So. Same as with Veronica, I went to my parents' house in the early morning, I was supposed to be there around 7:00 so I wanted to get up around 6 but of course I woke up at 4:21 and there was no going back to sleep. I stopped by Dunkin Donuts to get coffee and the guy there asked me if I was having a boy or a girl and I said, I don't know but I'll find out later this morning. And then he seemed REALLY nervous, like I was going to have the baby right there! Ha! I got my Dad and he dropped me off. I talked for a LONG time with the check in girl. She is Catholic too and she goes to St. Joan of Arc, we talked about the priest, and her bible study, it was interesting. The two nurses assigned to me came in and I got in my robe and got the monitors on, I was having contractions, which I knew because I could feel them for the previous two days. One nurse was new and one nurse had been doing it for 30 years and there was some tension there. The new nurse was very nice but my LORD, she was practicing and practicing on me. The IV lock thing took a while, it was all kind of a pain.
The anesthesiologist came in and he was charming - I have never met one who wasn't, actually. We talked about morphine and itching and blah blah blah. Dr. Bolin came in and we were off. I walked to the OR, which I had forgotten about. It seems so weird that you walk in to an operating room! It was freezing and bright. We talked about jury duty. I had to call Dr. Bolin the day before, on a Sunday even, to get clearance to be treated by an emergency dentist because I broke my tooth clean off. So they were talking about what the hell, why don't dentists see patients for emergencies? I said I went to an Immediadent type place and it was fine but expensive and now I had to go see my regular dentist anyway. Then a nurse said that dentists didn't have to serve on juries, which doesn't seem true, but which annoyed the doctors in the room. Anyways, we talked about jury duty. He put the spinal in and I laid down. I am always asking if Mike can come in yet, on account of they almost FORGOT him when I was having Maria. He came in and we started. The anasthesiologist was so nice about telling me what they were doing. Oh I forgot about my nails! I had a pedicure and a manicure the week before I had the baby, and I had my nails done in a super dark color - almost black but more purple. They looked really nice but the anasthesiologist had to take off the polish from my index finger because it was messing up the pulse oxygen thing. Apparently it looks at the color and it was too dark. Anyways, the anasthesiologist kept telling me what she was doing, after Mike came in, they started. I mentioned to Mike that there was no radio and they put it on for me, which was nice. It took quite a while after they made the incision for her to be born. I kept hearing a new song (I had a Bad Day, Faith, etc.) and thinking "this is the song that will be on when he or she is born" but then it would switch to a new song. Apparently, she had meconium and then they were trying to get the head out first but they couldn't *get to it* because there was so much fluid. My doctor, much like my doctor with Maria, was grunting and groaning like she was working out or something! Finally she was born and the anasthesiologist said "it's a girl!". I thought of the lack of circumcision first, as usual. I could see her - well, I could see them working on her and then I could hear her crying and crying. She sounded great, I was so happy. They asked Mike what her name was and he said Felicity and it sounded perfect to me for the first time. He took pictures of her and showed them to me and then after a while the nurse brought her over. It is always such a relief to see that face wrapped up in the blanket and hat. She was beautiful. We were in recovery for a while, she was grunting and the nurse was worried but the neonatologist kept checking and saying she was fine. So they gave her to me and we wheeled upstairs.
I can never remember the first nurse's name, it was maybe Melissa? She was really nice, she complimented me on not freaking out when Felicity couldn't and wouldn't nurse. She was SO sleepy and it had been sort of traumatic for her to be born, so I figured she was just tired. Plus maybe I always secretly hope there will be a reason they CAN'T nurse, ha! Not really. Anyways, we put up a picture and everyone said such nice things, I guess maybe I slept a little? I can't remember what went on. I just stayed in the bed, I was super itchy and SUPER sweaty, that first night is rough. Later that night, around 8:00, she latched on and seemed to be nursing okay, so that was great. I called Mike to tell him because she still wasn't getting it right by the time he left.
We had some other trouble in the hospital. She kept being so AWAKE all the time, she never would nurse and drift off and she seemed kind of fussy, to me. But Mike would take her and rock her and stick his finger in her mouth and out she'd go, really passed out, like a newborn. So the day before we left, I had Mike call the lactation consultant. I was LOATHE to do it because one had come in the previous day and she showed me how to SHOOSH her - ha ha! as if I need lessons in THAT! - and she also pushed my boobs around a lot. But this one came and realized after a few minutes that Felicity had a 'bubble palette', just a little high, so she wasn't able to latch on. We got this nursing shield and poof, she nursed - I will never forget it. I had in her in the football hold, to my right, and she nursed for just a few minutes and then she gave me kind of a dirty look and drifted off.
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I never know how to end these, I guess. Now she is one year old and we are deeply in love with her. She had all her nursing problems and her ear infection problems, they've all been documented here. We are just wild about her, all of us - all of the kids love her and I can honestly say I've never had a moment where any of the other kids have said "you're always with Felicity!" or anything like that. She is only ever in danger of being loved to death by her siblings, ha! After one year and one day, I can honestly say I don't know where we'd be without her. She is our good sweet baby and beside the fact that she never naps, she is perfect in every way.
Awww that last part made me a little teary! Lol, she is lucky to be so loved!
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