A few days early so we don't get to share a birthday... oh, well. Guess she wanted her own special day. EITHER WAY SHE CAME. I cannot tell you the relief I feel inside both physically and emotionally (and a little mentally - no more foggy brain and only occasional hormonally induced crying at this point) to have her here on the outside. A few highlights from the day...

I started dealing with the enjoyment of labor pains that morning. Called the doctor's office and asked them since it was a c-section how long they would like me to wait at home before jumping in the car... good thing they wanted me to wait so that my first could have her grandma here when we headed to the hospital. But it took a little longer than expected to meet the requirements from the docs before heading in so I ate some toast.

Finally getting to the hospital: better experience than the last delivery in some ways and in other ways, not so much. They get us into triage for assessment. I get to make the nurses laugh for 3 whole hours while I am in labor unmedicated... I have no pain tolerance. I am really proud I didn't scream. Case and point for having no pain tolerance... they had to do a covid test upon entry into triage: every time she came near me with the extra long q-tip I squealed... it is a pain to have your brain tickled twice in one week (they didn't get my pre surgery one test back yet so they had to do a rapid. Basically, I want to give anyone who has labored for five seconds unmedicated major kudos because that felt like five days.

Eventually, we make our way down to the operating room where I am prepped. I won't give you all the details but I will tell you it was in some ways like going to the spa. . . they gave me some of the toastiest blankets to keep me warm - very different from the last experience.

Eventually, they go and get my husband and they begin. The anesthesiologist is quite possibly one of our favorite people from that day, other than the doctor of course... He asks if my husband would like some photos, takes my husband's phone and takes pictures over the curtain... and in the last week my husband has really enjoyed asking people if they would like to see my guts. Talk about an experience.

The doctor was impressed by the previous c's size and the fact that there is barely even a scar... he says he wants to do even better than that. Only time will tell, but so far it has been an easier process with healing.

Also, once baby is born the anesthesiologist realizes that the operating room is out of the little girl's hats with bows so he makes a bow out of surgical gauze and attaches it to a little boy's hat. Very funny and very cute. I have since secured it with thread to ensure that it will last for many years to come.

She is perfect. She is small and has a head full of dark hair. Not quite the same thickness or texture as her big sister's but so perfectly hers. We enjoy a trip down the hall to hang out in post-op for a while. We video call baby's big sister... she looks confused. Later, we find out upon returning to home she wanted a playmate, not a baby. Too bad, my sweet toddler.

We spend a few days in the hospital, not challenge free of course. Our little baby has a bout with jaundice. Turns out we make sunshine babies... with every baby comes a more difficult case of jaundice, a coombs positive situation. They just hold so much joy, that it radiates to their skin is what I have been telling people, but truthfully it means that my blood cells attack the blood cells of baby until baby makes enough of their own blood cells... and babies go to the tanning bed to aid with that. So baby hung out in the NICU for a few days and mommy and daddy took turns watching over her and getting to snuggle her when she was allowed to come out of the tanning bed.

All the while, I had the best nurse. Nurse Pat. She is probably in her late 60s/early 70s and a wealth of knowledge and was exactly what I needed. What a gift she was to me. She even came down to the NICU to meet the new baby.

And my baby also had the best of nurses! Can I just tell what a special breed these people are?!? They are the joy in the darkness of the tiniest of lives. Amazing and hands down we had the best of the best.

Eventually, we got home and had follow-up appointments. We have had the best of help, the best of food (it isn't even Thanksgiving, yet) and some of the sweetest notes and gifts. We are all doing well, except the toddler who is having quite the time adjusting to a new addition that wasn't quite the playmate she wanted but eventually she will have.

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