We had a Baby GIRL!

Well if you follow me on IG or are my friend on FB, then this is old news....but we had a baby GIRL.  Twelve days ago, to be exact.

 She weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces and was 19 inches long.  Pure, sweet perfection.

Daddy's crazy hairline and cowlick, just like her brother & sister too.

 We named her Claire Pamela.  Claire, because we both just liked the name and felt it would suit her throughout her life and Pamela after my mom, who passed away nine years ago.  She looks identical to both her big brother and big sister when they were newborns!

About to be wheeled in to the OR for the big show

She came 10 days ahead of her planned c-section because I started getting sick with Pre-Ecclampsia again.  OF COURSE, my doctor was on vacation, so I was in the hands of someone I'd never even met before.  He turned out to be fantastic, thank God.  As soon as Claire was born, she had a little trouble clearing the extra fluid from her lungs (common with c-section babies) and they took her to Special Care Nursery to be evaluated.  They decided to keep her after seeing her oxygen saturation levels were a bit low.  I didn't even get to hold her until the next day and that was SO HARD.

In her little oxygen hood and getting some extra IV fluids

But I was dealing with my own post-op issues.  15 minutes after they closed me up and I was in the recovery area, I had just said goodbye to Joe, the kids, and my MIL.  They went to go visit their new baby sister.  Suddenly, I heard a big gush of fluid.  I look down to see a pool of blood EVERY.WHERE.  My nurse heard the sound and quickly called for help.  She no sooner got it cleaned up, when it happened again.  Another big gush of blood.  At this point I knew I was  hemorrhaging.  I was so grateful for my nurse, Mindy, who stayed calm and collected when I was beginning to freak out.  I sent Joe a frantic text telling him to get back to recovery because I was bleeding pretty bad.

The nurses got the doctor out of his c-section that he had just begun and he came to help.  They hit me with every clotting medication they could give me and the doctor explained he didn't know why this was happening, but that he might have to take me back into the OR, open me up and find the source of the bleeding.  He also warned me of the possibility of having to perform a hysterectomy on me.  This also freaked me out.  Early menopause?  No thanks.  During the c-section, he already told me that this would have to be my last baby because there was "nothing left" of my baby oven and I was lucky I didn't rupture.  We had already decided this would be our last, (OK well, we were 99.9% sure) simply because I don't do pregnancy well and oh yeah....we're getting OLD.  But to hear it come from your doctor and have it no longer be your own choice?  That was hard to accept.  I know it's for the best and I have 3 perfectly healthy little children whom I couldn't love more.

I spent that night getting blood transfusions and therefore, couldn't go visit Claire in the SCN.  The next day we were both feeling better and she got to come stay in my room for the remainder of our hospital stay.

Discharge Day and ready to head home!

We've been adjusting to life at home as a family of 5 (whoah!) and my amazing husband is still off work.  He's been a saint -- handling anything and everything else so I can focus on the baby and rest and heal.  I am definitely soaking up this sweet time of life.