The Gill Family: A Birthday and Wet Lungs (long post)

Well as we suspected, November 9th was indeed a great day for the birth of our second little angel, Charlotte Hazel. We were able to keep the first name a secret, well I was, Daddy had some issues. And although we do have a Charlotte and a Hazel in our family trees, we really just chose both of the names randomly.

We arrived at the hospital 15 minutes late at 6:15 am for my scheduled c section at 7:30am. They took me right back and started prepping me. That was a very quick hour. At 7:15, they wheeled me into the OR and got started. I was much more nervous this time. I guess because I had more time to think about what was actually about to happen. All of the OR staff were amazing! They treated me like I was their scared daughter and reminded me that even though the surgery was a big deal to me, it was pretty mundane to them. I also had snuck in a few sips of water before the hospital which was not a good idea. Immediately after the spinal, I became nauseous and did not feel better until those few drops were out. It was a pretty bad feeling, but luckily it stopped after only a few minutes and the rest of the surgery went smoothly..

Charlotte's little cries could be heard right away which was a great relief. They took her away with Alec to clean her off and then brought her back to me to kiss and take some photos. However when she came back to me, her coloring was not good. She looked pretty blue/white. So after a few kopics, they took her back to be worked on more and realized that she had some long fancy name problem (wet lungs) where she had fluid in her lungs so she couldn't properly breathe until that was cleared out. Luckily they took her straight to the nursery and not to the NICU. (a step down).

While I was taken to recovery and waiting for a permanent room, we got news that she was going to be put under an oxygen hood and her lungs would be suctioned out until she could process room oxygen levels appropriately. Even though they reassured me that this is not uncommon for c section babies, I still didn't want to hear that my baby was having to be observed for a minimum of 4 hours instead of in my arms. Once we were able to get a room in the hospital, the nurses arranged for me to be pushed into the nursery in my stretcher to see Charlotte. I thought it was so nice of them to arrange for me to see her for a few minutes. And once we were in our room, my parents brought Trevor which was a good distraction. Finally we got news at 1:00 that Charlotte was on no more oxygen, but that they wanted her to be observed for an hour longer in normal conditions. So FINALLY, at 2:00p.m., Alec went to go pick up our baby girl and bring her back to us. Also, the pediatrician, who I love assured us that once this problem clears itself up, it should never be an issue again. Phew.

Charlotte is only 3 days old, but she has been amazing so far. She loves to sleep and cuddle and she is tiny! She was born weighing 6.12lbs. When we left the hospital, she had gone down to 6.4lbs. Hopefully by her appointment tomorrow, she will have gained back some of that weight. I don't think Trevor has even realized he is sharing his parents with another sibling yet because she requires so little attention. However, I would not be surprised if Trevor can tell that I am not the same. After the surgery, I felt like I had just completed a marathon. Actually the thought of a marathon sounds easier to me than what we did Friday morning. I really never thought a c section would be that difficult. We decided to leave the hospital a day early and had a much better night of sleep at home last night without the constant nurse interruptions.

So far and knock on wood, but life hasn't been that overwhelming. I'm definitely ready to feel back to 100% normal. Or to the point that I feel comfortable picking up Trevor. It has been so nice to have Alec here and I'm not looking forward to him going back to work on Wednesday. Alec is on Trevor duty:)

And here are some of our pics starting with the evening before Charlotte's birth.