Amazing Grace!

6-3-11

I am long overdue for an update!

Our little Grace was born one week ago! May 27th, 2011 at 10:27 am! She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and had the "special care" nurses at her delivery! Thursday night I had dinner with my mom, stepdad and Max at Texas Roadhouse then handed off Mr Max to grandma Mary and grandpa Craig's and he seemed pretty excited for the sleepover! Robb played softball with his work guys and then met me at home! It was weird to just have it be the two of us. We finished up " the list" of things to do, like making Grace a pillow to match one of the blankets I made for her. then we watched the news and the late night shows we like and had a bowl of ice cream with yummy raspberries just before midnight. Perfect treat as I was to have nothing to eat after midnight! The TV was off by midnight as we were both tired and nervous. I maybe slept an hour or two and Robb the same. It was nice for planning on a scheduled c-section but still nerve-wracking! Luckily, I saved all my jitters from being written on here. by 5am we were both awake. Robb walked the dogs and got ready and I pretended to sleep until 5:30. Then I hopped in the shower and got ready, too. Crazy thing to get ready to meet your daughter! We took a few pictures of the bump before we left.


-We got to the hospital at 7:45 and we ran our errands. Robb got a coffee with my nurses week gift card to Cafe Amore, we got movie passes and a wrist band to the nickelodeon universe at the mall of America to send with my mom, then finally found our way to the maternal assessment center. I got changed and filled out paper work, got an IV and got fluids, monitored the baby and had a small contraction! ( hooray for that! We had been hoping to go into labor a little before the big day, I even had an hour of contractions after one of my last nights to work.)


we had a few fun little visits from my fun and funny work girls, then the serious visits from Dr. G and the MDA. The it was go time! It's kind of a whirlwind after that! I was brought into the OR got up on the table, got an intrathecal shot in my back that made me numb and acted as pain control, too. There are so many things I have worked with but not really known what they were until now. Then my wonderful friend Anna who was great support the last week or so before delivery had signed up extra on her day off to come in and work in the OR,(thanks Anna) got me prepped. Then the blue curtains went up and the crying began! Good thing DeeDee, our awesome baby nurse, brought Robb in when she did. There was a big difference between my first c-section and this one. I literally felt nothing during my first and this time I felt a lot more, but nothing painful. I could tell right away when Grace was out. I could breath easier and had ribs again! I could not wait to hear her voice! And then, I heard it! Grace's sweet little cry.


Robb's first statement was "she's ripped!" and she was pink right away! Maggie and DeeDee worked their magic over at the warmer and then Robb was holding her!


She is just amazing! She


seems so tiny, especially next to big brother Max! We had a great experience in recovery with Jen and Christine and then were brought upstairs to post Partum and Andrea. Our room was totally decked out and it made me cry, as so much of this day did! Thank you to all involved!


We had some time together, the three of us, to get to know each other before the company came. Gracie even got her bath and hardly squeaked.


I have to say our whole hospital experience was great. Our nurses were great and really took care of us. It was nice to stay until Monday if only to not worry about all the things at home. Both Robb and I really, REALLY missed Max. We knew he was in great hands and they came to visit every day but we just missed our little man! It was funny that all of our visitor seemed to come at the same time. I would find myself overwhelmed at the amount of people in the room and not being able to chat with them and then they would all clear out and I felt like I had talked to no one!









So far, Gracie is a great eater. Thursday, at 7 days old she was back up to 7lbs 12oz. She had been own to 7lbs 5 oz before my milk came in. Robb calls her cookie monster because she looks like she is "hungry for cooookies" when it's time to eat! She really only cries during diaper changes and is just starting to keep her eyes open longer than feedings.

Max is a very sweet big brother, who did awesome away but missed us, too. He really likes Grace but it has been a transition for all of us. Can't fathom what it feels like to be him. The biggest thing to work on now is his rambunctious-ness around her. Max is very protective of her. When people come visit and hold her his line is "give her back to mommy"!