Here's the story...

ok, I think I'm ready, I've got a large 2nd cup of coffee and an even larger glass of water at the desk with me... I'm going to try to blog THE BIRTH story.
For anyone to fully capture the emotion of this post you have to understand that I am NOT a dr type person. I will do whatever I absolutely can to NOT see a dr. The only dr that I look forward to seeing is my dentist and that is b/c I have an obsession with teeth. ANYWAY back to the topic... so back in January I wasn't feeling well, I fought it for a few days, then started mentioning it to C and then to an online friend. Someone (not C) mentioned that I should take a pregnancy test, I laughed said what's the point? I can't get pregnant blah blah blah... well.... I peed on the stick and VOILA! it read PREGNANT.
Let me back up just a smidge, I was babysitting for a friend at the time and we had run to my house to let the dogs out, so I peed, set the timer, got some lunch together for myself and a snack for the kiddos, and got the cheesecake that I had made ready to go to a friends house, during all this the timer went off and I did not go check 'the stick'. I actually got in my car and was almost out of the driveway before I remembered to check it, when I did and it read PREGNANT, I literally pulled it closer to my eyes to look for the NOT word... the thought ran through my mind that maybe I had waited too long and the word has disappeared, but deep down I knew. I was pregnant. OH. MY. GOD!!!!
So if you've followed the blog at all this year, you know that I have had more dr appts than anyone else. EVER. I've been on more medicines, have given myself multiple shots daily, and this was all BEFORE the c section. If anyone else was going through all this, I would have been beside them the whole way, from peeing on the stick to the recovery room of the OR and I wouldn't have closed my eyes for one blessed second. However, this was ME we are talking about and not some third person. The day that I sat in the dr's office thinking we were going to pick an 'exit' date, I had it all planned out... I wanted it the following Tuesday and here were my reasons and couldn't she please just do it 2 days early. Well, she shocked me and told me to go home, have dinner, get my bag and to meet her at Labor & Delivery at 6pm b/c I was being admitted that night and we were having a baby the very next afternoon. Let me tell you, I was STUNNED! I must have asked her to repeat herself like 3 times for every sentence she uttered. They say that your hearing loss is like 50% when you are sitting on a dr's examining table naked. Well, I was half naked and my hearing and comprehension loss was most definitely at 90%! I left her office and called C. I was so NOT prepared to have a baby in less than 24 hours! I didn't even have my bag packed. I had laundry to do! In less than 3 hours I was being admitted to a hospital for the very first time in my life and I DIDN'T want to go!!! There is no doubt this baby had to come out and soon, b/c my body was 'creating a hostile environment' and it was becoming harmful for my baby. While I treasured this baby and was anxious for its arrival, I must be completely honest with you and tell you that in my whole life being pregnant was never anything I wanted. When C and I would talk about becoming parents it was always through adoption. Having a baby growing inside of me was not something I felt that I needed (or wanted) to do. As easy as my pregnancy was, (excluding all the dr visits and medicines and shots and whatever else I may be forgetting right now) I didn't really have much pain or discomfort. The weather this summer was truly a blessing for me and I totally realize that. However, I didn't ENJOY being pregnant. Some women love being pregnant; I am not one of them. Plus I knew that somehow this baby had to get out of me and quite frankly, I didn't like the 2 options presented to me... natural or c section.
I got to the hospital about 30 minutes late (surprise surprise surprise). The nurses at L&D were confused as to why I was being admitted the evening before my surgery. They are used to people coming in early in the morning the day of their surgery. Once everything got figured out and they realized that I was a gestational diabetic with pregnancy induced hypertension whose blood pressure and sugar levels were no longer under control they had me in a bed and hooked up to machines in the blink of an eye! We tested my sugar every 2 hours and my blood pressure every 28 minutes ALL. NIGHT. LONG!!! Thursday FINALLY arrived. I shouldn't waste my time telling you the tortures of sleeping in a hospital, not sick, and by yourself... b/c I'm sure you can imagine or have possibly been there too... I