is being wheeled into the recovery area and the nurses kept telling me to look down at my hospital bracelet. I had NO idea why the heck they kept telling me to do that and when I finally looked down and saw that it was pink but it never clicked. They finally said, "you have a daughter, it's a girl" and I was still extremely confused. All I could do was cry! I kept thinking, "I missed it, I missed it, I missed it!" And I was in a ton of pain too...it was not a fun time and something that I am glad is very fuzzy. I was also really confused as to where everybody was, my husband, my baby. The world was not right until they came in to see me! Such sweet memories of seeing her for the first time!
Phew! So that was our crazy birth story...a memorable day to say the least!
Ps...we still do not know why the epidural did not work properly. We are very grateful for an amazing OR staff and our great doctors. Thank goodness they work well under pressure and knew just what to do! We feel so blessed! By the way, I ended up with a severe epidural headache a few days later and had to go to a surgery center and have a blood patch done. This is when a hole is poked in the dura when the epidural is being done and your spinal fluid leaks causing a sever migraine like headache. It was horrible! The blood patch is done to repair the hole and I can attest that it is a miracle cure! It was instant relief!!! Totally worth the hassle!
So here are the pictures of Miss Charlotte's debut!
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| Like I said our anesthesiologist was awesome. He took our camera from Mark and took these pictures for us! |
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| I think she looks like Brooks in the picture. |
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| Brand new baby! |
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| She was a big girl for being 2 weeks early! Can you imagine how big she would have been if I would have gone full term?? |
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| Daddy and daughter...first snuggles! |
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| The first time holding my girl. "Hello Charlie, nice to meet you! I'm your momma!" |
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| Right after her first bath |
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| A sweet girl in her homemade pink cap! |
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| The bracelet on the top is the one they kept telling me to look at when I was coming out of surgery and Ella and Ny make the Charlotte name bracelet on the bottom! |
1 comment:
Yay!!! I am so glad she is happy, healthy, and here! I so enjoyed meeting her. She is a precious addition!
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