The Bailey Chronicles

As I mentioned in the previous post I had a routine follow up appointment on Tuesday. Unexpectedly it ended up being my last day as a preggo. The nurse checked my blood pressure as usual, and it was crazy high. They had me wait around in our usual room for the Dr. and once again they rechecked it about half an hour later. Then they did a sonogram, which was a surprise to us both. After a while I asked the Dr. if the high blood pressure is a big deal and she shocked us by letting us know that we were having the baby either today or tomorrow. I was sad when I realized she was talking about inducing me because I wanted her to come on her own terms, but they explained that the high blood pressure could potentially send me into seizures or stroke so it was necessary. They wheeled me into the hospital where they performed a series of tests on me. My blood work came back normal, which explained the I was not at risk for hypertension. I interpreted that as it was not necessary to induce, but no I was wrong. They then let us know that I would need c-section, which is absolutely the last thing I wanted, but she hadn't dropped enough and so if they induced me I would be in labor for 24 hours and still end up having one at the end of it all. Eventually I calmed down about the situation, but to be honest having another surgery right after I healed from this last one was not ideal. I felt unprepared, nervous, scared, excited, overwhelmed... pretty much everything all at once. The idea of an epdiural before I was in any real pain scared the crap out of me, but in reality it turned out to be no big deal.

The surgery was, well... the creepiest thing I have ever been through. I thought you couldn't feel things when they did a c-section so it really weirded me out when I felt them moving, cutting, pushing, digging and all that fun stuff. John was absolutely amazing, by my side trying to comfort me in anyway possible. He was filled with joy and excitement the entire time. You could see it all over him, like a kid on Christmas day. He kept peeking over the sheet to see what was happening, luckily he had his poker face on so I didn't have to think about what it looked like. The docs pulled her out of me and I heard one of them exclaim that she looked exactly like her mother. I looked over and saw John's face light up. They lifted her above the sheet to give me glimpse of what she looked like, and to my surprise she had a full head of black hair. I guess I figured when they said she looked exactly like me that she would be bald or blonde. They carried her off to my left to clean her up and suck the amniotic fluids out of her. John stayed by my side holding my hand and I told him to go see her since I was stuck there. He ran off to take pictures with tearful eyes. And I stayed distracted with watching them while the docs fixed me back up. After she was wiped down they brought her to me to hold, and the anesthesiologist snapped our first family photo.

After that all of my fears came to rest as we were both fixated on our little creation. It is absolutely amazing how John and I can look like complete polar opposites, but she somehow looks identical to us both at any given moment. The hospital let me go on Saturday and the whole experience was exhausting. Every time I thought I could drift off to sleep someone new was at my door knocking, not so much the visitors but the hospital staff. They continuously feel the need to come bug you. It is soooo much better being at home with her. We finally got a full 8 hours of incremental sleep last night and are starting to feel human again. Bailey is training us to cater to her needs. I'll keep y'all updated on how Bailey boot camp is going :o)