June 24, 2016
DELIVERY DAY! Adam and I put our bags in the car and were on the road by 4:40am for my scheduled C-section at the American fork Hospital. I'd typically be anxious and scared, like I had been all week, but Adam gave me a sweet priesthood blessing the night before. It brought me peace and addressed all my concerns that had been weighing on me. I felt my Heavenly Father's love and was so happy for what was about to happen.
A scheduled c-section is very different from an emergency c section. We arrived at the hospital, only carrying my purse and headed upstairs. We got to our room in the Labor and Delivery floor and started to prep for the surgery. Shortly after, I headed into the bright operating room, where I could see the sun rising and lighting up the mountains. It was beautiful and just perfect. The radio was on and it felt very relaxing. After they had me ready on the table, Adam joined me. He told me jokes during the procudure so I wouldn't think about them cutting me open. I could feel them pushing and prodding inside my stomach. It's such a weird sensation. Before we knew it, I heard a sweet cry. Immediately my eyes welled up in tears. Joy had hit me so fast and so strong. She hadn't been fully born at the moment, so we waited a few more seconds for them to pull her out. Immediately they cleaned her off at a nearby table and did a few quick routine checks, letting us know she was very healthy. That's always a relief. They encourage mother baby bonding and brought her to me so I could hold her for another hour as they put me back together. I was SO happy. Looking at her sweet face, I felt like nothing else mattered more than the sweet spirits Heavenly Father entrusted to me and Adam. It was a very sacred experience.
I spent a couple hours in the Labor and delivery room after the surgery where I was able to nurse Taylor for the first time and snuggle with her. Then, we were moved to the mommy and baby recovery floor, Rm 209. I felt great for the first part of the day but over the next 24 plus hours, I experienced intense headaches due to a spinal headache which i'll describe later.
On saturday, I got to see family, which I love having visitors, no matter how sick I may get. My mom, sister and Emery came along with my inlaws and Lisa, my sister in law. It was so fun to introduce them to Taylor. My sister in law, Lisa took the cutest pictures of Taylor and the family. I was bummed my spinal headache was keeping me from hanging out with everyone. I had to stay laying down in bed to avoid the pounding headaches.
After the family visit, I went ahead with a procedure called "blood patch" its a process used to fix spinal headaches, which occur when the injection site from the spinal tap leaks spinal fluid causing terrible headaches. The blood patch is an interesting process where they draw blood from your arm and it goes straight into an epidural in your back, creating a barrier to block the spinal fluid. After the injection, they had me lay completely straight on my back for a couple of hours. Once I sat up from all that, I was healed. It was such a relief. It made my Sunday more enjoyable.
At this point Adam and I agreed that Taylor was a dream. She hardly ever cried and if she did, it was so easy to console her. We either had to feed her or hold her. I think she looks a lot like I did when I was born. her head full of jet black hair was so me.
On monday I got to see a couple of friends who I had met from my mission experience, who now work at my old company/ Adam's company. It was so good to get together and just chat. Physically, I believe it helps heal when people are visited (that is, if they welcome it). I remember when I was in the ICU from Emery's birth, I had visitors. Adam had pointed out that when I was visited, my blood pressure decreased from what he saw on my monitor. So , I'm definitely a big fan of visiting the sick and needy!
Later on that evening I came down with a fever. I didn't realize it at the time but I had the fever all night and experienced the chills, which I thought was a result from having wet hair from my late night shower. Turns out, I had an infection from the surgery. For the next 24 hours, I was again hooked up to an IV and was on antibiotics. I really thought my hospital recovery would be more fun than it actually was, but one sickness after the other squashed that.
Anyway, We're so happy to be a family of four. We love our girls and are excited to have Taylor as part of the family :)
