It all begins...

Due to the baby being breach, we had scheduled a c-section for noon on August 15. We checked into the hospital around 10:00 am to get ready. Kirk and I passed the time by reading names from our "25,000 baby names" book, since we still didn't have a name if the baby turned out to be a boy. We were pretty sure about the girl's name but had nothing decided for a boy.




About 11:45, I walked over the operating room with the nurse and had my spinal block performed. They wouldn't allow anyone else in the room while that was happening. Kirk was brought in after I was numb and laying on the operating table. We also had a doula, Marie, with us for support. Dr. Smith, my OB, and his partner, Dr. Boyd, arrived and the surgery began. Our good friend Rhys is a nurse at the hospital and was alo there to help with the delivery.

The atmosphere in the delivery room was wonderful. Everyone was joking and laughing and it was really about as pleasant as I could have imagined that major abdominal surgery could be! It only took the doctors about 10 minutes to get to the baby (crazy huh?). They pulled her out butt first and, as Kirk loves to tell it, she pooped right away, right on my stomach. Rhys got her cleaned up and took her foot and hand prints.

I could tell the minute that she arrived because Kirk's eyes glazed over with wonder. He was memerized and not paying attention to anyone or anything but her. I had a blue curtain hanging about 6 inches from my face so I couldn't see anything and had no idea whether we had a boy or a girl. Finally our doula nudged him and said "aren't you going to tell Jamie what it is?" He looked at me and told me we had a little girl. We were both suprised because we had thought for the last few weeks that it was going to be a boy.

After she was cleaned up, Rhys brought her around so that I could see her. She was very alert and looking right at me. It was amazing! (Many thanks to our doula Marie for taking all these wonderful pictures!)

Kirk asked when he got to hold her so Rhys gave her to him and he held on to her until another nurse finally asked if she could take the baby to weigh and measure it. Kirk reluctantly passed Sam over to the nurse. That was the end of the delivery and they wheeled me over to the recovery room.


Our nurse allowed us to spend about an hour with her before she went off for all her tests.

This is our OB/GYN, Dr. Smith. He was absolutely wonderful to us during the entire pregnancy and delivery. We are so sad that we won't be in Chattanooga long enough to have him help us with baby #2 (should there be a baby #2!)

My parents were in town for the delivery. They waited anxiously in the waiting room until we were in recovery. Then Kirk went to get them and they found out they had a granddaughter and came in to meet her.


My sister and her husband came up to visit us later that evening when we were settled into our hospital room.


That's the story of our delivery day. It was definitely not what we had anticipated having wanted to try a natural childbirth (no pain medications) but we should have guessed that our child would be stubborn from before she was even born! Though I didn't want to have a c-section, all things considered, it was a wonderful day and we feel really lucky to have had such a positive experience!

Jamie