Welcome Samantha Jane!

She was born on Monday, March 30 at 4:20pm. Weighing in at 7 lbs 15.5 oz and 20 1/4 inches long. I was only 36 weeks on Monday. It was quite the surprise to have her come then let me tell ya! I had gone to my first appointment for that week and even though I wasn't supposed to see the dr I asked if I could talk to her. I had been having some major pain in my legs for a little over a week and it had gotten to be unbearable. She looked at them and decided they needed to be checked for clots. After calling labor and delivery to see if they had a bed for me she sent me on over. I was a little freaked out to say the least. LOL This is 2 weeks earlier than planned. Michael was at home asleep with is phone on silent. My mom was still in Florida. The kids were in school. I was alone and freaking out trying to figure out who was going to get my kids from school and keep them until my mom could get here. I called mom and knew she was packing and on her way. I called my dad and arranged for him to get the kids from school. I was finally able to get ahold of Michael and tell him what was going on. I was still freaking out at this point!

I checked in at labor and delivery and they put me in a room. About an hour later they took me for the ultrasound on my legs to rule out blood clots. Lucky for me, Michael came in while they were wheeling me down the hallway. He went with me to get the ultrasound. There were no clots spotted. Thank goodness. My dr still wanted to go ahead and take the baby since I was in so much pain and with her getting bigger that wasn't going to get better, but worse. She scheduled my c-section for 4pm.

When we got back from the ultrasound my stepmom was in the room waiting. They began prepping me for surgery. Have I mentioned in the past that I absolutely HATE needles? Well now is the time I have to deal with them. They had to do an IV. I had a wonderful labor and delivery nurse though. She called anesthesia and they came to do the IV. He was fabulous! He numbed my hand first and my nurse distracted me while he put it in. I had to stop him at one point though. He kept telling me exactly what he was doing. I had to ask him to stop! LOL I really didn't want to know the play by play!

Around 3:50ish they wheeled me to the OR. Once in there they sat me on the side of the bed and did the spinal (no epidural this time and spinals are actually easier.....at least for me). My dr was in front of my distracting me and the same anesthesioligist did the spinal. Once again I had to ask him to stop with the play by play. LOL

They got me situated on the table and sent for Michael before starting the c-section. You know you have this big blue sheet in front of your face so you can't see what is going on, but I could see a reflection in a clock on the wall. Yes, I was watching. LOL The entire thing lasted all of about 25 minutes. Well until the baby was out anyway. Wheeled in the OR around 3:55 and she was out at 4:20. I, of course, had to stay for the sewing up part, but Michael and Sam headed down to the nursery.

I have to say that coming down off of the spinal was not that much fun. I was shaking uncontrolably. It felt really weird not to be in control of that. Heck it was weird not to be able to wiggle my toes. LOL

We had lots of visitors right after Sam was born. None of them got to see her though. She was in the transition nursery for a very long time. Her blood sugar was low and they needed to get her breathing regulated. Along with her temperature stable. I didn't get to see her either until way late. I was getting quite impatient if you want to know the truth.

They finally brought her to us around 12:30am. She's gorgeous with a head full of dark hair. It's not red, but she does have the temper of a redhead. Believe me! It doesn't take much for it to come out either. LOL

At first we had some nursing issues, but once my milk came in those were straightened out. She is nursing like a champ now.

We were supposed to come home on Thursday, but Sam ended up being jaundiced so had to go under the lights. They had her there for almost 24 hours only bringing her to me to nurse every 3 hours. It was a hard 24 hours for me. One thing about this pregnancy and birth is that I've been incredibly emotional. I definitely cried when they told me she couldn't come home. They did let me stay an extra night though so that helped. I'm not sure I could have left her there. We got to come home on Friday evening.

I am still having the same leg issues as before she was born though. They are swollen and very very sore. I even ended up at the ER today, but that is a different post! LOL

Here are some pics of my baby girl!