Jade Kareen

**I have been putting this post off while I waited to get pictures off my mom's phone and camera ... but it might be a while (I think I'm still waiting for some from when Lincoln was born) so I will just add them in later when I finally get them**

I had my last doctors appointment on Thursday June 27 and that's where we were going to decide what the plan was going to be. We had originally talked about having a c-section on either the 27th or 28th, but since I couldn't even get into the office to see her until the 27th, I knew that the 27th was out and would be lucky to get the 28th on such short notice. She checked me over, noticed my hernias were significantly worse than the week before. My blood pressure had also gone up just enough to put me right on the mark to allow a c-section earlier than 39 weeks (although it was only by like 4 days). She called upstairs and was able to book the OR for the next day. I got lucky! Everything becomes a whole lot more real when the date is set (especially when it's the next day!) and you have to go home and make sure everything is 100% ready. I spent the rest of that day cleaning my house so it would be nice and clean when I got home, and just getting everything else I could ready for the baby.

Friday I was supposed to be at the hospital at 10am to get my iv's going and all that other not so fun stuff. I just kept noticing how I wasn't nervous at all. I had no idea why, but with Lincoln I was freezing, insanely nervous and shaking like crazy! Even walking down the hall to the OR I never got nervous. Maybe I was just more anxious to finally be finished and to meet my new baby.

There is not a whole lot to do while they pump you full of a minimum of 2 iv bags, 3 if they can manage in not very much time. Mart was killing time watching shows on his phone, so I spent the morning on instagram and facebook.

My c-section was scheduled for noon, but my doctor was running just a little behind so we had to wait a little longer. It was finally time to get the show on the road, so we headed down the hall. As soon as I got into the hallway, I saw my mom standing there waiting for me. It was perfect timing! She originally had wanted to be a second person in the OR with us, but after talking to my Doctor about it, I found out it was going to be very unlikely that she would be able to be there. (It was up to my anesthesiologist, who I didn't even meet until about 30 minutes before the surgery). So she just waited for me in the waiting room and came to hang out while I was in recovery.

They finally started at 12:40. I had my usual c-section un-pleasantries. Within a minute or two of them starting, I started to feel extremely weird and couldn't explain what I was feeling. I had a hard time focusing on anything and was starting to get crazy nauseous. The guy was awesome and figured out fast that it was my blood pressure. It had gotten very low (especially for me, I am used to high blood pressure) and as soon as he was able to regulate it I felt relatively fine.

At 12:45 Miss Jade was born. She was very fiesty and had a definite opinion from the get-go. She was also the cleanest baby I've ever seen that was brand new! (My boys were definitely in need of a good scrub down when they came out.)

She was right in between my boys at 7lbs 9oz and 19 1/2 inches long. 

It's a little tricky to get a half decent first picture with me upside down and not able to really focus on a whole lot ... 

Once I got to recovery, they told me I could see my baby whenever I was ready. They went and got her right after they told me that. :)
My mom came in with Mart and she got to meet Jade.

 We hung out in recovery for about an hour and then we headed upstairs to my room. Mart left to find some lunch so we waited to give Jade her bath until he got back. They gave her a bath in my room so I could be there too. She was not very happy, and let everyone know about it.

She calmed down a lot after that and we just got to love her and get some good snuggles in. 

Nanan had been anxiously awaiting Jade's arrival, and was very excited when we told her she could come visit

I think Grandad was happy too

Grandma Debi loves babies, and she was more than willing to hold one fresh from heaven. 

Mart stayed the night with me Friday and it was a very long night. Between alarms that would beep every.single.time I would fall asleep and a baby who just wanted to nurse, I only got about 2 hours of sleep that night. At one point when the nurse came in, I pretty much begged her to take the oxygen monitor off me so I could sleep. I don't breathe deep enough when I sleep so as soon as I would doze off, the alarm would sound because I didn't have enough oxygen. She was concerned that I might need an oxygen mask, and I told her it was normal. She just said she would check it every couple of hours when she came in instead and that was MUCH better! The next morning Mart had to get up and head home to shower and go to the temple with Ber. She was going through to get her endowments before her wedding.

After the temple, Nanan, Grandad and Dallan came to visit for a few minutes. 

Mart went home and changed and went to pick my boys up from Kace and brought them to meet the baby. My boys LOVED her! They just wanted to hold her and kiss her head over and over again.

After a few minutes of baby snuggles, they realized they were in a new place and felt the need to go exploring. They were everywhere! Mart took them home shortly after that. I spent the rest of that night by myself (with the occasional visitor) and Jade and I had some snuggle time, and tried to rest. 

After a c-section they wrap these cuffs around your legs that randomly fill up tight with air and then release it and do it over and over again. It's to prevent getting a blood clot when I can't get up and move around myself. I quite like them, they are like little massages for my legs.

Grandma decided she wanted to come back and get more snuggle time in. 

Later Saturday night, my friend Seantae came to visit me for a little while. It was so nice to see her.

Generally after a c-section they like you to stay in the hospital for 3 days. With Lincoln I convinced them to let me go home after 2 days, and this time was no different. Although I managed to get a little more sleep Saturday night, I was ready to go home and be with my family, my dogs and my own bed. So at exactly 48 hours after she was born (my doctor said I had to wait that long to remove my staples) we were discharged and sent on our way! It was awesome. 

Mart had taken the entire next week off work to stay home and help me with the boys. It was so nice and we were really sad to see him go back to work the following week. He would take the boys to my house in Richmond in the morning and they would work on packing, and cleaning and come home around nap time. It gave me time to sleep in a little and feel semi normal before they got home.

Recovery has been pretty easy. I was off all my pain meds after a week and running all over the place. I'm glad she's finally here and that life can get back to it's new normal.