The Wagner Family: July 6, 2011

Oh, we are so in love!!

On the morning of July 6th we woke up early and anxious. We made it to our c-section date and, needless to say, I was so excited I barely slept the night before. Our section was scheduled for 7:30 AM and we needed to be at the hospital around 5:30.

It was hard to leave the house and I kept stalling. It's a little nerve wracking to know you are going into surgery and I was sad to be leaving Joey at home, but we were so excited to meet you!

I could not wait to hold you, to see who you resembled, and to just breathe you in.

This is you in my tummy right before you entered the world.

We arrived at the hospital on time and were brought to the pre-op room where vitals were taken and iv's were run. We were warned at our last prenatal appointment that planned c-sections normally bring about quite a bit of anxiety at the last minute. Dr. Phillips brought up how the unique nature of willingly walking yourself down the hall to have the procedure can just be hard and she wanted me to be prepared and know the feeling was normal. She was right. I was so nervous as we waited and your Daddy did his best to distract and entertain me. He taught me how to play Angry Birds and I played while we waited :o).

My mom came to the hospital with us and my dad, Jenn, Kaelani, Debbie, and Pat all arrived in the wee morning hours as well and waited in the waiting room for news of your arrival.

Ha! Nervous!

I just tried to stay focused on how many minutes it would be until I met you.

At almost 7:30 exactly the anesthesiologist arrived and we walked back to the operating room. I had to go by myself and then Daddy would be allowed in once the spinal was placed. The anesthesiologist did a wonderful job and the spinal barely hurt at all. I sang the ABC's to distract myself -- a trick my mom taught me when I was very little and needed to have blood taken. He also saved me with a quick dose of medication when my blood pressure plummeted on the table and I was about to faint. He was great and so was his nurse.

At 7:58 you made your entrance into this world.

7lbs 8.6 oz and 18.5 inches long with a full head of dark hair.

You were beautiful!!

Even still in the midst of surgery, you had me beaming.

Grace, something happened to me the moment you were born. Something wonderful.

I don't know how to explain it but there is just something special between us. Not better, not worse, not more, not less than anyone else, just something different. It was like I had been waiting for you all my life, and now you were here.

I suppose it was true.

Tiny as you were, you transformed all of us that day. We were now a family of four instead of three. We had a daughter. You made Joey into a brother.

You completed us.

You delighted the nurses with the position of your arms. You were like this in your ultrasounds and we have since come to know this position very well. It's so neat now to look back and see you like this from the very beginning.

I sent your father to stay with you while they took you to be checked over, washed up, and warmed up under lights. He was more prepared this time than he had been with your brother and was more willing to leave me. It was weird to be so aware of everything because I was very out of it with your brother. I just couldn't wait to be able to hold you and feed you and get back with you and Daddy.

We had to spend an hour in the recovery room before we could all go to our regular room and let everyone meet you. After I regained most of my feeling and stabilized I was allowed to hold you and feed you. You knew what to do right away, but it was a little difficult because I had to stay almost completely laying down. You also wanted everyone to be quiet and would stop eating and cry if someone talked! We couldn't believe you and thought we were going to have quite the drama queen on our hand but that turned out to be very far from the truth.

My mom, who had been at the hospital as long as we had, was the first to meet you and many others quickly made their way in. We spent the rest of the day snuggling you up as visitors filed in and catching up on sleep.

At one point a nurse came in to make sure you were doing well and everyone flocked around to see just what you looked like under all your blankets and little hat. You were not happy about being unwrapped.

Later in the day your brother was finally able to meet his Sissy.

He knew Mommy was going "to the hopidal" and that the doctor was going to "take Sissy out."

I couldn't wait to see his response to seeing you as a real baby as he had been singing to you, talking to you, kissing you, and snuggling you in my belly for months.