welcome baby Faye pt. 2

So C-sections. Not my favorite thing in the world, to be honest.
I was really glad the whole laboring process was basically non-existent. And from start to finish (like when they cut me open to when baby was pulled out), it was like, maybe 20 minutes. So that was great! But holy hell (scuse my french, but SERIOUSLY) recovery was so so brutal. Like "why is there always a lit match spanning the width of my abdomen?!" brutal. I thought I was going to die the first couple times I stood up haha. One day, I got a little behind on my pain meds and I tried to go for a walk around the maternity ward. I barely made it out of my room before I got super dizzy, and then I couldn't hear anything and I was losing my vision and my mom and a nurse were practically carrying me back to my bed hahaha. So basically anyone who knocks c-sections has noooo idea.

Anyways, they prepped me for surgery (I will always stand by my opinion that getting an IV is so much worse than a lot of the birthing process. Like, why does that hurt so bad?!), while poor Christian had to wait to be brought in from our hospital room. This part was slightly terrifying. Nothing like being wheeled into a freezing cold operating room, alone, with a ton of strangers, and lying naked on a table while a bunch of machines beep around you to make you excited to give birth! Ha! They gave me the spinal numbing stuff (was that also an epidural? Really not sure...) and then I just layed there waiting for it to take effect. It was at this point that I felt more like a literal beached whale than I had any other time during pregnancy haha. My OB came in and she and the nurses were moving my *still naked* entire lower body around and I was like "I'll just be right here! Sorry I can't move and I'm blubbery mass!" hahahaha. Oh boy. They put up the curtain and got me on oxygen and finally brought Christian in. It was a little claustrophobic to have so much going on right around my head, with him and two anesthesiologists sitting right there and the curtain up, but I was so grateful he could be in there with me. I'm certain he kept an anxiety attack at bay haha.

Then surgery! Lots of pressure and tugging tugging tugging. The crazy thing about C-sections is they have to make like 5 different incisions because of the layers of skin/fat/muscle/organs, but they don't like to cut too wide if they can avoid it. So they end up just kind of literally pulling things apart as they go (yikes. My stomach is churning just thinking about it!). Faye was kind of stuck in my right ribcage, and they actually gave me new stretch marks just pulling her out haha. But once they got her out, it was all smooth sailing! It took her a second to cry, and when she did I can honestly say I've never been more grateful. I struggled with a TON of anxiety my whole pregnancy, so of course I was just imagining worst case scenario for everything. Huge relief to hear a cry and know that she was healthy! Before she even cried she sneezed haha which is still so funny to me because she's a super sneezy baby. They cleaned her all up, got her APGAR score, etc, gave her to Christian and then I was FINALLY able to see her.

Born 2 weeks early, June 14, 2016
Fun facts: Grandparents anniversary June 13, Faye's birthday 14th, Papa Showalter's birthday 15th and uncle Austin's birthday 16th
Also, both babies were born on a Tuesday, and Nash came the week before Mother's Day, and Faye the week before Father's Day.

Heaven, heaven, heaven! Meanwhile they were stitching me back up, which was slightly traumatizing because I could smell the cauterization as they were doing it, blegh! The rest of the day is super hazy to me, because I was like completely blitzed on my pain meds hahaha. Seriously it's hysterical in retrospect. That first day, they let you control the amount you get, and every ten minutes, you can press a button to get another dose. Well I was terrified to start feeling the pain of that surgery so you can bet I had a timer set and was juicing as often as I could and MAN I could feel it hahahaha. I was so freaking tired and out of it, I couldn't talk. I think I scarred Nash for life because he was terrified to come back to the hospital after seeing me that first day. So so funny.

I was in the hospital for 6 days, and it was like a little slice of heaven. Faye brought the sweetest spirit, and every time I looked at her it felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest! So much love with such a tiny little thing! It's so wonderful having two kids. It's insanity, but in the best way. Somehow having another baby has let my heart grow so much that not only do I have room to just adore my little girl, but my love for Nash has grown a thousand percent too. I'm so grateful to be the mother of these precious children!