Recovery

Calleigh is now 5 weeks old and we're both doing great. I almost feel back to normal. I had gained 40lbs during my pregnancy and I am already 40lbs lighter. Crazy!! I guess it helps when you have a big baby. Nursing has also helped my body heal.

This beautiful baby girl of ours is so healthy and strong. She amazes us on a daily basis. I waited so long to be a mom and I love it.

No...I don't miss work or my coworkers at all.

I enjoyed designing my own baby announcement and am thinking about what I will do once this year is done and I have a 1 year old running around the apartment. I will work my old job part-time from home...and I am thinking about starting up a website so I can design baby announcements, birthday invites and other printed materials. I love designing...and I have a year to improve on what I already know.

My Baby Girl Has Finally Arrived!

Calleigh Rabecca-Lynn was born at 6:25am on February 12, 2011. She weighed 9lbs 11oz and was 22" long.

Calleigh is my first child. So, I didn't know exactly what to expect when it came to labor. I assumed it would be painful and difficult. My attitude was simply this - I wanted to trust that my body knew what it was doing. God made it for this purpose. There was no way I was going to worry about labor when I really had no clue what it would be like for sure. I would take everything as it came. One contraction at a time.

After taking it one contraction at a time - 36 hours later Calleigh was finally born. Around hour 26 I had my first drug...nitric oxide. It made me feel loopy, so I passed on having anymore. Hour 28 came and so did the anesthesiologist. I wanted an epidural at that point, but they would have given me one anyways. Calleigh's heart rate would drop each time I my body would push...I just couldn't help it. An epidural was administered and I was moved to a sterile emergency room. During the journey to see my beautiful girl I also had a couple toppers in my epidural line that made me feel practically nothing, my water was broken, an episiotomy was done and Calleigh was vacuumed out. By 6:25am the nurses removed the cord from her neck and I heard her first cries. I was so tired...but what an amazing experience!! The whole time the doctors, nurses and midwife were ready to do a c-section. I am so happy that didn't happen! That was scarier to me than any of the drugs and even pushing her through a natural birth.

When you have complications, you lose your private room. So after the birth, we went to our shared room. Our roommate snored like a trucker all night and half the day. I hardly had any rest during our 3 day stay there. And when Feb. 14 came, I insisted that they discharge me. They told me I had high blood pressure...and I responded with "I have high blood pressure because I want to kill my roommate." The nurse was surprised at my comment, but we were discharged that day.

Within an hour of being home, even Calleigh's body language changed. She was more relaxed. And now we have this beautiful baby girl to raise. She's healthy and happy and already sleeping through most of the night.