One week ago today..........

One week ago today my life was forever changed. At 12:06 p.m. Raylee Elizabeth Reed was born via c-section at River Oaks Hospital in Flowood weighing in at 7lbs and 19 1/2in long. So much has happened over the last week and words will never be able to describe it. When we left our house last Friday morning I was scared to death. I felt as if I was being sentenced to death by lethal injection (and come to find out the c-section table looked like the one that they use when they are doing the lethal injections so I'm not totally crazy!). I thought the worst. I thought it all was going to be terrible and I was going to be in dire pain and on and on. The actual c-section was a breeze. I am so glad that my dr chose to schedule it instead of inducing me. There was nothing to it. I had a phobia of the spinal and not being able to move my legs when i wanted to, that wasn't even bad and it didn't hurt at all! My only fear was when i was bending over getting it and leaning against my nurse, which this cute little bitty skinny girl, I felt like I was going to fall on top of her. All I could think about was falling on her a squashing her to death!

Once Raylee was delivered Dr. Brantley held her up over the sheet and it was like the whole world stopped. All I could do was stare at her. Eventually I reached up and touched her little hand but that was all I could do. They took her over and weighed her and all I could do was sit there and listen to her cry (half of me was so glad to hear her cry but when she didn't stop crying for a while the other half was hoping like hell that didn't mean that she was going to be one of these babies that constantly cries.) Billy brought her over to me and all I could think about was how perfect she was. Everything from her head full of hair to her little crooked little toe!

Oh and for the record, I had serious issues with the fact that the mama does all the work in carrying the baby for 9 months and then giving birth and the daddy gets to parade the baby out in front of family and friends for the first time. I'm not sure if it was the drugs or the fact that I felt like I was in a dream, none of that mattered. All that mattered was that she was finally here and she was perfect.

I don't remember much of that day. I remember a little bits and pieces. I remember we had a ton of people who came and went all day visiting. I remember talking to some but I don't remember what was said.....so if I said anything to offend anyone I'm so sorry! One thing that I will never forget is Saturday morning about 3:00 a.m. I woke up to a baby screaming in the hall. As I laid there the noise got closer and closer. All I could think of was, that poor mama, they are going to bring that screaming baby in her room and wake her up. After a couple of seconds the door to my room swung open and that screaming baby that I heard from way up the hall was MINE! The nurse came in and was talking to me and the minute Raylee heard my voice there was a silence in the room and she immediately stopped crying. It was SO AMAZING! It was amazing to know that I already comfort this little person that I just met!

In the end my experience at River Oaks was great! Everyone was great and so nice! We came home on Monday and have been trying to get adjusted to our new life. So far so good! We have had a couple of rocky nights but they seem to be getting better. I think we have about got her on a feeding schedule. She is doing great breastfeeding. I would have thought that I would have gotten frustrated and given up by now and given her a bottle, but everything is going good. The only problem I am having is my hormones. I guess they are trying to get back to normal, I wish they would hurry up and get there....ha!

We took her back on Wednesday for her check up and everything was great. When we left the hospital she had lost down to 6lbs 5oz. At her check up she had gained back to 6lbs 7oz. She was not jaundice, which I was concerned about bc she is dark, but they said that is just her complexion. We go Aug 1st for her first appointment with the pediatrician.

Looking back on the week it has not been what I expected, it has been more. I thought it was going to be horrible. I thought we were not going to get any sleep and everything would be a mess. I could not have asked for things to be any better. Yeah she wakes up at night and sometimes doesn't want to go back to sleep but other than that things have gone smoothly. It is amazing how much you can love something that is so much that you just met!

I will write more later, I want to try to get a couple hours of sleep in before she wakes up to be fed again!