born Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 9:57 pm
7 lbs.11 oz 19.5 inches -- Our healthy purple raisin
This was just before I got the epidural. I had had contractions for about 8 1/2 hours till this point and I was ready to not feel them so strongly anymore. My eyes got so heavy from the IV pain medication I received when I first got there that Joe had to count down before taking the photo and I would open them at the last minute. The epidural worked really well, I didn't feel anything. That was good and bad. Pushing was definitely harder because I couldn't feel what I was supposed to be pushing. But considering how bad the contractions were when I first got to the hospital I don't know how long I would have lasted. After the epidural kicked in, I kind of lost track of time and couldn't believe it when it was time to push. Pushing seemed to go by really quickly and then, "here's your daughter."
Obviously this was just after Cassidy was born. What I remember most about that moment was just how purple she was and how she really didn't make a sound. No one was scared or panicked though, thankfully for me, and they just rubbed her down to get her to start fussing a little. She had quite a large goose egg on the top of her head from the delivery. I was a little tight and so her head took the brunt (actually so did I, snip snip). But by the next day the golf ball on her head was barely noticeable.
This is a good representation of our stay in the hospital, Cassidy asleep. She did that a lot. It actually caused a little concern for some of the nurses because she would go well over the recommended time between nursing sessions. After being fussy all night after being born she started her sleeping trend. The first day she was out for almost 10 straight hours and the second day she was out for about 7 hours. She just wanted to sleep. We worried a little about her eating but when she was hungry she woke up and nursed well. She went from 7 pounds 11 ounces at birth to 7 pounds 4 ounces at 24 hours and then to 7 pounds 2.5 ounces at 36 hours, so her sleeping affected her weight loss very little.
Just after Cassidy was born and cleaned up, she was able to "watch" Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh win the gold medal in women's beach volleyball in Beijing. What a treat for her (and mom and dad).
December got the majority of the time with the little one but Joe snatched the opportunity to hold the baby when December was asleep.
