The Birth- aka Bless My Little Heart

Bless my little heart for thinking that I would be well rested and looking good for my scheduled C-section. And I thought I was worried about oversleeping on the morning of the ACT. Ha. Talk about a bad night of sleep. I mean, who in their (9 month pregnant) right mind would want to accidentally sleep through their 5 am appointment to have their baby removed from their enormous 9 month pregnant tummy? Not I. Therefore, I went to bed around 1 am and woke up every twenty minutes until 4am, at which point I gave up and got ready to go (though we still managed to arrive after 5).

Oh, yeah. This is real. I was that enormous and swollen...just wait, it gets better/worse

Good thing Auntie Ca was there to push this boy in the box. He had the time of his bald little life.

A word about his haircut. About two weeks before the baby was to arrive, I went downstairs for a minute. When I came back up, I walked past the bathroom without looking in, then backed up when I heard my husband say, "sorry. I am so sorry." When I looked in, Charlie was seated in the sink without any hair. Dad actually used the wrong size on the clippers and once it's done, it's done. It was not a terribly big deal, except that in the following weeks, I would find myself getting weepy thinking about Charlie being sick, because he looked so much like he was having treatments, I would sometimes forget that he wasn't actually sick. These pictures here are with two plus weeks of regrowth.

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Holy cow, pun intended. I was shocked when i finally got to a mirror-my face was beyond swollen. The nurses told me it was from the pitocin they gave me in my iv after the surgery. All I can say is, bless my little heart. such good intentions of a first family photo.

also, bless charlie's bald little heart

creepy, masked Abby lurking behind the baby

I think it is obvious that this bow came from Jessica. She's already helping Stella to be stylish

Sam started throwing up that night, so we determined it was best if the family wasn't around me or the babe for a few days. Cam's parents were generously taking care of Charlie and came twice a day to visit, but in short doses. Two year old + tiny hospital room full of electronics, buttons and other equipment are a bad combo. I sent Cam home to sleep and told him to go ahead and work while I was in the hospital. Basically, I was alone for 5 days. It was fabulous. The baby stayed in the nursery all night long, I read, browsed around online, watched a little tv and slept like crazy. I went to bed early, took pain pills and had all my food brought to me. The doctor told me I could leave Thursday if I wanted, and I think the look on my face was all he needed to know better than to bring that up again. Loved everything. My nurses were amazing  I'd go back and hang out there for a few days every few months if I had the choice. What a vacation! If only I hadn't been so swollen. Can't have it all I guess