Whew, where to start? We knew that she was going to be a big girl. Nate was a chunky monkey too, and at her 26 week ultrasound, she was already measuring over 6lbs. Doing the mental math, and accounting for machine error, I was looking at a 9.5-10lb baby! So, we had a couple more ultrasounds than usual to track her weight gain. Not that I minded, I LOVED seeing pictures of my sweet baby! Dan and Nate came to each ultrasound, and Nate seemed to really enjoy seeing pictures of Baby Sister. At 37 weeks, she was still looking pretty big, so we scheduled an amnio to see if her lungs were developed enough to induce. She was, so yay!
We were scheduled to come in on Thursday at 3pm, but at 9am I got a call from the hospital. They were running ahead of schedule and said I could come in early....as soon as I was ready! So I made few phone calls to find a sitter for Nate-he ended up hanging out with Ashley Coon and her girls, then spent the night with Suzanne over at Dad's house-took a shower, and headed over here. By 10:30 I was checking in. The labor itself was pretty uneventful. I got the pictocin, they broke my water, and I got the epidural. On the plus side, I didn't have an annoying extra guest in the room talking about World of Warcraft this time. It was just me and Dan all day. I did get loopy goofy from the epi, as usual. But I don't think I was too bad. Mostly I just looked at Dan and said "we're having a baby" in a really sappy voice. Oh, and I apologized for forgetting to start a pot roast in the slow cooker. Dan looked at me like I was nuts and actually may have told me I was nuts to be thinking about that right then. The nurse (Lois) smiled and told him to let me worry about the roast, that way I wasn't worrying about the labor. She was awesome! Bob the student nurse was cool, but less awesome. It took way too long and way too many sticks to get my IV in. I was not a fan of that particular process. But he did good, and he had a great patient rapport. I think he'll do well. He wants to be an ER nurse. But back to baby. She was sunny side up, just like Nate. But she turned really easily. I only had to push for 25min with her, and most of that was getting her turned around. Dan watched her crown, and he claims that he was exaggerating his reaction/facial expression for my benefit. But I saw what I saw. He got such a sweet look of awe on his face. I even saw him a couple of times when I was pushing and he thought my eyes were closed.
She was beautiful. Even though she was covered in that waxy vermix stuff. They put her right on my chest and let me hold her while Dan cut the cord. Then they left her there for a couple min. and just let me hold her and be weepy for a while. The boys both had lung issues, so I didn't get that chance with them. Devon had the meconium in his fluid, so they had to whisk him away and suction him; and Nate had the cord wrapped around his neck and needed a couple of min. of oxygen right away. She was perfect. She scored an 8, then a 9 on her APGARs, my highest scoring baby! :) And the only reason she scored an 8 at first is she didn't want to cry. She kept giving this tiny, mewing little whimper. Even when she got her first shot, and later, her first bath, she never cried. Such a mellow, happy little girl. Right off the bat she was alert and attentive too. Her little eyes were open, taking everything in. I feel so blessed to have her in our family. During the pregnancy, I got a blessing and was told that Heavenly Father chose her specifically to be a part of our family and that she is one of his choicest daughters. I was also blessed to know that Courtney is going to be with us for years and years, and that Heavenly Father knows what we've been through, and is watching out for us, and mindful of the trials we have been through. It is such a comfort, and really helps me to think of Heavenly Father as a solicitous parent. He knows what we've been though. He let us find our way through, gave us space to grow and learn; but at the same time, he wanted to help us and make it better. Now that it's past, He is watching over us closely and doing what He can for us. I can totally see my Dad doing the same thing. It's what a good parent does. Children can't be isolated or protected from hurts or trouble. But, you give what support you can and watch extra close and remove what pain you can. I don't know if that makes sense, but it does in my sleep deprived brain.
As I type this out, Courtney is almost 26 hours old. She has had her hearing screen and passed with flying colors. She is about to be weighed again, and have her PKU stick :(. She is a champion nurser, but a reluctant burper. She spits up because she holds her burps in, just like Nate did. Actually, I just had to take a break from typing because she was fussing again, and needed to burp. That was pretty much the only reason she cried today. But let me tell you, she has a set of lungs on her when she wants to be heard. Other times, she just whimpers and whines. Dan started calling her "Kitty" because he was holding her and she kept making these mewling little whimpers. He said she sounded like a kitten :) He is so smitten with his daughter. You can see it in his face whenever he holds her. I can't say that I blame him. I'm pretty taken with her as well.
But that's nothing compared to Nate's reaction to Baby Sister. He is so stinkin cute. But I'll save that for another post. It's late and I'm sleepy
