her birth story

august 23rd finally came. 

after days and days of counting down on our kitchen chalk board, it was finally time to meet our ruby jane.

we had to be at the hospital at 6 am.

we rolled up at 6:10.  typical.

we were so so excited.
we checked in and i got to change into my sassy hospital gown, robe & bright yellow socks.

over the next couple of hours, i was monitored and prepped for surgery.
i really do not enjoy getting the i.v.
pretty quickly after they gave me the i.v., i started feeling really panicky and wanting this part to be over with.
the reality of what was about to happen {major surgery while i'm awake} started to sink and i was a ball of nerves. 
the nurse brought me a warm blanket and i tried to relax. 

it was finally time to go into the OR.
aj walked with me down the hall while i rode on the gurney. 
he held my hand and gave me a kiss before we parted ways.
the nurses got my big self all situated on the bed in the OR.
that is always such a weird feeling....being in such a steril, unknown room, wondering how it's all going to go.

i held a sweet, older nurse's hands and i'm pretty sure squeezed them way too hard while the anesthesiologist gave me the spinal.
mercy, i didn't remember it hurting that bad before.
but, i'm a good patient and didn't say a word, just took deep breaths.
i feel like i've gotten tougher over the years and am able to handle a lot more pain than i used to.
they quickly laid me down on the table and got to work getting me all ready.
the blue sheet went up and more and more people were showing up in the room.
i was so ready for aj to get there.
i could feel them messing with me and i asked the anesthesiologist to make sure i was good and numb because it took a while for me to get numb on my last c-section. 
he upped the dosage of spinal to account for that.

i started feeling like i could. not. breathe.
i could not take a deep breath for anything and i could not breathe out of my nose at all.
the anesthesiologist said that is because of the extra spinal....something about my diaphragm being numb and tricking my brain into thinking that i couldn't breathe.
he said he was watching my levels and i was breathing just fine.
well i still felt like i couldn't breathe so that was pretty rough. 
i spent the entire time until i got to recovery, taking little bitty shallow breaths and wishing i could get one deep breath.

finally aj came in and i was so relieved.
the first thing i said to him was, "i don't ever want to do this again."
he made a play list for delivery day called, "welcome ruby."
he put the ipod on the bed right next to my ear so i could focus on that.
it helped so, so much.
i just turned my head towards the music and tried to fill my thoughts with the words of the song and ignore everything going on around me.

aj kept encouraging me and telling me i was doing good.
and then all of a sudden, just as all creatures of our god and king, was playing on the ipod, she was born.
it was an amazing moment and the perfect song for that moment.
my first words, "is she still a girl??"
the doctor said, "100% girl." :)
then he did the coolest thing, he said, "i'm about to come around with the baby, reach out your hand and you can touch her."
i got to caress her sweet head, right after delivery....something i was never able to do with my boys.
that was such a sweet moment.

then they took her over to the table and aj went over there to watch.
i listened to the music, listened to her first cries, and thanked Jesus for our sweet, precious, perfect gift.
pretty soon, aj brought her back over to me, all bundled up for me to love and kiss on.
i just kissed her sweet face over and over and told her i loved her

it seemed like it took forever for them to get finished stitching me all back up. 
then they put my numb self back on the gurney and took me to recovery.
i honestly have no recollection of recovery.
when it was time, they took me to our room and pretty soon after, they brought my ruby jane.

it was so wonderful to finally get to meet and hold our precious daughter.

she was really sleepy but she nursed like a pro right away.
pretty soon, family and friends started filtering in.
my precious daddy prayed a blessing over our girl.

ruby and i slept on and off throughout the day.

it was so good to have the c-section over with, have our daughter, know that she was safe and begin the process of recovery.

 

 in the afternoon, my boys came up to meet their sister. 

it was so sweet to watch them each hold her.

they had prayed for her and anticipated her arrival just as much as we had.

the first picture of our family of six. :)

the day of ruby's birth was such a wonderful day that i will treasure.

my phone buzzed all day with texts and messages from people congratulating and letting us know they were praying.

we felt so loved and we know that it went so well because of all the prayers on our behalf.

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy   ~Psalm 126:3

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