Welcome LC!

She's finally here!  LC arrived at 10:11pm on Wednesday, June 1.  It's been less than a week since she was born, and we already can't imagine our lives without her.

Here's the story of her arrival...

On Tuesday night around 1am, I woke up because my water had broken.  I was pretty disoriented, but it was clear what had happened.  I wasn't sure what to do next, so like any pregnant woman in 2011, I used Google to see what I should do.  Since I wasn't having any contractions, I decided to wait until those started or until morning to call the doctor.  Around 6am I woke up Trevor (kind of like when I woke him at 6am after taking the pregnancy test), and we called the doctor; they told us to come to the hospital.  We were both so excited and anxious.  Of course, on our way to the hospital there were two accidents on the highway, but thankfully traffic wasn't too bad.  We got checked in, and they hooked me up to a monitor to check on baby and I.  LC was doing great, but I wasn't having any contractions.  After two hours of being on the monitor, the not-so-friendly nurse decided that I must have been confused about my water breaking, and she sent me to the Dr's office to get checked out.  I was so frustrated at that point - I was so ready to meet LC and I knew I wasn't confused about my water breaking, but she was making me doubt myself.

We arrived at our Dr's office, and he was great.  He went to check to see if I was dilated, and when he did, it became clear that my water was officially broken.  I'll spare you the details, but when he closed to door to call the hospital, Trevor and I actually heard him say "she's flooding the place over here."  Nice.
Since it had been so long since my water first broke, he sent us back to the hospital so he could go ahead and induce labor.  The hospital is just across the street from his office, but my wonderful husband took me for a quick detour.  I was starving, and I knew they wouldn't let me eat during labor, so we made a quick stop at McDonald's for some seriously delicious french fries.  Thank goodness we did that because it was another 24 hours before I was able to eat again.

We got checked in to our room, and I got hooked up to many monitors, tubes, etc.  They started the medicine to induce labor, and we were both so excited and nervous.  At first the pain wasn't too bad; I could feel the contractions, but they were pretty bearable.  But it didn't take long for them to start hurting - a lot.  I tried the breathing we learned in class, but after two hours, I decided it was enough and asked for the epidural--an excellent decision.  It didn't hurt much at all, and almost immediately, I felt better.  The next hours went by pretty smoothly.  My parents and Trevor's Mom arrived, which was great.  Anna stopped by to keep me company, which was awesome - I loved having someone to chat with.

Lookin' good

Dr. Rebenack and the nurses kept coming in and checking me, and unfortunately, I wasn't making much progress as far as dilation.  Around 6pm, the Dr. checked her position, and she was facing my belly button instead of my spine, and her head was tilted back.  Normally he would try to turn the baby, but I wasn't dilated enough, so he couldn't.  At that point, he began preparing me for the possibility of a C-section.  He said we would keep monitoring baby and hope that she tolerated labor and turned over.  He came back around 8pm and said that baby was being distressed, and we needed to have a C-section - and soon.  Trevor, my Dad and his Mom were at dinner, so we called them and let them know the needed to come back now.  I am so glad my Mom was with me, she was calm and reassuring because I was kind of freaking out.

It was kind of hectic after that.  Trevor came back and they got him this awesome scrub suit to wear in to the delivery room while I was being prepped for surgery.  I can't say enough about how awesome the nurses and hospital staff were.  They explained everything to me and were amazing at being reassuring and distracting me at the same time.  As I was wheeled into the delivery room, it was so bright and kind of intense, and then I realized that the radio was playing and Dr. Dre's California Love was on.  It was fantastic.  I started cracking up and the nurse was like "I took a guess with the station, is this ok?"  Yep, perfect.

As for the surgery, Trevor was by my side, and I absolutely would not have been able to do it without him.  It was pretty scary, but I just kept looking at him while the doctors worked.  After a few minutes, the nurse told Trevor he should look over the curtain and he was able to see LC enter the world.  A few seconds later, I heard her cry and it was amazing.  I was so happy that she was here, and I knew that her screaming was a good sign - she was good and loud, clearly a solid set of lungs.  At that point, Trevor went to hold her and cut the cord.  I was so filled with emotion, and then I started to get a little scared.  The anesthesiologist asked if I wanted an additional sedative at that point.  I didn't want to be too drugged up, but he said we had another 25 minutes of surgery left, and it could be kind of intense.  All of a sudden I started thinking about what was going on on the other side of the curtain, and it was officially sedative time.  Unfortunately, it made me pretty out of it, but it was probably for the best.

Meanwhile, Trevor was cutting the cord with LC.  We had learned in baby class that it shouldn't bleed, and when he got to the third cut, all of a sudden there was blood coming out, and the pediatrician said "you got a finger!"  Trevor dropped the scissors and almost passed out. Thankfully, he was joking, and most of the operating room had a good laugh.

Eventually, the doctors finished, and I was able to hold LC for the first time.  It was such an incredible moment; I felt like I had known her my entire life, and she fit perfectly into my arms.  I had heard it over and over that you didn't realize you could love someone so much, but it is absolutely true.  As soon as I saw her, I was completely in love.

Our first family photo

We made it back to our room, and the three of us were able to spend some time alone as a family for the first time, and it was perfect.  A little while later, our parents were able to come in, and it was an amazingly happy moment for everyone to get to meet her.

I realize this is a pretty long post, but I wanted to make sure I put down as many details as possible so I don't forget.  We are so incredibly happy with our new family, and at times, and I can't believe that Trevor and I created such a perfect little person.