Charlotte's arrival

I'm not one that typically writes birth stories, but for memories sake I thought I'd write a little about Charlotte's arrival.  Charlotte's birth was much anticipated & she gave me a lot of trouble leading up to her birth.  Charlotte was breech & rotated into a posterior position, meaning unless something drastic changed, I was going to be having a c-section (something which I did not want & did not think I could handle).  Top that with disagreement between doctors on what size she actually was & when she should arrive & you have a stressful situation even for the most seasoned mother.  As I type this I'm watching this little angel sleep on her video monitor, so all is well that ends well, but let's just say I was a hot mess leading up to her delivery.  I had terrible pain & contractions for an entire month before she was born due to my body trying to turn her.  However unlikely, turn she did & we had a healthy delivery.  The day came & I was scheduled for Jan. 23rd to be induced by a very seasoned doctor in the group practice I see.  I had previously quit working about 3 weeks prior to her delivery due to the discomfort I was having & I am so glad because now having 3 children it is certainly tiring & there would have been very little time to rest had I not made this decision.  We went in at 7am on the 23rd & we had hoped/prayed for a quick & easy delivery.  We got the piton started to kick start my labor, which had been already started before the 1st of the year ( I had been stuck at 3 cm dilated for a few weeks with regular pre labor contractions sometimes 5 hrs a night).  The pitocin worked rapidly & I was able to get my epidural fairly quickly.  Charlotte did give us a scare during delivery & it turns out due to her in utero gymnastics her cord was wrapped around her neck.  It was quite terrifying that each time I would have a contraction her heart rate would drop to around 40 bpm.....needless to say there were tears & fear on my behalf, but everything actually was under control.  By 1pm I was ready to push & she was out by 1:25 pm.  It was quick & mostly easy, although no delivery is ever totally easy!  The end result was another beautiful blessing for our family.  This time around the hospital had special "stork" nurses who made sure mommy/baby were allowed to bond before baby was whisked away for their testing, etc.  This was so very different than when I had the other girls I kept asking them if they were going to take her to bathe/weigh her & they said no that we had 1 hr. after her birth to bond with her.  It was a sweet time with our new baby.  Michael & I kept saying how small she was & how we thought she'd be bigger.  When they first gave her to me she peed all over me...which was a fitting way to welcome me back to having an infant.  After getting weighed & checkout they got us to the recovery rooms & I just wanted food.  I was so hungry & had a difficult time eating prior to her delivery.  All I really wanted was lunch!  After a short time to settle in Jessica & Ella came in to see the baby as did Michael's parents.  Jessica & Ella immediately thought she was "so cute."  They were very proud big sisters.  Once they left to get me some decent dinner I had time to rest & watch a little tv to unwind.  Delivery day, although a joyous occasion, is physically, emotionally, & mentally exhausting & I was so grateful to have some alone time.  Michael arrived back to my room in time for dinner to bring me a delicious gourmet burger from Tessario's.  Their burgers are the best in Pittsburgh & they just happen to be a few blocks from the hospital.  Later after I had devoured my burger, the hospital brought around food & I ate that also....I was starving.  I spent the rest of the 23rd enjoying the baby & resting.  The next day we opted to get out of the hospital & head home.  We had to get home to the girls because their schedule had to continue & I really wanted to be at home to get settled.  The transition home is always more hectic than I imagine so I wanted to jump in & figure out a new routine.  Thankfully, I had prepped a fair amount of food beforehand & the transition was mostly smooth.  We are grateful for our littlest blessing & so thankful to have her join our household.

Happy Birthday baby girl

Headed home on the 24th