The Story of Elizabeth's Birth

I have been motivated by Laura's great blogs to do a blog about Elizabeth's birth. It is one of those things that I will remember forever, but I do think it is a good idea to get it all down in writing somewhere, you know how details become kind of hazy over time. Elizabeth's due date was December 10th, so we were able to schedule a C-section no earlier than December 3rd, which was a Friday. Dr. James Wilson is the doctor who delivered Gabriel (it just happened that he was on-call that night as I had seen all of the doctors in the practice). I loved him and followed up with him after Gabriel's birth and thereafter. This go-around we knew I was going to have a scheduled birth, so I was able to see him and his nurse Heather exclusively for all of my pre-natal visits. He is a goofball and right up my alley, making jokes with Cedric about possibly "getting some" in the near future etc. He is off on Fridays, so if we were to choose 12/3, someone else would have had to do the surgery and I did not want that! So Monday 12/6 it was to be!

Early Monday morning I got up and got ready (at 4:00) because we had to be at the hospital at 6:00 AM, surgery was scheduled for 7:00 ...I let Cedric sleep a little longer! Mom and dad came over to stay with Gabriel so he could sleep a little longer before joining us at the hospital. Here we are all ready to leave for the hospital:


We had to go in the emergency room exit at the hospital, because the main entrance was still locked (too early in the morning!). We headed up to the 3rd floor to Labor and Delivery and got checked in. Of course the first thing they had me do was get changed and into a lovely hospital gown and got my IV started. I always hate having an IV, but it wasn't that bad this time. After that, they got a fetal monitor on me and we discovered I was having contractions! Here is a pic of me in my lovely hospital gown:



It was not much longer after that when mom, dad and Gabriel arrived. Gabriel was a little bothered by the fact that I was in the bed and would be leaving soon for surgery, but he was very brave! He loved it when they made me drink this cup of nasty medicine, I think it is something that is supposed to help with stopping nausea...it about caused nausea when I drank it though! Here I am with Gaby:



After that, Cedric got suited up and they sent us to the C-section suite to prepare for surgery. Here is Ceddy in his outfit:


And here is me all ready to go:


Dr. Wilson arrived with his coffee in hand right before 7:00, and we had everyone there except for anasethesia. Dr. Wilson made a quick phone call to see what was going on. Apparently the person who was supposed to be there that morning had car trouble and there was a bit of a mix up about coverage. Here he is making the call to see where the heck the anesthesia folks are:

Dr Wilson said that must be my people out in the waiting room with all the UNC stuff on (he is an Ohio State fan but knows my blood runs CAROLINA blue!) They took me into the actual OR and had me get up on the table, lean over, and then did the spinal. For some reason Cedric could not come back in there with me. It hurt like hell but immediately took effect. It was very hard to get back into a lying down position because I was already completely numb. Cedric got to come in after that and then things got started...It really doesn't take too long at all for a C-section and I really didn't feel anything except for a little pressure..Cedric finds that hard to believe because he says they were pushing and pulling on me like crazy! I did get nauseous at one point during the procedure, but they gave me something through the IV that seemed to help. And then at 7:31 a.m., they pulled Miss Elizabeth Delcina Moore out!

And here I am finally getting to see who has been hanging out inside my belly for 39 long weeks...of course she was well worth the wait!!!

After the delivery, I was brought back to the recovery room while Elizabeth went to the nursery to get cleaned up, weighed, etc. Here is the "peanut gallery" waiting to get a sneak peak of our new baby girl:


She weighed in at 8 pounds, 7.2 ounces, bigger than Gabriel who was 8 pounds 2.5 ounces.


Here I am finally getting to hold her for the first time, it felt like forever before they brought her back to me! Of course it was LOVE at first site and I immediately knew what everyone told me was right, that your heart just grows and fills with more love when you have another child.


And here is Ceddy getting to hold his baby girl and feed the first of many bottles!