My sweet girl!

All I can say is wow...the last two weeks have been amazing, crazy, tiring, and the best that I've ever had! I know I haven't really posted about Carleigh's birth or anything else, so I'll just start from the beginning. I will warn you in advance that this will be a very long post.

So, since the last time I posted about my pregnancy, I had to be put in the hospital again for a few days because of my blood pressure. I was released and my doctor had told me if I came back in his office with high blood pressure the next week, he was going to put me back in there and I would stay until I had Carleigh. I think this was about June 4th. So, I was very nervous for the next appt. I stayed either in bed or on the couch because I did not want to be back in the hospital (especially not for several weeks). The night before my next appt (which would have been June 10th) I was very nervous. I tried to go to bed early so I would be well rested for the appt the next day. Well, I woke up about 1 am and could not go back to sleep. Of course when I woke up Grady had gone to sleep in the guest room because at that point I was snoring so loudly he couldn't get any sleep. I laid in bed just praying I could go back to sleep. Finally about 2:45 am I decided to call Kristi. Now the best time to call Kristi is when she's at work. Kristi works nights as an OB nurse. I called to talk to her about my fears for the next morning. After talking to her for about 15 min I felt this sudden tightness (I guess it was a contraction) and then my water broke! I said "I think my water just broke". Of course, she didn't believe me until I started freaking out! I had no idea what I was supposed to do, I was only 35 weeks and not prepared for my water to break. I knew Carleigh was breech and I would have to have a c-section, but I thought it would be planned. I didn't think there would be any contractions, any water breaking, etc. Boy was I wrong! When Kristi finally realized I was serious, she told me to calm down and go to the hospital. So I opened the bedroom door and yelled across the house "GRADY! MY WATER BROKE!" Well, he comes flying in the bedroom and I'm surprised he didn't slip and fall from all the fluid on the floor. We got our stuff together (luckily our bag was already packed just in case I got admitted the next morning) and we were off to the hospital. And that's when the contractions started! I think I had been having contractions all day that day before, but just didn't know what they were because they didn't hurt very bad. Well, these "real" contractions were horrible. Apparently after your water breaks the bad pain starts. So we got the hospital about 3:30 am and they got me all hooked up to an iv, took blood, checked me out and called the doctor. Luckily, my doctor was on call. I wouldn't have been happy if he wasn't because I wanted him to deliver my baby, no one else. The sweet nurse came back in the room to give me some pain medicine (it did NOT help) and told me we were having this baby at 6 am! Wow, it was all happening too fast for me. I was so worried about Carleigh and whether or not it was safe for her to come 5 weeks early (like I had a choice). I was worried because there was no NICU at this hospital and if something were wrong I'd stay where I was and she'd go to a different hospital. Let me just tell you, I was freaking out. About 5:45 the nurses wheeled me down to the OR to prep for the c-section. As soon as I got the spinal block, all the pain went away (and the feeling from my chest down)! It was wonderful to not feel that pain anymore. I really don't think I could have made it through labor, especially since I was only dialated to 1 cm when we got there. Grady was allowed to come in the OR after my spinal block was given. The dr came in and did his thing and Carleigh was born at 6:12 am. They held her up over the sheet that was in front of me and I saw her beautiful face and I was immediately in love. In recovery, her pediatrician came in and talked to me saying that she was perfect and had no problems. She did have to stay under the warmer for a while and I didn't get to hold her until she was about 5 hours old, but other than that she was good. We stayed in the hospital for 4 days and let me say that recovering from a c-section is hard and painful. But here I am 2 weeks later and most of the time I'm feeling fine. I'm still a little sore when I wake up in the morning, but I'm not on any pain meds and it's nothing like the first week. I couldn't even sleep on my back for a week! So now we are just having sleepless nights and trying to get our routine worked out. Carleigh has not gained as much weight as she's supposed to yet, so we are supplementing with a little bit of formula and we take her back to the doctor on Monday for another weight check. I'm praying she will be right where she needs to be. When we left the hospital she was 5 lbs even, a few days later she was 5 lbs 2 oz and when we went on Monday, she was 5 lbs 4 oz. She has to do some gaining soon! She has grown 1 whole inch and is now 18 inches! Yay! I'll post again next week with more pictures and let you know how she's doing. Thanks to everyone for your prayers, support, and love over the last 2 weeks!

Me in a lot of pain before the c-section

Grady all ready for the OR

Carleigh's first picture

My baby being cleaned off

Sweet girl

My first time holding Carleigh

Daddy holding his sweet baby
Getting warmed up (again!)

How precious!
Isn't she a cutie?!?

Look at that hair!

First time being held by Nana
First time being held my Gmaw

I love you Mommy!

All ready to go home

Look how little she is in her carseat!

I love this face!

She's such a good sleeper

Look, I can hold my own paci!