Welcome Little Miss H!!!!

Me at the hospital 3/8

On March 8th, we welcomed into this world a beautiful little girl. Little Miss H is the only female child and most likely our last child. The big boys all adore her and have taken every chance they get at holding, hugging, or kissing her sweet forehead.

I had prayed through this pregnancy, as I did with my last two, that if I were supposed to have a vaginal delivery that I would go into labor prior to the scheduled c section date. I never did, although I had tons of contractions. The contractions never dilated my cervix. Once again I was up way too early showering and getting ready to head off for a trip to the hospital. I was nervous and sick to my stomach while getting ready. I had a bunch of "what ifs" running through my head. Even though I had not eaten or drank anything since midnight I got sick to my stomach before leaving the house. This delivery made me more nervous than the boys' deliveries as all 3 of them were born at the same civilian hospital. This time I delivered at a military hospital and some of the care had been lacking at times.

The Man and I arrived at the hospital at 6am for their preparations. They put the monitors on the baby and she sounded amazing. They asked if I knew what I was having to which my reply was "they said it was supposed to be a girl this time". I was a little hesitant to believe the ultrasound tech because we already had 3 boys and I just didn't believe that we were capable of creating a girl. They came in and started an IV and explained all the anesthesia procedures. The lady doing the IV couldn't get a good IV easily and it hurt. I had asked them to redo it but they wouldn't. I ended up with quite a bruise thanks to her.

At about 7am they had me and The Man walk back to the surgery room. They made The Man wait outside while I was situated on a surgery table and they got my spinal/epidural in place. They gave me the first dose of medicine via a spinal because it is supposedly the better way but they also placed an epidural with no medicine just in case they were to need more time for the surgery "since this was my 4th c section". Once they laid me on my back and started cleaning my stomach and draping the blue sheets around they allowed The Man to come in and sit by my head. They then ran a prickly thing over my stomach to see if I was numb and I guess it was good enough because I couldn't feel it til they got close to my chest. Since I was numb enough they started cutting. This took forever it seemed and made me very worried. The doctors and nurses were quiet and so I started to panic. I asked what was wrong to The Man and of course he couldn't tell either. The anesthesiologist said that I had a bunch of scar tissue that they had to get through. I just laid there behind the blue curtain in suspense of that beautiful little cry. I started to get upset because I was worried something was wrong with my baby since it took so long to get her out. Finally I heard a suction and the most beautiful little cry. I immediately started crying. They had lowered the blue sheet a little so The Man could see her. I asked him if she was bald and he said no that she had hair. I asked if it was really a girl and he smiled really proud and said yes. They held her up over the blue sheet for jsut a second so I could see her before they moved her to the warming table.

They moved her over to the warming table where they wiped her off and let The Man cut her cord shorter. I could hear her crying a lot and it made me sad that I couldn't just get up and help her. They wrapped her up in a blanket and put a hat on her then I got to see her again and give her a kiss before they took her out of the surgery room. I had him go with her when they took her out of the room and I was there for quite some time while they stitched me back up. I couldn't wait to get to see her. When they were done they wheeled me back to my room where I was greeted by The Man and this tiny baby. She was 7lbs 10oz which was not my smallest or my biggest.

We started nursing immediately and she nurses like a champ. I managed to be up and moving the first day which I was told was not normal. I just wanted my baby and to go home. The second day I was in a bit more pain but I still would have rather been at home where I was comfortable. They made me stay 48 hours and then we got to come home. She so far has been easier than K as she tends to sleep about 3 hours at a time at night where he was up every 2 for over a year. She really only cries when she is hungry or has gas in her tummy.