As mentioned in a previous post, Justin and I ended our last night as a family of two with a date. We had a splendid Italian dinner at Mamma Mia, followed by tasty dessert at Sweet Cece's. (Why did I take advantage of the Buy One Get One Free special for pregnant women only on my last evening as a pregnant woman?!?)
The plan was to go to bed early because we were waking up at 4am to get our last minute stuff in order before our 5:30am appointment at the hospital. Ha! Justin and I slept for maybe an hour - we were excited and anxious and nervous all at the same time. We kept praying that everything would go smoothly and that Felicity would be born healthy and with no complications. We also kept wondering exactly how things would be different with a newborn in the picture. It was definitely a nerve-racking last few hours as being just us!
Finally, it was time to go. Naturally, in typical Justin fashion, he realizes that he left his cell phone at home as we got on the onramp to the highway. Of course this happens on the day that he'd be making the most phone calls of his life! It was too late to turn back, especially with the inclement rainy weather, so we just kept trudging on.
We got to the hospital and met my mom and dad. After I was all prepped for the surgery, they were able to come into my room to help alleviate those last minute anxieties. If I didn't know better, I coulda sworn I saw tears in both of them as they wheeled me off to surgery just before 7:30am.
The Cesarean itself was easy-peasy...I didn't feel a thing! And before I knew it, I was able to see (and hear!) my daughter, Felicity Christine, for the first time. It all happened so super fast! After Lissie was checked out by the nurses, they brought her back to me, and she stayed in my arms as they finished up the rest of my surgery. It was definitely very surreal.
The surgery was over in under an hour! We were all taken to the recovery room, where I started to feel the pain once the spinal anesthesia wore off. Even though I hurt A LOT (despite having started pain meds), I was still so relieved that everything turned out okay and that I had a beautiful, healthy baby girl in my arms.
My parents and Justin's dad met us up in our hospital room, and we all relished in the new addition to our family. We took a gazillion pictures and simply couldn't take our eyes off of this little tiny girl. We all agreed that, in many ways, Felicity is the spitting image of her Lola Hilda - Justin's mom, who passed away almost five years ago. How awesome and amazing is this circle of life?!?
Lissie and I were extremely worn out and called it a day pretty early.
The next few days were spent simply recovering. I was in loads of pain the first day, but every passing day got better, and I managed to do some laps in the hallway every day.
It was hard for Justin and I to adjust to being woken up by crying, but we got used to it and have started to listen for and read her signals and cues better with each passing day.
We were blessed with lots of visitors - friends, co-workers, and even Ninang Marlene dropped in - which helped speed the recovery process along.
We finally got to leave on Saturday, and the adventures are just now beginning!
One of my favorite first pictures of my new daughter:
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