{Carolina Jane Ellen Graebe}

 

After waiting 39 weeks and 6 long days, we finally got to meet our sweet baby girl Thursday, August 11 at 8:49am. Carolina Jane Ellen Graebe was born weighing 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19" long. Three c-sections in four years - all very different experiences, but all ending with perfect little additions to our family.

The night before our C-section, we took Ethan and Emerson out to parents to get them settled for the next couple days. We headed back to our house (so quiet!), did some last minute packing and cleaning, and set our alarms for the next morning. We got to the hospital at 6am and started the process of getting prepped for surgery...including my last bump picture!

 

My nerves were doing okay this point - just anxious. I couldn't sit and kept pacing around our room waiting for the green light from the nurses. As always, I had a phenomenal team of nurses taking care of me - not to mention Dr. Stowell who has now delivered all our sweet babies. Come to find out, Dr. Stowell wasn't on call that day...he came in just to deliver Carolina...now THAT is an awesome doctor.

 

I felt pretty good during most of the surgery. Obviously there's so much going on around you, but you can't see anything but the sheet in front of you and the anthesologist over your face asking how you're feeling. I remember Dr. Stowell saying "we're getting close" and soon thereafter said he's got her head, a big push, and she was out! As she was being taken over to be checked out, I remember thinking, "wow, she looks small"! We really thought we might have a 7 lb. baby, but nope...6 lbs. 6 oz! Just a peanut! Eric immediately went over and started taking some pictures of her before he came back to check on me. He has always said it's such a surreal and "weird' experience because here his child has just been born, but his wife is cut open on a surgery table being put back together. Love him, he's knocked it out of the park all three times being the official photographer in the operating room!

One new (and really cool) thing our hospital has implemented in the last two years since Emerson was born, is skin-to-skin for C-section babies. In the past, you wouldn't be able to have skin-to-skin until after your surgery is completed and you're in the post-op room. With Carolina, they cleaned her up and then placed her right across my collarbones/neck area. It was kind of awkward because there wasn't a lot of room since the sheet was still up and I had one arm tied down (normal during a C-section), but Eric kept a hand on the baby and just let her lay there for awhile. She kept taking her little hand and touching my face and mouth...so sweet.

With all three surgeries, you start to get really loopy after the baby is already out - they say it's the surge of hormones leaving your body. So here Carolina is on my chest and I just remember getting reallllllly tired and wanting nothing more to pass out. I had my eyes closed and barely had enough energy to muster up the word "hi" to her. Once we were in our post-op room where they monitor you and baby for a hour, Eric said I kept asking the same questions and saying the same things I did after Ethan and Emerson too. Haha. He just kept laughing at me and I had no idea why. The newborn nurse was in love with Carolina and kept saying how alert she was under the warmer.

 
We made it back to our recovery room and things got super busy with nurses coming in every 15-20 minutes to do checks on me and baby. Traffic started to slow down about 11:15 and then it hit me...all the pain. I felt like my insides had just been ripped open...which I guess they had =) One major difference with this surgery was I chose not to have morphine because of an itchy reaction I got after both Ethan and Emerson. It was bad enough after Emerson that I said I would rather deal with the pain versus the itchy madness. I don't regret my decision, but wow the pain was immediate.

 

 

 

On to more important things though...Carolina meeting her family!!! Carolina was so incredibly lucky to be surrounded by ALL her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and most importantly, her BIG brother and BIG sister!! Emerson wanted to crawl right up into bed with me so she could check Carolina out. Ethan...well, he was a little more hesitant - mostly because he didn't like seeing mommy all hooked up to the machines with "boo-boo's" everywhere. The next couple days during our hospital stay was full of family visits, friends visiting, and "picnics" with Ethan and Emerson =)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with our other two birth experiences, we received the best care during our hospital stay. We can't say enough about the nurses that took care of us. The best part was seeing familiar faces from two years ago with Emerson! We saw our most favorite nurse, Miss Deb, who was our lifesaver with Emerson and you would've thought she was our long lost aunt! I literally got choked up when I saw her because she was so excited (and surprised!) to see us! My nurse, Susan, who was with me during my surgery with Carolina actually came by our room on Saturday to visit us and bring stickers for Ethan and Emerson. Every one we came into contact with was so incredibly sweet, truly took time to invest in our lives, and made our stay that much more enjoyable. We love our nurses!!

We headed home Monday afternoon to begin our new adventure as a family of FIVE!!! There came a time at the end of my pregnancy where I just needed her here. I needed a brand new, wrinkly baby to snuggle with on my chest. I needed to smell her. I needed to protect her and take care of her. I needed her. She serves as such a relief to me. I feel like she is going to be my constant reminder amidst all the chaos of raising two older toddlers to just take a deep breath and slow down.  To look around and be so incredibly thankful of these tiny little humans we get to raise and love on each day. We are overflowing with love for sweet Carolina and we can't wait to share her with our family and friends!