Ben's Birthday

June 29th

We got up at 5 a.m. to be at the hospital between 5:30 and 6:00.  My mom came over to stay with Avery.

I was really nervous.  I was honestly too nervous and anxious to be excited.  Rob was excited, though.  Sure...he wasn't getting cut open.

We checked into the hospital and started all the pre-op procedures.  I may have started crying a couple of times but for the most part I held it together.

Waiting

Right at 7:30 I was wheeled to the OR.  Rob stayed behind and put on his sterile gear while I was given a spinal block.  It was freezing in the OR and I was shaking.  They brought me a warm blanket and that was pretty nice.  Finally, Rob came in and they started the surgery.  He sat up by my head and I squeezed his hand pretty much the whole time.  The nurses and nurse anesthetist (who administered my spinal) were awesome and kept talking to me.  After a while I felt immense pressure and tugging and heard one of the nurses grunting and saying how tight my stomach muscles were (riiiiiiiight).  Later I found out she was practically on my chest assisting in getting Ben out.  After he was out he immediately started crying. My doctor held him up so Rob could take a few pictures.

After that Rob went over with Ben while he got cleaned up and weighed.

He weighed 6 pounds even and was 19.25 inches long.

After that, a nurse took Rob and Benjamin back to our room while they finished up with me.  Shortly after, I was wheeled back to the room and got to hold Ben and have skin-to-skin time.  Some time later Avery got to come in and meet her brother.

She was going to help give him a bath but chickened out when he started crying.


Then all Ben's grandparents came in to meet him.

I spent the day in bed (really, the better part of all three days), recovering, and got up for a short trip to the bathroom that evening. We had several visitors who were sweet enough to bring us food if we wanted, gifts or flowers, or just to see sweet Ben.

The nurses at the hospital were great-very helpful, accommodating, friendly, and competent.  My doctor was awesome too.  She came by my room before the surgery and let me know that everything was going to be ok, but that she understood why I was nervous and let me know that she bawled like a baby (her words) before her c-section which made me feel a little better.

My mom and Rob's mom and dad took turns staying with Avery and coming by to visit.  This was so nice because Rob and I didn't have to worry about trying to keep Avery at the hospital and we could focus on taking care of Ben and resting (which is good because Avery got bored after about 15 minutes of being at the hospital each time).  We also let the nurses take him at night so we could sleep.  They would bring him to the room so I could feed him then they would take him back.  Sorry, but if you don't take advantage of this you're crazy! There were two/three other room occupied on the floor at the time, and we were the only ones who let the nurse take our baby at night so maybe we were the crazy ones!  The night nurse was very sweet and assured me that they weren't doing anything else and that it was their job (if we wanted, and we obliged). We were able to go home somewhat rested (it's not like we were getting 8 hours or anything, but better than 3)-at least not complete zombies.  We went home on Sunday.  We could have stayed another night but we were ready to get home.  The hospital bed was horribly uncomfortable and let's not even discuss the food.  Unfortunately, none of the nurses could come home with us.

Recovery is definitely not fun nor is it a walk in the park but it's manageable and gets better with each day. Overall, it was a much better experience than my experience with Avery (induction, horribly long labor, failed epidural, failed induction, emergency c-section).  In fact, we found out that my emergency c-section with Avery was one of 10 true emergency c-sections where general anesthesia was used that has been done to date at the hospital (a small-ish hospital that's been open only 5 years, but still).

Avery is doing great with him.  So far we haven't seen any jealousy or acting out.  She loves to kiss and hug him, loves to watch him, and loves her title of "big sister."

At 37.5 weeks he was perfect.  It's weird to think that he should still be inside of me.  He is a wonderful, sweet baby.  He doesn't cry too much except when he's hungry, which is actually quite a lot.  He doesn't like getting his diaper or clothes changed either.  He sleeps good-I mean, in newborn terms.  We are all in love with him and can't wait to watch him grow.

I have lots more pictures I want to share, but I'd like to get them in a slideshow.