Introducing Meg Caroline Varner....

Meg Caroline arrived on January 28th at 9:25 a.m. and weighed in at a 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 18 inches long. She is just perfect and we are so happy that our sweet baby girl is here. For those who want to see pictures you can scroll below, but I also wanted to include her hospital story!

The weather last week caused some alterations in our plans for the week, but we made it all work. Brody ended up staying in a hotel with MiMi, Bumpy, KK, and Hannah the night before we went to the hospital. He loved this and even got to go swimming! Bryson and I arrived at he hospital Wednesday morning and they got me all ready for the C-Section. I had some flashbacks to my delivery with Brody when they couldn't get an IV going and I started getting lightheaded and felt like I was going to pass out. Thankfully the second nurse who tried was able to make it happen. They then started to wheel me back to the operating room. Bryson wasn't allowed to go with me at this time so it was me all by myself. Brody came up to tell me bye and give me a kiss and I started to get very emotional. All of the emotions from the last 9 months just started to get to me and leaving my baby to go have another baby was just a very overwhelming feeling. When I got back in the room they started getting me prepped for the spinal. The nurses were trying to make me feel comfortable and asked me about Brody. Once again I started to cry. The anesthesiologist started the spinal and it was not bad at all. It didn't hurt near as bad as the IV. They then laid me down and that is when I started to get sick. The doctor had warned me that this might happen. It started with me getting lightheaded, then nauseous, and then I threw up. Which was horrible since I was laying down with my arms strapped down. I guess my blood pressure had dropped, but thankfully my anesthesiologist was awesome and got me feeling better very quick. They finally let Bryson come in and then they got started. I actually had two doctors performing the C-Section which put me even more at ease. It wasn't long before they pulled her out and showed her to me over the curtain. She looked so tiny. The first thing the doctor said to me was, "She has red hair too". She later told my family that they needed to start seeing who our mailman was so we could figure out where all this red hair keeps coming from. Meg's has actually started to turn brown already! I started to cry again and just continued. Bryson kept asking me what was the matter and I kept telling him that I was just so happy. He just isn't used to seeing me cry like that!

I got back to my room and it took them forever to bring Meg back. It must have been at least two hours. Once they did it was wonderful. Our stay in the hospital was good and my doctor was right about the recovery being so much easier since I didn't go through labor. It is a dramatic difference. Everything is easier. Meg has been a great eater since the beginning and is just sweet as she can be. She did lose 11% of her body weight while we were in the hospital and dropped down to 6 lbs 3 oz. She is also jaundice and we are monitoring that. It is probably a good thing that Bryson and I weren't planning on having anymore kids. My doctor said that my uterus is extremely thin and that she didn't even use her scalpel to cut the uterus open because she was worried about cutting the baby. She said the only thing that was holding Meg in was my bladder. I think this explains why I kept feeling like Meg was going to fall out!!! So all of this made me start discussing our birth control options with Bryson and telling him that a vasectomy may be around the corner for him. He asked me if I was sure I didn't want to just consider abstinence :) He must really not want to have a vasectomy!

Brody has been more fantastic with all of this then we could've ever imagined. He is very proud of Meg and likes to show her off. He is also very protective of her. I guess he thought Huston was going to touch her at one point and Brody said don't touch her Huston. He has not seemed to be jealous of her and is fine with the fact that I am holding her and feeding her. He is somewhat interested in what she is doing, but not too much. We are very thankful that he is handling this all so well. And...he has let Bryson sleep with him at night when he wakes up rather than me. We are so thankful for Gran B and Aunt B who took care of him some on Wednesday and Thursday and to KK, Bumpy, and MiMi for keeping him overnight on Thursday and Friday. He enjoyed all of this special attention! I am also so grateful to have Bryson. He has been great at playing with Brody and taking care of me. You start to really see how much your spouse loves you when they have to help you walk to the bathroom, shower, and get out of bed. None of this seemed to bother Bryson and for that I am thankful!

Some things we are already learning about Miss Meg. She is a pooper just like her brother. She pretty much poops every time she eats (and then some). She is a great burper. Brody never burped and still doesn't....I am glad this won't be a problem with her! She is content and kind of likes to be left alone. And noise does not bother her....thank goodness! She is also a wonderful sleeper. We hate to even talk about how wonderful she is because we don't want to jinx ourselves!

We finally got to come home on Saturday around 1:00. They went ahead and removed my staples before I left, which hurt like crazy. Since coming home I have felt much better than I did in the hospital. I think all of the drugs were making me dizzy and lightheaded and I had no kind of appetite. All is better now and I am just enjoying my two wonderful kids and my terrific husband. I couldn't be a happier girl!

So...enough writing and on to the pictures.....

Before the C-Section

Bryson waiting for the ok to come back to the operating room. Poor guy didn't hear the nurse say to put the scrubs on over your clothes and he took his pants off. The doctors gave him such a hard time during the C-Section and asked if anyone had some dollars.

Meg already has her own fan club

The four of us

The first time I held Meg

Brody holding Meg for the first time

I think her cousins and aunt like her

The three of them argued over who got to hold her first! They are just so cute!

Getting ready to leave the hospital

It was so weird driving with two kids in our car

Playing with Meg

Getting ready to go to the hospital for her jaundice test