Miss Callie Lynae is here!

I must apologize for taking SO LONG to post a blog! It has been crazy around here, but crazy in the best possible way :)

I will just dive right in and start from the beginning :)

On Monday, March 15th, Josh and I had a Dr.'s appointment. He informed us that we were dilated to 2 cm and were about 50% effaced. We were so excited. We celebrated by going to Target, walking around and drinking Icee's :) He also informed us that we would have a scheduled appointment on Friday morning to induce labor. Hearing this, I automatically had in my mind that we would have our child on Friday or Saturday...

That night, Josh and I just hung out, cuddled, and played Mario Brothers on the Wii. Our friend called us around 9:00 PM (Katie!) and asked if we were at the hospital, and I told her - no way...not till Friday! It was a fun evening, and then we went to bed!

About 1:40 AM I woke up with some serious cramping, but didn't really think anything of it. Just figured it was "another" Braxton Hicks Contraction. I glanced at the clock and rolled back over to sleep. Then I had another one, so I looked at the clock and realized that that was 5 min. apart from the last one. I went to the kitchen and grabbed our stop watch. I started timing just a couple, and they were about 5 minutes apart!

"Okay!" I thought, time to wake up Josh (who by the way had taken a Tylenol PM before bed...). He was so groggy when I woke him up! I can still see him getting up so quickly saying "Okay, okay, are you okay!?"
Josh started timing them. Sure enough 3 min. apart, 4 min. apart, 2 min. apart, 5 min. apart-they were so inconsistent. I called WSCU (Women's Special Care Unit) and they had us come in. While Josh was loading the car with our "Go" bags. I started curling my hair (about 3:00 AM by this time) and applying a light amount of make-up! Hey, I wanted to look good if I was going to have a baby! He was running around frantically making sure we had everything. He had the stop watch around his neck and I would simply yell "Starting" and "Done"...it was great!
We arrived at the hospital about 3:30 AM. We checked in, they hooked me up and the fun began. It turns out my contractions were a lot stronger than I thought, because the nurse commented that I had "Very Impressive Contractions!" Pretty sure I was telling EVERYONE that! By 4:30 AM they gave me some medicine to take the "edge" off...this stuff was weird. If you know me, you know I can't handle drugs very well...and this was that case! I swear I was seeing things. I was biting at the air and talking gibberish! About 20 min. later, I was back to my old self again.

By 6:00 AM the 2 IV fluid bags had gone into my body and I was able to receive the epidural :) WOW! It is as good as everyone claims it to be :) Josh and I were able to get an hour nap in during this time. When we woke up I was at an 8. By 10:00 AM I was at 10 cm. We were ready to push :)We of course texted our families and told them to start heading down, we were at a 10!

Well, our little one was a little stuck. We started pushing and little McBaby just didn't want to go past a certain point. After 2 hours of pushing, the Dr. informed us that he wanted to try and vacuum our little one out. He had the suction all ready to go...so I pushed MORE...
Then we got to a certain point and I finally couldn't take anymore. The head was almost out and I started saying "Get it out, just get it out"...I could tell Josh was getting over joyed! His enthusiasm picked up about 20 notches! He was saying "Oh my gosh, oh my goodness, you're almost there! Keep going you're doing so good!" I'll never ever forget his support throughout this whole process! Then just like that...Our Little Miss Callie Lynae was born!

Josh was going to tell me the sex of the baby, but the way the Dr. was holding her, and with my final push - the momentum shot my body forward and I had a straight on shot of our little girl :)Dr. Nace with Callie (thanks for the delivery of our beautiful baby girl!)

It was the most amazing experience of my entire life! Here, in front of me, was the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen! This beautiful daughter of ours...something that was created by the love of Josh and myself. I remember locking eyes with Callie for the first time. There is nothing in the world more precious. It was such a delicate time. I felt as if Josh, Callie and myself were the only 3 people in that room. Like we were floating above paradise together...just our happy little family!
I remember saying "Hi, I'm so happy to finally meet you" to her! Then of course I expressed my love to her and how I promised I would protect her and love her forever! I remember kissing Josh and telling him how much I loved him! We did this...Josh and I created this beautiful baby girl :)

The next hour was a time for the three of us to just bond. They did not take her weight, length or anything. It was strictly bonding time between the three of us! I was able to begin breast feeding right away as well...and she took :)

Callie Lynae McRae was born at 12:24 PM on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. She was 6 pounds, 12 ounces and 19 inches long. She had a cut on her head from the "vacuum", but it has already healed. She has beautiful brown hair and big blue eyes. We're not sure who she looks like, but she has my nose :)

