SCOTTI LOU'S BIRTH STORY

we found out just a few days after Olive's first birthday that we were pregnant again with baby number two and were so excited to be adding another little one to our family. olive's delivery didn't go as planned because of a couple complications, and we ended up having an emergency c-section. which dave and i both loved in the end. it was a great experience, however with number two we (as in, me) wanted to definitely try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).

at about 20 weeks, i was questioning whether or not i wanted to continue with a vbac or to schedule a return c-section. I went back and forth, back and forth for several months. i knew i would probably regret not trying to have my baby vaginally so we stuck with that plan... until the last few weeks. i had, had horrible pains on the inside where my incision was from my previous csection for almost 7 months but towards the end it got worse and pretty much unbearable. at week 38 dave and i decided it was for the best to just stick to our plans of a return csection.

the last few days before new baby came we tried to cuddle with olive and spend as much time with her as possible before she was no longer the only child.  on friday, february 13th i woke up at 4:00am to get ready to go. at 5:00am we kissed olive goodbye and grabbed our bags and headed for the hospital.  our c-section was scheduled for 7:30am! we had to be to the hospital an hour and half to two hours early to get prepped and ready to go.

we checked in, and immediately were taken back to our room to get prepped. nurses were in and out, i met the doctor who would be assisting in the surgery, talked with my doctor to go over surgery plans, met the anesthesiologist and then waited to be taken into the OR.

i definitely was a lot more nervous going into c-section number two. dave and i tried to copy all our photos from (almost) 2 years ago, and around 8:00am they walked me back to the OR. this was by far my least favorite part, laying on the operating table completely revealed waiting on doctor after doctor. finally the anesthesiologist came in and made me get in the most uncomfortable position with my big pregnant belly. they then put the tarp up and began the c-section. 

i was debating having them put the mirror up so that i could watch it this time, but once things got going all i wanted to do was lay there and close my eyes until the whole thing was over. dave kind of felt the same way, he had no desire to watch them cut me open and tug and pull on my body. he was so amazing and tried to keep my mind off of things but all he was doing was making me laugh. 

about 15 minutes later my doctor says, "okay sarah, are you ready?" and then i felt a TON of pressure and tugging and pulling. i told dave to at least watch them pull Scotti out, so he stood up to watch.  i hear my doctor say, "1, 2, 3, 4! FOUR TIMES!" the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck FOUR times! they quickly held her over the tarp so i could see her, for literally .2 seconds and then they took her over in the corner and started cleaning her off, weighed her and got her wrapped up in blankets. when they told me she weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce (21 inches long) i was in shock!! my doctor had said, no wonder you were in so much pain! she was having trouble breathing (most c-section babies do) so they wanted to take her to the NICU to put her on oxygen and monitor her for a little while. once she was all cleaned up they brought her over and held her by my face for probably a minute and then took her away.  dave went with her, so i was laying there getting stitched back up all by myself.  it felt like an eternity and all i could think about was how i wanted this to be over. once they were done, they took the tarp down and lifted me onto my bed and wheeled me into my recovery room.  

once i got there, they started checking a whole bunch of things and dave face timed me so i could see my little baby!! dave explained to me that her breathing was finally starting to get under control but they had some concerns about her rectum and wanted to get some xrays done, so she would be in the NICU for a while. all i wanted to do was hold my baby and be with my husband.  i hated the feeling of being completely numb from the waist down and had a hard time breathing, my voice was raspy and i sounded like a man for the rest of the day. about 20-30 minutes later they took me to my room upstairs but stopped by the NICU so I could see and hold scotti for a few minutes (then took me upstairs) and there i waited 5 1/2 hours to see my baby. finally after a very frustrated daddy, the nurses were finally okay to release her from the NICU and i was able to hold my little Scotti girl!! i couldn't believe she was FINALLY here.  the last ten months waiting for her to arrive was definitely the hardest ten months of my life and our marriage and i was just glad that she was here.

i was in a lot less pain this time as far as my incision goes, and was able to get up and walk that afternoon without too much pain. the next day was my birthday, and we had my mom bring Olive out to peek at her little sister through the window (12 years and younger weren't allowed in the room during flu season) and so i could spend some time with her.  that was the longest i've ever been away from her, and it was hard. dave and i watched a chick flick that night for our "valentines/birthday" date.  we had lots of visitors from family! we kept our stay short this time so we could get home to Olive and start our lives with a new little baby in our family.  sunday afternoon we got ready and were cleared to go home. it was so nice to be home with olive and in my own bed!

the first week to two weeks was really difficult with a baby and a 21 month old.  olive has adjusted really well to her new little sister and loves her so much.  she is such a great helper and always runs to Scotti whenever she cries and says, "Scotti, you ok?!"

Scotti is absolutely perfect and we love her more than words can describe.  we are so happy she chose to be apart of our family.  she is just over 2 months old, and her little personality is starting to shine through.

we love you little Scotti Lou!!