Grantudy arrived the night before and Chase waited by the window for his 'tudy. I also waited, for my mom. Sometimes you just need your mom and when my children are born, is when I need her the most. I am confident, and ready, but I need her here, not so much for comfort or to allay fears, but to celebrate and share in the joy of this precious little nugget of goodness.
She brought Chase a beetle car just like Gramps, some fun puzzles, and of course some pink cupcakes with pink hershey kisses on top calling out the celebration of "It's a girl." In true celebration, we ate dessert first that night! Kevin made a wonderful jambalaya and we cozied in for our last night as a family of three. I could feel the magic brewing....
Friday morning we all piled in the cars to drop Chase at Nana's for the day. He was totally unimpressed at the significance of this day....
In my usual overly-early-manner, we arrived at the hospital an hour earlier than we needed to, and 3 hours earlier that the planned C-section scheduled for 11:30. So we had time to wait.... and figure out Spicy's name. At this point, her name would be "Spicy" forever if we didn't agree on a name!
Mom and Kevin kept me entertained while I endured the last few hours of this VERY uncomfortable pregnancy. I love this baby girl, but this pregnancy was not fun! The triage room felt like a second home after all the trips I had made here for my test in the weeks leading up to this moment. We texted friends, made jokes, and finally decided on a name.
Though the doctor was running late, Kevin was donning his scrubs before we knew it. This was a sign that we are almost at the finish line! After a quick and tearful goodbye to Grantudy (this woman always makes me cry), we promised everything would go perfectly and she would meet her newest grandbaby very soon!
Though the surgery prep and epidural was routine for me at this point, I got a bit overwhelmed this time. I remembered the pain of the anesthesia not taking affect, I didn't have Kevin with me yet, and I started to hyperventilate. I just needed to see him, look him in the eyes, feel his strong hand, and hear him tell me, "its going to be a beautiful day." Before Kevin was allowed in, I took the doctor up on some extra meds to calm my nerves (more on that later...). Kevin arrived just before they were ready to cut. I was crying. That took him for a loop. He said, "whoa babe, no tears today. This is a happy day. We are going to meet our Spicy daughter!" I laughed. And the doctor's began.
Now, back to those "extra meds" I asked for.... I heard Kevin laughing during the surgery and asked, a bit surprised, why he was laughing. He said, "because you are snoring!" Evidently, the "extra meds" made me so sleepy I almost slept through the birth of our daughter. Luckily, I heard the doctor's say, just a few more seconds.....
Then we were silent, as we heard that beautiful cry. It wasn't a shrill scream, just a nice little baby cry to let us know she arrived and is healthy. "nnaahhhh nahhh."
Whitney Reese Homan arrived at 12:23pm, weighing 7lbs 10oz, and 20 1/2 in long. She scored a 9/9 on the apgar and had TONS of dark long hair!
Kevin brought her over to me and this time, my arms were free to wrap around my little girl for the very first time. She was beautiful and I couldn't stop crying and whispering "happy birth day Whitney!"
Kevin and Whitney headed to the nursery to get a quick check up while I finished up in surgery. I reminded him to stop and tell my mom everything went perfectly-- she worries so much. Grantudy got to set eyes on her newest grandchild through the nursery window and see that everyone was perfect. I waited what felt like forever (maybe 40 minutes) for them to return and for me to get to nurse in the recovery room. The room was dark and warm and she nestled in like a pro. We just sat in silence, together, looking at our beautiful and healthy spicy girl. We are so blessed with such a wonderful life.
After a quiet and peaceful time, we headed back up to our room. Kevin went to get Grantudy and meet us in the room. It was just Whitney and I for a few moments of etched-in-my-mind time. Her eyes closed, tired from all her hard work, I just stared at her beautiful face and whispered through my tears, "happy birthday Whitney Reece, thank you for choosing me to be your momma."
The door opened and Grantudy walked through, our eyes met and we cried. no words. It was perfect. She is perfect.
The rest of the afternoon we spent quietly soaking up our new little lady. She is just perfect. The first words out of everyone's mouth when they see her is "wow, those cheeks" and "oh my gosh, that hair"! She looks so so different than her big brother. We think maybe just their mouths resemble one another.
Speaking of big brother... Chase was getting lots of love at Nana's house and came to meet his little sis that afternoon. I was expecting this moment with both my kids in my arms, Chase glowing with pride about being a big brother..... yeah right. Actually, I was caught off guard, the moment he walked through the door he looked anxious and told me, "mamee, get outta dat bed, get out, get out." He did not like the machines or the big bed I was sitting in. Of course I couldn't get up (still numb) and felt helpless to make him feel better.
He had a hard time warming up to his sister because he didn't like the room, the machines, and the scenes. But, when it came to Whitney, he did seem interested. As I was showing Whitney to him, I said in my high pitched baby voice, "Here is your big big brother. She loves you Chase." He then mimicked my baby voice and said back, "hi Winny, hiiiii Winny. Awesome. Can I watch Busytown?"
We still got that family photo, pretty much wedging Chase in place and quickly snapping a picture before he begged to get out of the bed and away from the machines.
He wanted to work things on his terms and started to inspect his sissy on his own. "Dat her belly, dat her toes. Her sleepin'."
Gramps finally arrived and my heart was complete. Grantudy took Chase home and Gramps got to spend some time with his little lady. Anyone who knows my dad, knows he says he prefers toddlers, but I know differently, I know he is just drawn to the tiny babies. He gingerly took her, trying to remember the feel of holding a tiny one again, but within 20 minutes he was an old pro. So much so, it was hard to pry her away from him.
The rest of the night it was just us three. We spent hours passing Whitney between us, recalling our favorite features, and in the dark light of such a blessed day, saying over and over how lucky we are to have such a beautiful and healthy family.
Welcome to the family Whitney Reese.
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