Old Journal entries from the day of Ingrid's birth 3-15-07

BIG GIRL INGRID! Here is the entire story of her birthday-- a little long, but some people will appreciate it!
My last day of teaching was March 9, 2007, before Ingrid was born. Thankfully, it was a half day. I was absolutely ecstatic that I had made it! I was even happier after my doctor's appointment that day. For reasons unknown, the c-section was moved to Thursday, March 15. (It was originally planned for March 19.) I drove home thinking, "I know my little girl's birthday, and it's only six days away!"

Saturday and Sunday we did fun things with Jack. We went to Lichterman Nature Center and had a picnic at Tom Lee Park. It was very windy, and Joe flew a kite.

Monday and Tuesday Jack stayed home from school because he had a sinus infection. Beau Beau spent the day with us Tuesday.

Wednesday I went out to lunch with Paula Raines and had coffee with Christy and Claire Lino. We talked about Joe and my choices for our baby girl's name.

Thursday, March 15, 2007 Ingrid Irene Busby's birthday!

Joe and I stayed up late the night before and woke up early. We were SO excited!

We took a few pictures with the newspaper and bags that we were taking to the hospital. While driving to the hospital, we narrowed our baby's name to two choices and then just remarked on how beautiful the trees were on the drive.

We checked into the hospital and began the slow, nervous wait until our little girl's arrival. We checked in at 10am. I had an IV inserted. I answered a lot of the same questions for the nurses and anesthesiologists. I got the sour acid shot and the anti-nausea patch. Our c-section was scheduled for noon, but noon came and went. The hospital was very busy--many babies were being born on March 15, 2007! There was a little rain that day, and one of our nurses said that rain always brought out the babies.

At 12:45 Nurse Natalie came in with a wheelchair to wheel me to the operating room. On the way there, I saw my doctor at the nurses' station. She waved brightly to me and said she see me in a minute.

Spinal tap and then Joe was there with video camera.

Dr. Donato came in and said hi to me and asked me to remind her whether I was having a boy or girl (she had been out on maternity leave during some of my pregnancy). I told her a girl. She asked about names, and I said we hadn't decided for sure, but we were thinking of naming her Ingrid. I didn't mention our other name choices. I think Joe and I had decided that we were having a beautiful daughter by that point, a little Ingrid.

She continued to do prep work for surgery. At this point I really don't know what they were doing, and of course, it is all so normal to the nurses and doctors. They prep, assist, and perform c-sections everyday, but for Joe and me, it was the day a birthday miracle.

The first thing the Dr. Donato could see of Ingrid was her ear. She then said that the baby had a lot of dark hair. Dr. Donato had a little trouble getting Ingrid out of the insicision site. She tried vaccum extraction, but that did not work. She then went back and made the insicion a little longer. And out came our baby girl! She began to cry immediately, and so did I. Joe was talking about how beautiful she was and saying, "Oh! Oh!" And I was crying and so happy. The nurses suctioned her and FINALLY, with prompting from Dr. Donato ("Mom wants to see Ingrid too!"), I was able to see Ingrid. She was beautiful. Ingrid kept trying to open her eyes, and she would stick out her little tongue--so hungry already!

On our way out of the operating room, we thanked Dr. Donato. It was a marvelous day.