Brinna's Birth Story

I was scheduled for a c-section at 11:30 on Saturday, July 25. We had to be at the hospital at 9:30. I think I slept all of about 2 hours the night before. Ben and I were up and ready to go by about 8:00! He kept saying "Come on, let's just go!" I was trying to explain that even if we got there an hour early, the surgery was still going to be at 11:30! We were both a little (ok a lot) nervous and excited. It was like two little kids getting ready to go to their very first birthday party! After dropping the dog off at the neighbors, we headed out. The check in at the hospital went very very smoothly. I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. In fact, I even caught about a 10 minute cat nap! At about 11:20 the nurse came in and said that Dr. Sporre was ready for us. So, we headed on back to the operating room. Not before I took this picture though.


Our surgery nurse was wonderful and did a fantastic job of keeping Ben and I fairly calm until we were ready to head into the operating room. She explained exactly what would happen. And she took this wonderful picture.

We spoke briefly with the doctor and then they took me back to the operating room. Ben had to wait to come in until I had the spinal and was laid out on the table. Apparently lots of husbands can't handle seeing the needle. We tried to explain that Ben was pro and actually held me the last time I got my spinal, but he was totally ok with waiting outside. They got me up on the table and the anesthesiologist did the spinal. The only part that was really uncomfortable was the numbing medicine. He was really gentle and let me know before he did anything. Between him and the nurse, they talked me through it and I didn't even pass out this time! Once I was numb, they laid me down and Ben came in. I can't even begin to express how wonderful Ben was through the whole surgery. I know he was extremely nervous (even though he won't admit it) but he kept me very focused on him and not on what was going on. We had a fairly mundane conversation about nothing. I can't even remember what we talked about. I'm pretty sure it was about the weather! The anesthesiologist was wonderful too. He kept me informed about what was going on with out giving me all the gory details. Just enough to let me know that everything was going just fine. It seemed like it was taking FOREVER! In the meantime, Ben took a few pictures of me on the operating table, even though I told him not too. I look terrified don't I?


Then the anesthesiolist said, "You're going to hear a lot of suction, that's them breaking your water. Yup! There's the head! Wow! Lots of hair!" Pretty cool right? Well, I thought it was! Brinna Leah was born at 11:56 AM. She came out crying and didn't stop the whole time we were in the operating room. They did suction her lungs, which is totally normal for c-section babies. As soon as they made sure she was ok, Ben was able to go look at her. He was a little torn, should he stay with his wife or go see his new daughter. I insisted that he go see her and take lots of pictures! I couldn't see her at all and wanted to know what she looked like!

The first thing he said was "She looks just like Adelae!" Then he showed me this picture.


He's right, by the way, she does look just like Adelae! At this point, they handed Brinna to Ben and he was able to hold her the entire time we were in the operating room. I was finally able to get a nice long look at her.
It took the doctor about 20 minutes to finish the surgery and I was wheeled into recovery. Brinna was able to stay with us the entire time. She was still crying away, exercising those little lungs. I decided to try to nurse her and see how she would do. Adelae was a tough one to nurse, so I was expecting to have problems. Brinna was born knowing how to nurse. She latched on like a champ and nursed for over an hour. She was a hungry little girl! Ben took a few pictures of us in the recovery room before he dashed off to make all the necessary phone calls.

I spent about an hour in the recovery room then they wheeled me back to my regular room (with little Brinna still nursing). My recover was so much smoother than with Adelae. I hardly had any bleeding at all and I was able to keep exhaustion at bay for quite some time. I did start to feel really really sick about 9:00 Saturday night. My nurse pointed out that I hadn't eaten anything in over 30 hours and I needed to get some food in me. I was only able to eat Jell-O, a popsicle, and drink some tea, but it made me feel 100x better.

Brinna didn't sleep much her first night. She constantly wanted to nurse and seemed to have her days and nights confused. She was most comfortable and calm when she was laying on my chest, but hospital policy states that you can't sleep in bed with your baby. At about 5:00 AM, I decided that rule didn't apply to me and I fell asleep with Brinna on my chest. We took a nice two hour nap and were refreshed and ready for the day! Sunday morning I was up and walking around a little bit. I was able to shower, get dressed, do my hair and put on a little makeup. I felt like a human being again!

Brinna remained with us in our room unless she was having the necessary newborn testing done. It was such a nice change from Adelae's birth. I was able to come home 48 hours after my surgery.

Brinna is a perfect little angel. She sleeps like a champ, eats like a champ, and cries like a champ! She sleeps almost all the way through the night, only waking once between 2:00 and 3:00 AM.

Ben and I are incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful little family. We couldn't be happier or prouder of our girls. Adelae is the greatest big sister and is a big help with the baby. She likes to make sure that Brinna is happy and warm.



These are only a few of the pictures that we took during our time at the hospital. As always, you can see them all at Our Happy Family .