We had several visitors that first day! Callie's Grandparents were all able to make it down, one of her aunts, and so many of her friends!
That first night with Callie, it was just the three of us in the room. I was breast feeding and starting having some major pains. It felt like a constant contraction - without the medication. The nurse informed me that it was my uterus contracting...basically dropping down and going back to its normal size. I look back at this now, and am very thankful! I'm almost back to my pre-baby size. I still have a little tummy, but will be back to normal in no time! Nobody informed us of these pains. Apparently it is something you just don't talk about. Well...I wish someone would have told me. I thought I was dying it hurt so bad. Poor Josh felt terrible because he couldn't do anything to take away the pain. It wasn't anything some pain medication wouldn't fix!
We were able to take Callie home on Thursday! What a life changing event...just bring our daughter home for the VERY FIRST TIME! I try so hard to remember every detail about each of these events...watching Josh (I was in the back seat) drive so carefully home. Making sure that his little Princess was okay. Still having the energy to make sure I was able to move around and get around okay. Not letting me carry ANYTHING...I love watching my husband, Callie's new proud daddy take ownership in her. I love how he is so gentle and loving!

He was whispering for the first 30 min. in our house while Callie was sound asleep in her new big crib. I had to laugh because I would be talking in a normal voice, and here was Josh-whispering! I explained that we have to talk normal or she'll expect silence all the time...and we don't want that :)


Our first few days with her have been nothing but holding, loving and staring at her. We are learning all of her mannerisms and her cues for different events: hungry, poopy, sleepy. She has continued to eat very well...and she sleeps so good for us! We are both getting good amounts of sleep at night, because we are tag-teaming in the middle of the night. I feed and rock her, he changes diapers and rocks her!
While we were at home, I developed some more pains...when I would go to the bathroom. This started on Saturday evening, and I wasn't sure what it was. I thought it may be a UTI (urinary tract infection), but I wasn't sure. I called the Patient Advisory Nurse at the hospital, and she said the only way they could know is if I went into the ER...BOO! That would be another ER visit...too much money (remember my needle in my finger not too long ago....no thank you to that bill). Sunday morning I woke up and I just couldn't take it anymore. I was in so much pain the night before and wanted something to cure it. We went in, I had a urine test, and sure enough - I had developed a UTI. Not sure how, but I did. They gave me some medications to take and sent me on my way. Luckily, because I had just had a baby, they didn't admit me to ER-I just did the test...Thank you God!

Josh is absolutely amazing with her. I am so blessed to have such a loving and supportive husband who WANTS to be apart of her life. We are still fighting over her, and who gets to cuddle with her :) Not "fighting" but we both want to hold her all the time :) Don't worry, we do have her sleep in different places so she can get used to different sleeping spots (it will help with staying at the grandparent's houses!)
We have had a lot of supporters coming to visit as well! Both of our families have come down to visit! Both my mom and Josh's mom came down for one whole day and helped out around the house. They cooked, cleaned and did the things we just couldn't get to. We really appreciate your help in supporting us!
Callie's first Dr.'s appointment went VERY well! She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. at birth. She was 6 lbs. 4 oz. when we left the hospital (very common for babies to lose weight before going home), but she is now 6 lbs. 6 oz. YEAH :) Miss Callie has gained 2 ounces :) Good job sweetie! Everything checked out great! She was a little Jaundice at birth (very common). That just means that there is an excess amount of bilirubin in the blood cells. This is produced by the normal breakdown red blood cells. Jaundice occurs when the bilirubin is building up more quickly than the liver can break it down. Her skin had tints of yellow in it, and the whites of her eyes were yellow. During her appointment, we thought she may have to be tested for it, but the Dr. was pleasantly surprised by her improvements and felt it wasn't necessary!
So far, Miss Callie enjoys being held and cuddled in warm blankets. She loves to eat, but sometimes makes it more difficult than it needs to be! She enjoys looking at books. I really like holding the book near her, reading it and watching her eyes gaze across the pages :) She enjoys her swing and the soft Mozart music it plays. She doesn't like the scary part of the songs though...when the music get more "dark".

As I finish up this blog post, I am very sad that Miss Callie is already 1 week old. I know I will enjoy each stage of her life, but for now, the time is going by WAY too quickly. I am not ready for her to grow up yet. I love holding her in my arms, gazing into each others eyes, getting to know each other. She is so special to both Josh and I!

For now, I have been away from my Little Miss for too long...I'm going to end this blog and go cuddle with my sweet little princess!

I hope you enjoyed keeping up on our weekly maternity updates! We will do our best to keep weekly updates of Little Miss Callie :) Videos and pictures included!

Love,
Mommy, Daddy & Baby Callie Lynae XOXOXO