Welcome to the World!

After arriving at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. and spending some nervous time waiting for her arrival, Addie Grace came into the world at 7:45 a.m. without any problems. I had a little trouble initially with my blood pressure dropping from the epidural, but the anesthesiologist was great and was very attentive and got everything straightened out.

The hardest part about a c-section was not being able to hold her and see her right after she was born. They held her up for me and after they cleaned her up, brought her as close to me as possible. Chad did a great job taking lots of pictures so I was able to at least see them later. I was an emotional wreck while they were cleaning her and sewing me up...just the joy and blessing of it all was more than I could contain! Just when you think you have all the love you could possibly give to your children, God blesses you with another child and you instantly love them more than life itself, just like the other children you already have. God's creation is so amazing.

After they cleaned her up Chad was able to take her into the nursery and I stayed in the OR for them to finish with me. I got to the recovery room about 45 minutes after she was born and they let Chad come be with me. After a few minutes they brought her and for the first time I was able to really see her and hold her. Her eyes were open and she was looking around everywhere! I was able to nurse her for the first time in the recovery room and then we all headed to my room where she pretty much stayed with us all the time. I did send her to the nursery at night but they brought her to me for every feeding so it was about 2 hours at a time that she was not in the room during the night.