Guess who came early?

11/3/2011 Pepper Isabel made her grand appearance 15 days early at 4:55 pm, weighing in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces, with the length of 19 3/4 inches. She was perfect, and I don't mean in a way a mom thinks her daughter is perfect, I mean her scores were 9/9, she was alert, her eyes were open, she was crying, just perfect!

How did all this happen? It was a normal Thursday just like any other, I went to my NST appointment and passed without incident, then I had to see the doctor to have the amniotic fluid levels retested. The level was an 8 on Monday (which was the minimum) but had dropped to a 3 so the doctor said it was time. This was around 10 in the morning so I had to go up to labor and deliver and be monitored with a c-section planned for after lunch. I had to have an IV while I waited of course, the poor nurse tried 4 times and failed. Amazingly I don't have bruises all over my arms. Another nurse came in and luckily got it on the first try. Kris arrived around 11 and we waited. At 11:45 they informed us the c-section wouldn't be until 3 (of course) so we had more waiting to do. It was so boring, I was in the bed, hooked up to the baby and contraction monitors, and I hadn't eaten since 7:30. And I was having decent contractions too - I wasn't in active labor but some were fun. At 3 they inform us that we have to wait on an operating room so it was still going to be awhile. We had no clue what "awhile" actually meant - it meant around 4:15!

When I finally went back it went quick, they had me get my spinal which was one itty poke that barely hurt. They did everything else, the doctor came in with a 3rd year resident assistant, Kris came in wearing scrubs and carrying my cell phone for video and the camera, and surgery began. They had the blue sheet up so I couldn't see - sorta - when I looked up into the metal lights the doctors were using I could actually see a reflection of my stomach and what I saw was enough to make me look away. Had I wanted I could have watched it all - I did not have any desire to watch! It always seems like the surgery takes forever but I guess it wasn't really that long, I remember when Summer was born I didn't hear her right away but when Pepper came out that little girl screamed her head off! They immediately took her to an area at my right which was nice because while I was being sewed up I could see them cleaning her off. At least it gave me something to concentrate on because the worse part of surgery was upon me now - the shaking. Kris did a great job getting video of Pepper as soon as she came out and being cleaned and he also got some great shots with the camera. He was pretty busy with all of that. I was still being put back together while Pepper went to the nursery to have her bath. Kris was not allowed in the nursery but there were 4 nurses there so Kris asked one of the guys to take our camera in and take pictures - he did, so we got some really neat shots of that too. Thankfully he knew how to properly focus :o)

I had to go to recovery - while I continued to shake uncontrollably, so bad they could not get an accurate blood pressure reading from me. Apparently it wasn't bad and I was only in recovery for about 25 minutes. When I got to my room Kris, Cliff, Summer and Pepper were all waiting for me. I could just see the look of happiness on Summer's face. She had already held Pepper and was beaming from ear to ear. By this time it was around 6:30 and Summer and Papa left soon after. Kris and I hung out for awhile, then he left and I enjoyed my evening bonding with Pepper while I recovered from surgery. I walked the next morning around 5:30 and it didn't hurt a bit. It really wasn't as bad as I thought. I figured I was pretty drugged up but here it is on Sunday and I still don't have much pain at all. I can get up and around without any issues (thankfully). In fact I have more pain in my nipples from breastfeeding (ouch!) which luckily seems to be painfully working great.

Saturday night was our first night home, we didn't get home until 6:30, but it went amazing. Pepper fed two or three times and slept like an angel. Again I am so blessed to have such a great baby. She doesn't really cry unless she is hungry and I have been feeding on demand so it isn't really all that bad. We did get her a pacifier but mostly to calm her while we can't feed her, like when she is having her diaper changed or if she needs to ride in the car. I would guess I got a good 4 hours of sleep during the night and a good nap today. It was also time change so that has just made today so much longer.

Sunday has been all about hanging out, feeding, cleaning, situating things. Overall things went good considering all the strange complications. At first I really wanted to try a vaginal birth but after experiencing just some of the contractions that were painful, I feel like I got to experience some of it and I don't feel like I missed out on anything important. The doctor did tell me it was a good thing I didn't end up having a vaginal birth because the scar area from the prior c-section was extremely thin and could have easily ruptured. Sometimes you just have to think things happen for a reason. Let's just say I am lucky, I ended up getting that baby girl without too many complications, earlier than expected, and now she is mine for the rest of her life, or until she becomes a teenager, hopefully the first.