Nia Jane Sumo is here and she has already been so calm and precious. She was born one week ago today on July 7th at 2:13 PM. Nia weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. I had her at the same hospital I gave birth to her big sister, May-Holy Cross in Silver Spring, MD. Nia's birth was much different from May's delivery. It was a much more calming experience. Her delivery was by scheduled C-Section. As I previously stated in past postings, I went back and forth with the options of getting a VBAC or a repeat C-Section. In the end, Rex and I decided that a repeat C-Section would be our best option and the day prior to the surgery I went to Holy Cross for blood work to be taken.

I seemed like there were so many pregnant women getting their blood taken the day I came in. In fact the lab tech said I was the fourth pregnant woman getting my blood drawn that day. After that hospital visit, I was not to eat or drink anything after 12 am. Not eating or drinking anything after a certain time that night was not hard because I actually felt sick the night prior to the surgery. I wasn't sure what I had ate that made me feel nauseous but I felt like I was floating on the ocean at one point and all I could think was "Don't throw up." Rex, May and I stayed at his parent's place that night because it was closer to the hospital. Also we knew that the next day May would have to stay with the family until I was in my hospital room after the surgery.

The morning of the surgery went by pretty quick. I was scheduled for 12:45 pm and I was told to come to the hospital at 10:30 am. Traffic was not too bad getting to the hospital, especially for 495 W. It was so different because I had no contractions, nor did my water break. I walked into the hospital and told to go up to the third floor, only with May my contractions were less than 4 minutes apart. I calmly checked in and Rex and I were told to walk back to our room in Labor and Delivery. While there I casually got into my clothes for delivery. I was given an IV but it took three times due to my small veins.  The nurse also thought it was because I was dehydrated because I couldn't eat or drink anything prior to the surgery. Rex and I waited patiently and as Nia's heartbeat and movement was monitored. I took these pics while we waited:


I wasn't in much pain as we waited but I did feel a little due to Nia's karate chops in my womb. When it was around 12 pm, the nurse gave us news that my c-section would be slightly delayed. She said that it would be more around 1:15 pm. As 1:15 pm came closer and passed and I still had gotten the epidural, I wondered if I would at least get the epidural in the room  I was waiting in before I got the surgery. At around 1:30 pm the nurse came in and with the anesthesiologist and said that my turn was next and that I would be receiving a spinal block in the operating room. A few minutes after that I was told that I would WALK into the operating room. Last time I was quickly wheeled in due to the emergency. Calm music was playing as I entered the room and the doctor and anesthesiologist were talking about a trip to Italy. The spinal block went well for as much as spinal block is. I remember I was having a contraction during the epidural before. Not too long after the block I noticed I couldn't breathe well and I told the doctors that it was getting harder and harder for me to breathe. The anesthesiologist lifted my head a little and I felt so much better. They put the curtain up and Rex was brought inside. It seemed to take a bit before the real tugging. I remember the first time the doctor said, "And know you'll start to feel some real tugging, we're going to pull out the baby." The doctor said around the same thing this time. That tug was strong and with about five to six tugs, Nia was born. I remember the doctor said, "Oh she's a cute baby."

Nia's cries were magical and I cried once again. She was taken to the table to be weighed and then I heard someone say to Rex, "Would you like to cut the cord?" May's delivery was such an emergency that Rex wasn't given that option. Rex gladly said "Yes" and later told me that the cord was tough to cut. Nia was then washed a bit and given back to Rex and for a good 20 or 30 minutes for the time they were stitching me back up, Nia was so quiet and was alert as Rex sat with her.


 Later I was taken to the recovery room were she was washed further and I was able to do skin to skin and start nursing right away. I'm happy to say after a few bumps the first few days of birth, Nia and I have found our rhythm and she's been nursing ever since.

While I was in recovery, Rex left to get May and not too long after that I was moved to my hospital room. May seemed so happy to see Nia and she was beaming. She was very intrigued too and we said, "May this is your sister." Here's a picture of when May first saw Nia: