The Day Has Finally Come!

Well, after waiting and waiting and quite a long pregnancy (for me), the day finally came!  I think everyone was so nervous that we barely got any sleep.  Chris forgot to put the dogs in their cages and Bailey was wandering and barking.  Josh was up for 2 hours straight in the middle of the night, and I was experiencing my usual insomnia.

We had to arrive at the hospital at 8:00am, so the grandparents came early to watch the triplets.

I delivered the triplets in Evanston and this time we opted for the hospital closest to our home.  Plus, it was recently redone and the rooms were beautiful ;)

Once my IV was in, the waiting game began.  Things were looking to be on schedule for 10:00am, but of course, they got backed up.  Apparently, many other moms decided April 19th would be a great delivery day!

It was finally time and I got my epidural.  Chris was brought in to the room and it was go time.  We went in at 11:11am, and Brooklyn was born at 11:21am.  The docs were amazed at how big she was.  They said, "Look at those big cheeks!"  I couldn't believe that she weighed in at 8 lbs. 9 oz.!

Chris got to cut the cord and then went with her to the nursery.  I got to stay for the fun part!  The doctor ended up cutting a blood vessel in my uterus that needed fixing, and they left a sponge in me!!!  Thankfully they caught their mistake before they put in the stitches.  It took quite a while before I was wheeled into the recovery area. 

After waiting for a room to be available, I finally got to hold my precious baby girl!  What a difference in size!  I couldn't help but compare her to the triplets and see who she looked like.  She had less hair than Abby, and fairer skin.  Who she looks like, it's hard to say.

It felt so good to have my baby stay in the room with me.  When the trips were born, they stayed in the NICU for 30 days and never came in my room.  It was also different in that the care started right away. Chris jumped right in to changing diapers as I was very sore.  The pains meds definitely helped, and by the end of the day, I was up and walking around a little bit.

Chris left and picked up the grandparents and kids.  As soon as they came in the room, they jumped up to bed with me.  They also kinda avoided the baby.  Abby, especially, would move from one side of the room to the other when baby was near.  It was very hard to witness this.  Josh seemed to be the only one who showed some interest.

It helped that we had some gifts for the kids from Brooke.  The most difficult part came when it was time for them to go and they kept asking why I had to stay there.  I don't think at three years old that they could fully understand the whole recovery process.

Chris drove everyone back home, after stopping for some dinner, and came back to my room for the night.  I still couldn't eat solid foods and was on a liquid diet.  By this time, my eyelids were drooping.

Nurses kept coming and going taking readings and checking this and that.  And my little girl, she just kept wanting to eat and eat and eat.  Around 11pm, Chris was ready to sleep and was worried that I would fall asleep while holding the baby.  The only problem was that each time I would put her down, she wanted to be held and eat some more.

The most caring nurse started her shift at 1am and came to my room.  I told her how tired I was, and she took Brooklyn to the nursery, cleaned her up, swaddled her, and took her for a stroll.  She kept emphasizing how important it was for me to get my sleep.  She took care of her the whole night and only brought her back in to feed.  What a savior she was!