1. Birth

There is so much I could put into this post - it's all still sharp and fresh in my memory - but I decided to keep it simple, and go with moments I know I will never forget.

• Seeing familiar faces in the ward, thanks to my 5 day stint at the hospital in September.  I was overjoyed to see that Rhonda was my nurse again and would be seeing me through surgery.
• In the triage room before heading into surgery, when Rick cheerfully donned the scrubs and the ridiculous-looking shower cap-thing they make you wear on your head.  He prayed with me before we went in.
• Reminding the doctors and nurses to please not forget to bring my husband in.  (They make him wait outside during prep.) They assured me they wouldn't and were true to their word.  He came in, grabbed my hand and kissed me, and then we both got ready.  We remembered from last time how things move very, very quickly from this point.
• The strangeness of feeling people's hands inside you, and feeling tugging and pushing and pulling, and being able to hear them talking about your skin and tissues and guts, but not be able to feel any pain.  Very strange, but definitely the way I like it.
• Rick's first glimpse of our daughter.  I watched as he watched them bring her into the world - butt, then legs, then head.  It was the sweetest moment - there was such...tenderness in his expression - falling in love.
• Hearing her cry!  I hadn't realized until that moment just how anxious I was about whether she would be okay.  34 weeks is a huge milestone for a pre-mature baby, but it is still very early.  Hearing her strong little squall was a huge relief and set off my water-works.
• Seeing her for the first time.  The doctor immediately brought her around the curtain to where we could see her - she was a mass of hair and flesh and white stuff (I asked later and they said it's a natural protectant for the baby's skin that is produced in the womb...how amazing is that?) and noise - beautiful!
• Rick kissing me and hugging my head (as best he could) and telling me how proud he was of me, and how much he loved me.  He then following the doctor to a little corner of the room where she did an examination.
• Feeling SO anxious to know how much she weighed.  She looked bigger than I thought she would but I was still nervous.  Rhonda came and took Rick's place (she is amazing - more about her later) and told me that baby looked "awesome" and very good-sized.
• Seeing her again just before she left the room with Daddy.  They had her wrapped up set her on my shoulder so I could see her just before she went downstairs to get all checked out.  My brilliant husband had the great idea to take pictures and some video with my phone and leave it with me so I could look through them while they finished sewing me up (which is 70% of the length of the surgery).
• Rhonda wheeling me into recovery and telling me how great I did, how great baby looked, and what a success everything was overall.
• Itching. My. Face. Off.
• My sweet husband, returning upstairs with her stats (all but weight, which seemed like it took forever to get! I included them below) and telling me how perfect she was!

Lucy Jean
October 3, 2012

11:47 AM

4 lbs, 14 oz

17 3/4 inches

What an amazing blessing.  So many things could have gone wrong (which I was reminded of when I saw the anesthesiologist's "medical assistant" who performed my spinal.  Seriously?  Did they need a student to do that? I could hear the anesthesiologist coaching him, saying things like, "You're too far left -you're hitting the such-and-such..." yikes) but everything went right.

Thank you, Lord, for this sweet blessing.

More to come...