Shaun and I had to leave for the hospital at abut 6:45 a.m. I didn't sleep much the night before because of the anticipation of the surgery and meeting our new daughter and also because I got up 10 times to pee. I'm thankful those days are over! My parents arrived the night before to stay with Julianne while we were at the hospital. I got up at around 5:30 to shower, get ready and paint my toe nails. Yes, I painted my toe nails the morning we went to the hospital. A girl can't possibly go to the hospital with unpainted toe nails! We made our way to the hospital and checked in at 7:30.
The nurse went through all the check-in information, got my IV started (ouch!), we met the anesthesiologist, my Dr. came in and we waited. And waited. I was supposed to be in surgery at 9:30 a.m. but it ended up being about 10 instead. Thirty minutes may not seem like much of a delay but when you are extremely nervous from anticipating getting sliced open, it feels like an eternity. This is a picture Shaun took of me right before I walked back to the OR. Don't let my smile fool you, I was a nervous wreck. I started crying because I was so nervous. My c-section with Julianne went great so I have no idea why I was so nervous but I just had a horrible feeling rush over me. I was mostly nervous for the spinal (I hate that part) and that something could go wrong. Shaun saw my nerves, tried to comfort me and said a prayer as he held my hand. I felt better.
I walked into the OR and climbed up onto the table. Why are OR's so cold? I was shaking from being so cold (or being scared...I'm not sure which). The nurse helped me get into the appropriate position to get my spinal. It's hard to sit hunched over like that for so long. Once I was set with the spinal, they laid me back on the table. If you are a modest person, being laid out on an OR table pretty much naked while 10 people scurry around the room making preparations, it will cure you of your modesty. They invited Shaun in and then got started. It's so weird to lay there on the table and be able to hear what's going on but not see anything. Shaun kept peeking over the curtain, taking photos....thanks honey. Here is a picture of me during the procedure... do I look annoyed that he was taking my picture...because I was. 
A few minutes into the surgery, I felt a wave of heat come over me like I have never felt before. I began sweating and I looked at Shaun and said "I'm going to pass out!" Then I looked at the anesthesiologist and told him the same thing. I kept saying "I'm so hot" and "I feel like I'm going to pass out". I was sure something was wrong because of how I felt. I looked to Shaun for an explanation. He just kept saying "it's fine....your blood pressure is a little low but it's fine." One of the great things about being married to a Dr. is that he knows what's going on in the operating room. He can read the monitor's and tell me what's wrong. I could tell that Shaun was not telling me the whole story but I trusted him that everything was o.k. I found out later that my blood pressure had dropped to 59 over almost nothing. Apparently, this is a side affect of the anesthesia. They gave me some medicine to help with the situation and I felt better after a few minutes. I felt better just in time to enjoy the sound of the Dr. telling us that our daughter was about to enter the world. Shaun snapped some pictures (some very graphic pictures) for all of you to enjoy! Well, he probably snapped them for us but I have decided to let all of you enjoy them!
Head out
Half way there!
Here I am world!
Me hearing Claire cry for the first time (isn't that just the best sound?)
The worst part about a c-section is laying there while they put you back together. It takes FOREVER. I got to listen as they looked Claire over and Shaun kept coming over and giving me updates. They checked her out, suctioned her, cleaned her off, weighed her, and then gave her to Shaun.She looks wiped out doesn't she?
Holding on to daddy
Our first photo of the 3 of us
After they had me all taken care of, they put Claire on the gurney with me and wheeled us into a recovery room. The nurse checked my vital signs like every five minutes and kept saying, can you move your toes yet? She must have asked me 20 times. I really wanted to say, "can I just tell you when I can move my toes?" It's a weird feeling to be laying in a bed and only be able to move from the arms up. My feeling eventually started coming back and I felt well enough for my parents to bring Julianne to the hospital. Here are the photos of Julianne seeing her sister for the very first time. 
If you're thinking she doesn't look to impressed, she wasn't. She wasn't interested at all. We asked her if she wanted to kiss the baby and she said "nooooooooooooo"! She still says that over two weeks later but that is for a different post. My parents stayed just a few minutes and then took Julianne to get a bite to eat while they took me to my hospital room. We got settled in and then they brought Julianne up to room for a few minutes. Then everyone went home and left me to get some rest while the nursery had Claire for a few hours for her bath and to be monitored for a while. They all came back a few hours later and we had some family time. I had to change into my cuter hospital gown (those blue ones they give you are hideous and 10 sizes to big even when you are 9 months pregnant). We spent some time enjoying one another and taking photos of our new family.Our new family of 4
Me with my newest daughter
Daddy, mommy and Claire
This is a picture of Claire next to a newborn picture of me that my dad pulled out of his wallet. I think my second baby might actually look like me. 
My mom, Claire and I
My parents with their newest granddaughter (#4)
Cuddles with grammy
My parents with both of our girls
This is the day after Claire was born. Julianne warmed up a little.
Julianne hanging out with her papa. If papa is around, pretty much no one else exists.
I stayed in the hospital for 4 nights. I miss the hospital. They bring you pain meds every four hours, hot meals right on schedule, and they take the baby to the nursery at night so you can sleep and bring her right to you when she needs to be fed. It's pretty sweet. I could have stayed longer but I did want to get home to Julianne. So on February 9th, I got us both up and ready to come home:
Bye hospital!
Getting wheeled out
Me and both of my girls
Driving away from the hospital
There you have it - the birth story of our Claire. Of course, it took us 2 days to name her that but I'll save that story for another time.
