Adelyn Verree

She's Here!!!

Her Story:

At around 4 a.m. Sunday morning I woke up with some pretty impressive contractions and cramping. I checked the timing on them and realized they were about every 7-9 minutes apart at that point. I decided to get up and get a glass of water and a cereal bar to see if that would help calm them back down. I went downstairs and got online for a few minutes to get my mind off of everything. I was still noticing though that they were coming pretty frequently and intense and something just seemed to be happening!

I called my Dr. on call and she told me to try and get a shower. She said if that didn't help then it was time to come on in! I went and got a shower and then laid down next to Chris in bed. We timed 5 minutes between contractions and decided it was time to hit the road!

We called MawMaw (Chris's Mom), to come and care for the boys while we rushed off to the hospital. She got there quickly! We didn't even wait for her to pull in to the drive, but instead met her further up on the block.

My contractions were nowhere near as intense as they were with the boys on the way to the E.R. and so I considered that a good sign. My water hadn't broken this time which I think helped keep things at bay.

We got to the hospital at around 6ish and they checked me in and wheeled me up to the third floor. Nurse Annie (AMAZING woman who brought me such comfort all day long) was there waiting. She hooked me up to a few monitors and we saw that I was indeed contracting every 5-7 minutes or so. She checked on Adelyn and she was remaining perfectly safe and content inside of me so all was good there. At that time I was 3 cm dilated so we were in no huge rush or hurry to have to make things move too quickly.

Because of the couple bites of cereal bar I had eaten a few hours earlier that morning they wanted me to wait as long as possible before doing surgery. Typically they don't want you eating anything up to 8 hours before, but they had me wait about six.

So...we waited.

It was so wonderful. It was wonderful to have that time to know that we would soon meet our daughter, but yet there was no huge emergency or rush to have to get her out right then and there. I didn’t have that with the boys. It was all go, go, go by the time we arrived at the E.R. with them as I was 10 cm dilated and ready to start pushing!

Annie, my nurse, is also the mother of twins. Her twins are one month older than mine and we had the greatest time talking and comparing notes on life with multiples. She was just amazingly sweet and gentle and exactly what I needed during that time.

At around 10 the anesthesiologist came in to the room and talked with me about the c-section. He asked me a bazillion and a half questions and not long after they had me walk down to the O.R. to meet my daughter!

When I walked in to the operating room one of the nurses yelled out “Welcome to the Birthday Room!” There was music playing, people buzzing here and there, and it really did seem like a party was going on! I was so excited knowing that within minutes from that time I would be meeting my daughter face to face.

I was blessed beyond words when I saw that a dear lady who goes to our church, Ann, was going to be in the O.R. during the surgery. She is an amazing RN with over 29 years of experience and it certainly did show. She helped me sit up on the operating table and held my hands and explained to me what they were going to be doing with the spinal and all of that. I was truthfully the most nervous for the spinal above anything else.

While the anesthesiologist was working his magic and doing his thing she stood there right in front of me, allowing me to cling to her hands. At one point I even asked her if her hands were okay because I was squeezing them so tight! It really wasn’t that big of a deal or that painful, it was just the thought of it all that made me a little bit squeamish.

Within minutes he was done and they helped me lift my ever-getting-heavier legs on to the table. Pretty soon I tried to lift them and it was just completely dead weight. They placed warm blankets over the top part of my body and it felt like I was seriously at the spa!

They hung up the famous blue sheet in front of my face and then they went to get Chris. He came and joined me and it was so good to see him and have him there. He stood, holding my hand, for the entire procedure and wanted to see every step in the arrival of our daughter coming in to the world. I am so glad he did because he was able to get some amazing pictures, as well as tell me later about the whole experience.

Ann came over to me just as they were starting the surgery and she prayed with me over the arrival of our baby. It was the most incredible gift that I could have ever been given at that time. It also, as you can imagine, made me even more emotional and touched me at such a deep level. I just felt such complete and absolute peace over the entire situation. She will never know how much that meant to me and how I will never forget it.

It wasn’t too long after they started when they told announced “Here she comes!” At that moment the song “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder came on! Her little head came popping on out and I heard her first little cry. After a little more work the rest of her followed and the doctor held her up for me to get my first look at her. She was big and plump and beautiful! I just sobbed and sobbed, so overcome with emotion at the sight of my daughter.

She was born at 11:24 a.m.

Chris was able at that point to go with them to the other side of the O.R. and help them clean and wrap her up. He then carried her over to me and we snuggled and kissed all over her. Amazing. She was able to stay there with us for about 10 minutes before she went to the nursery to get warm, weighed, and cleaned.

Her official weight was 7 pounds, 15.3 ounces.
She was 20 inches long.

It wasn’t long after and they were wheeling me in to the recovery room. Chris was able to join me in there, and within about 10 minutes after that Adelyn joined us as well. I was able at that time to breastfeed her and she latched on right away!

We were able to spend almost that entire first day together getting to know each other, cuddling, breastfeeding, and just giving me time to soak in this new miracle that was now in my arms.
This experience of having a healthy, full term baby has been SO incredibly healing for me. I don’t think I knew or understood the depths of how much healing it would bring me to be able to have her nestled up next to me without any machines, tubes, or wires getting in the way. It was weeks before I was able to see my little boy’s entire faces free and clear of any tubes…and I was just amazed by the sight of her chubby little cheeks, little button nose, and pouty little lips!

Yesterday morning Ethan and Grayson came to meet their sister for the first time. I was so excited to see their reaction and see my entire family of five in one room together. Below is a video of them seeing her. Priceless.

Today I will be going home WITH my daughter to join the rest of our family. I know much lies ahead as our family gets acquainted with each other and we fall in to a groove. I am so looking forward to it.

I feel blessed. Blessed beyond words at the way my life has turned out this far. I feel undeserving, in awe, overwhelmed at the incredible responsibility that now lays before us as we raise up these three incredible children of ours.

Waiting for everything to begin!

Can you say McSteamy? :)

Chris checking out his daughter

Chris and I kissing her for the first time

10 little fingers, 10 little toes...the total package!

Ethan and Grayson meeting Adelyn for the first time!

UPDATE: For some reason the video of the boys meeting their sister doesn't seem to be working. I will work on this more later when I get home!