the day the wee babe was born...

Daniel Vern Spillers

6 pounds 14 ounces

20 inches long

yes its true... our baby is now here! he decided to come a little earlier than planned.  we were scheduled to go to the hospital monday feb 6th at 5:30 am for a c section since my doctor, after doing 2 other surgeries on me, decided i needed to have a c section if i ever wanted to have more than one kid since i am apparently freakishly tiny.  saturday feb 4th was your typical lazy saturday.  we cleaned the house a bit... i mopped and swept the floors and chris cleaned the bathroom and we generally tidied the whole apartment.  throughout the day i had been having more and more contractions but nothing regular and nothing too painful.  at 3 we went down to my moms for a minute to visit and while there i started having some fairly painful contractions.  i still didn't think anything of it since they weren't regularly coming.  by 4:30 they had started to come more regularly i think but i am no good at telling when one ends and the next begins.  i decided i had better go ahead and take a shower and get ready to go just in case.  by 6:00 chris was getting really excited thinking i was actually going into labor so he jumped in the shower and once he finished packing we headed off to the hospital.  i called my mom at 7:30 pm to let her know we were going to the hospital and i would call her to let her know if we were having a baby that night.

we get to the hospital and they have me change into the oh so cute hospital gown and hook me right up to the monitors.  sure enough i was having contractions every 3 min... glad to know i wasn't crazy.  the nurse thought they might just give me something to make them stop and have me come back monday when we were scheduled... but she was going to call me doctor and see what he wanted to do.  he of course was like "she's 39 weeks.. why would we send her home??" haha so she came in and said congrats we are going to have a baby in an hour! whoa.  i called my mom and she headed over... my sister emily also decided to come and wait to see the baby.

here is where the real fun began.  the nurse came in and was getting ready to put in my IV and i warned her that i have tiny deep veins that like to roll.  she couldn't even find a good vein and when she finally got one in my hand to pop up she missed it because it rolled away.  she decided not to stick me again and went and got the anesthesiologist.  he started flicking my wrist and hands and other places trying to find a vein... i came home with a nice bruise and lump on the side of my wrist from him trying to get a vein to come up there.  while he was working the phlebotomist came in needing to draw some blood for labs... wow really??? so there i was with one on each side... the anesthesiologist tried going in through my wrist which was really painful and i just cringed and the phlebotomist was going in through the side of my wrist at the same time... crazy! finally the IV was put in on the back of my right hand and heavily taped so it wouldn't get pulled out accidentally.

here's the anesthesiologist and phlebotomist working on me... and the last picture taken as the "doors close on my pregnancy" haha

after this we headed off the the OR.  we left chris behind on the hall while they got me situated.  they were doing a spinal block since they wear off faster than an epidural... he had me sit crossed legged on the table and hunch over... hahaha hilarious since i was huge and pregnant.  unfortunately my back is similar to my arms and he had a difficult time finding the place to go in.... he ended up sticking me at least 5 times... each one was really painful.  i didn't say anything i just breathed deeply and held onto the nurse that was supporting me.  the dr. felt so bad and was amazed he had never seen anything this difficult before.  he finally got it done after 40 min of trying. meanwhile we had left chris in the hallway to wait while they got me all situated and after a while he wondered where the heck we were and if they had forgotten him...

chris came in, my dr put on some music and off they went.  chris was excited my doctor let him stand up and watch the whole surgery.  which was nice for me too since he would tell me what was going on... i could tell when the moment was getting closer because chris started bouncing on his heels and then he whipped out the camera and started taking pics and pretty soon at 10:28pm we heard the most bizarre and exciting sound... the baby crying.  the doc brought him over real quick so i could see him and holy cow... the kid had tonz of black hair... yep... really dark dark brown hair!! that was the first thing i said when i saw him "look at all that hair!"  the next shocker was when they weighed him and said 6 pounds 14 oz...  20 inches..what?! really?? my whole pregnancy they had said the baby was measuring really big and would be at least 8 pounds... ha! not even close.  he's a string bean with long arms and long skinny frog legs.  i was a little choked up after that... there was now a baby... chris said he got a little choked up too while they were cleaning him up.  i got to see him one more time they brought him right up to my face for a couple min.

then chris left with the baby and i was left to be closed up... from then on i was listening to the hilarious conversation about pinewood derby cars.... haha yep it was real exciting.  eventually they took me back to the room where my mom and emily were waiting.  chris took them to see the baby through the nursery window and then they left.  by 2 am they finally took me from recovery to our room for the next couple days and then they brought in our baby.  i can't really say i ever went to sleep that night cause i just wanted to hold the baby and stare at him.  what an exciting night and soooo surreal.  you know a baby is coming for 9 whole months but then he's actually there and its mind blowing.  nothing can prepare you for the feelings that instantly come when he is actually in your arms.  and i must say he is one beautiful baby with the sweetest little face.

we are parents.  whoa.  very awesome and exciting.