Since I had an emergency c-section with Allison we decided that we would have a planned c-section with this pregnancy as well. It was nice to be able to take the guess work out of when Baby Rath #2 was going to come (unless of course I went early). We were able to plan out what we were going to do with Allison, tell all of our family when to arrive at the hospital and of most importantly, mentally prepare ourselves.
We had originally planned on having Allison stay at home with us the night before and then have my mom or sister come in the morning to stay with her until we were ready to have her at the hospital but my c-section was schedule for 7:30 and we had to be there at 5:30 so we decided it would be easier for everyone if she just stayed with my parents that night.
The night before my surgery I was full of mixed emotions. On one had I was full of guilt that I wasn't going to be able to give all my attention to Allison any more. I didn't know how I could be a mother to two, how could I possibly love another child as much as I loved Allison?!? Of course on the other hand I was extremely excited to meet the baby I had been carrying for the last 9 months, I couldn't wait.
Mike and I got up dark (it wasn't even bright yet) and early. Before we left for the hospital I took the obligatory "belly shot".
We arrived at the hospital and went through all the paperwork, etc. and before I knew it I was getting prepped for surgery. It wasn't until right before that I actually started getting nervous. I was brought down to surgery and before I realized it, we were started. At the very beginning I did start to get really nauseous and thought I was going to pass out but I mentioned it to the nurse anesthetist and she worked her magic and in seconds I felt just fine.
8:00 a.m on the dot Mike and I heard the wonderful sound of our baby's first cry...there isn't much that compares to that. The doctor announced that we had a perfect, healthy, baby girl weighing in at
5 lbs, 13 oz, 18 1/2" long.
Ok, confession time, Mike and I actually knew we were having a baby girl :)! No one else knew, no one else knew that we knew...but we knew! A couple weeks before our 20 week ultrasound appointment I was talking to a friend of mine who was also pregnant with her 2nd child and they had just found out that they were having another boy. She was talking about how they were going through all of their old stuff and getting it ready. It really got me thinking about how all we had was girl stuff, so.much.girl.stuff!!! We knew we were going to be moving and more than likely this was going to be our last child so I started thinking...how it would be nice to know what we were having so that we could really prepare. We could either get rid of all the girl stuff if we were having a boy or wash and prepare all the stuff we already had if we were having another girl. Mike had already wanted to find out the sex this pregnancy so when I mentioned it to him he of course agreed. We still wanted to keep the sex a surprise to everyone else and knew the only way to do that was to just tell everyone we weren't finding out ourselves. At our 20 week ultrasound appointment we found out we were having a girl and couldn't have been any happier. Surprisingly keeping it a secret from everyone else wasn't hard at all, they had no idea! :)
Even though we had known for several months that we were having another girl Mike and I didn't have a name finalized. Mike wanted to name her Ashley and I wanted Hannah. When we were in surgery after she was born the doctor and nurses asked us what her name was and we didn't know. They joked that if we didn't have her name by the time they finished that they got to name her. After a couple minutes of going back and forth they asked us if we had decided and Mike said "Hannah". :)
Hannah Aynne Rathlisberger!
The hospital I delivered at this time just started having moms recover after their c-sections in the room with their baby (as opposed to down in a recovery room away from their baby). I can't tell you how happy this made me. When I had Allison I saw here for only a second or two before she was rushed off to a different hospital so being able to be with Hannah so soon after surgery and be able to hold her, it meant the world to me.
Since no one else knew what we were having we wanted Allison to announce it to everyone. My parents, Mike's parents, Mike's Grandma, my sisters and newphews and niece were all waiting in the lobby for the news. We brought Allison back to the room, she got to meet her sister and then Mike took her to tell everyone.
Allison seeing Hannah for the first time
So excited to be a big sister!
Helping give Hannah her first bath
Such a good big sister
Me and my girls, a dream come true!
We had a busy rest of the day/next few days of wonderful visitors stopping by the hospital wanting to meet our new little beauty. Here are just a few of the pictures we took while we were in the hospital.
Grandpa and Grandma Sand
Grandma and Grandpa Rathlisberger
Auntie Hilary holding Hannah (with twin babes in her belly)
Auntie Heather and Hannah
Nana Doris
Cousin Matthew
Aunt Jane
"Auntie" Mandy
"Auntie" Trang
That is all so sweet.... but you KNEW?!?!? You brat ;) hahaha
ReplyDelete