Baby Camilla

This picture was taken the Sunday before she was born on Friday. I am swollen in my hands and face and feet some but the swelling had just started! I have never had a pregnancy like that! With Gorden and Adelaide's pregnancies I couldn't even wear my wedding ring anymore around the end of my first trimester. This pregnancy was soo good, in so many aspects! Its amazing how different things go for me each time.

I thought I should write for a second about Camilla getting to our family. We have lots of pictures (although not half as many as our other two kids when they were this age!). We all are really loving having a new baby around. She is such a joy to our family!! Camilla is the best baby! She is very happy, super laid back and calm, eats and sleeps like a champ, and loves all the attention she is getting. Plus she is SO CUTE I can't stand it!

I'd mentioned before that my doctor wanted me to try and have a VBAC and not deliver via c-section. The trick is, I have to go into labor on my own. I can't be induced. Well that never happened. He let me go as much as five days past my due date and still nothing was going on. So we scheduled a c-section. The week before my due date I had started dilating a little bit and was thinning and she had dropped. For the next appt, I had our trunk packed with bags for me and the baby, and both kids. I was hopeful that I'd progressed and my doctor would send me next door to the hospital and my mom would come pick up my kids to spend the night with her, etc. Well at that appt, the doctor said she'd gone back up! That was pretty frustrating. I left that appt crying and was really bummed out about having to have surgery. I had done it twice and it was great before, but I just really didn't want to have surgery this time. It only took a day for me to get over it and I was fine. Spencer pointed out that there is definitely a reason why Heavenly Father wants this baby to come via c-section, and we really do want to do what is best for my body and the baby. I did not want to have a trial of labor and then have a c-section. I was hoping for experiencing just one way to get the baby here, not a little bit of both! Plus if something went wrong during a VBAC its a big deal and would likely result in me having a hysterectomy and a damaged/dead baby. It turns out that c-section is probably the better way to deliver a 10 1/2 pound baby!

Everything went very smoothly. I took Gorden to school that morning then went home to get myself ready. Spencer and I dropped Adelaide off at a friend's house to play for the day and off we went to the hospital. We were both pretty calm. It was nice to not be super nervous! I really felt good about everything and just had a peaceful feeling like things were going to be fine and go smoothly. I was tired, but I was so excited!

We got to the hospital and they started prepping me right away. I laid there with monitors on for quite a while as nurses and the doctor and the anesthesiologist came in and out. (By the way, the monitors showed zero contractions!) Then they wheeled me off and sent Spencer to a certain place to get dressed for the Operating Room and he came in after they got me all situated and the curtain up so he couldn't see my guts.

It took no time at all and then she was out and the nurses and Spencer kept excitedly telling me things like, "She has beautiful hair!" "She has dimples!" "She is such a pretty baby!" "She is so long!" Then Spencer left with the nurse and the baby to go to the nursery and I just kept laying there while the doctor sewed me up and he and all the nurses in the room were making guesses about Camilla's weight. The lowest guess was 9lbs 2 oz and the highest was 9lbs 7oz. When the nursery called the OR to tell us her actual weight everyone was just floored that she was 10lbs 6oz!! It was pretty funny.

I think these pictures are from the next day. I remember not holding the baby for several hours because when they brought her to me I was so dizzy I couldn't hold her at all. That was kind of a let down but mostly just surprising because I didn't know I felt so bad until I sat up a little and then didn't have a lot of control over my arms.

Camilla had visitors right away. Her Grandma and Grandpa Gorden and Aunt Rifka were anxiously waiting to meet and welcome her! I don't have pictures of everyone that came but we had friends and family coming in and out the whole time.

Not long afterwards my parents went to get Adelaide and Rifka went to pick up Gorden from school and then they all came back to the hospital. It was so fun for me to watch Gorden and Adelaide with their baby sister. I'm pretty sure I just laid there and cried because I'm just so glad to be the mom and I love my little family! I am so blessed!

Spencer stayed with me both nights in the hospital and that was amazing! I remember being so lonely when I had Adelaide because I was by myself the whole time. Spencer and Gorden were home throwing up the whole time I was in the hospital so he didn't even get to visit much. This time was incredible! Spencer is super helpful too and that was so nice! We went home on Sunday afternoon and all I remember is that all of us just kept staring at our new baby! We are all in love with her!! (This picture is not posed!)

Look at her holding her head up! Spencer was burping her and she's just sitting up so straight and alert!