will tell you that, if you can, request to not have the room near the OR doors, ya know the doors that have that button on the wall to open them... b/c most likely that button will be on the other side of your wall and well, all night long at random intervals you may or may not hear the BANG every time someone PUNCHES the button to open the doors and then the not so gentle whooosh noise the doors make as they open, then clatter as they bump your walls, and then again with the not so gentle whooosh noise as they close. By Thursday I was one raw nerve. The morning seemed to drag yet also race by as I waited for that dreadful 1pm hour. I was prepped for surgery, IV was inserted and off we go into the OR. C was back in my room 'gowning up'. They had me sit on the OR table and hug a pillow and then my nurse was hugging me. We were supposed to be making my back into a C shape for the spinal block to be inserted.
:SCREEEETCH:
I MUST tell you before I go any further... if I had a natural delivery I was adamant that I was NOT going to have an epidural NO ONE was going to be putting a needle in MY spine!!!! My philosophy was "I can do anything for a day". I'm a tough cookie, I can handle pain and I knew there would be an end in sight, besides they didn't always have this medicine and women have always been having babies so I figured I could tough it out with the best of them. Now here I am sitting on a table making my back into a C so this dr guy can do exactly what I didn't want! Ok, remember me? the one w/ the high blood pressure... well, um the machine starts taking my blood pressure... and well, the alarm goes off... I look over at the monitor and my blood pressure was 191/119...yep, that's me having a STROKE!!! So of course this freaks me out. oh and my pulse was way up there too. The nurse had to literally take my face in her hands and make me look away from the monitor. She (tried) to talk me into calming down (HA!) finally I looked at her and said, I'm gonna cry. She said that's fine honey, you go ahead and cry. and I did, not only did I cry, I SOBBED. Great big buckets of tears rolled down each cheek and I was gasping for air. The dr guy that was trying to put the spinal block in said, crying is totally ok, but I really need you to keep your back still. Between gulps of air I told him I'd try. He said some nice encouraging words and said something about how the next time I won't be so nervous and I told him he was really pushing it and then STING and it was over. They were laying me down and putting up curtains and I was about to pass out. I told them a few times I wasn't going to make it, they put oxygen at my nose and told me to breathe, so I took big mouthfuls of air... they said to breathe through my nose cause that's where the oxygen was... I felt a little bit better... then C came in, looking all cute and whatnot in his little surgery outfit. Then I promptly shut my eyes and pretended I wasn't there. C held my hand and sang to me and then I heard her say it... "SCALPEL" OH. MY. WORD. they are gonna cut me open!!! I tried desperately NOT to be where I was, then I felt all this pressure on my stomach and then the dr said 'Hey someone is trying to give me a high five' and then a bit more pressure and a squawking baby was outta me and we heard 'oh she's beautiful' and then C went over to take pics and within seconds he was back at my side w/ this absolutely STUNNING baby in his arms. His eyes were shining so bright and I could tell he had a HUGE smile on his face. He said, "this is our daughter". I think we both cried a little. Then I started to not feel so well, and even gagged a bit... then... get this! I fell asleep. Yep, me. The human raw nerve. I fell asleep on the OR table. I think it was a combination of no sleep and absolute relief that the baby was out and ok and that I was going to be ok too and that this whole ordeal was almost over. C said I slept for about 7 minutes, and well, since I'm sharing... I do this hum/moan thing in my sleep (a lot) and apparently I was doing that and the medicine dr guy (I keep calling him that b/c I can't spell anesthesiologist) was asking me "Denise, are you ok?" and C told him that I was sleeping, that sometimes I do that in my sleep and the dr guy said well, better to be sleeping than throwing up. True dat. After a bit more unpleasantness, they got me off the OR table and onto my bed and then wheeled me back to my room. And that my friends is THE story of how The Sweetness got here.
Sometime, I'll explain the why she wasn't expected.

oh and tomorrow... I'll tell ya how it's been this week... since Monday night she has been sleeping in her crib in her own room!!!! Down. The. Hall!!!!


oh and btw: 9lbs left!!!! Hallelujah!