Although he has been a part of our family much longer, Baylor has only officially been in the family for 3 days. Already I can't imagine our family without him. God has blessed us with such an amazing gift in our newest son.
On Tuesday, June 29th, Justin and I left for the hospital around 9:30 am after a very restless night and an early morning full of baking because I just couldn't sleep any longer. Well, that and I wanted to leave treats for Nanny, Papa, Peyton, and Aunt B. They have all helped by moving in with Grayson while Mommy, Daddy, and Baylor have been living at the hospital. We had a couple of errands to run so we finally arrived at the hospital around 10:15. Let me just go ahead and state, for the record, that at 10:15 I was already so hungry I could have eaten my arm and so thirsty I would have drank up the ocean. I just don't get no food or liquids after midnight for a 1:30 pm procedure!
Upon arrival we did the whole check-in process and were then parked in our Labor and Delivery room (Room 7). I liked our nurse, Cheryl, right away. We spent the first hour and a half monitoring the baby, drawing blood for labs, getting my IV started, answering lots of surveys, filling out paperwork, doing the anesthesia prep, and getting my IV started. I must add here that I was having some mildly intense regular contractions while on the monitor, which helped me feel like Baylor was ready to be born. We had a birth plan, but were very unsure of what to expect since my last three deliverys were not by c-section. Cheryl was very patient in answering all of my questions and provided us with valid explanations for all of the things that were not going to go the way we were hoping (i.e. being able to try breastfeeding immediately).
At 12:20 we began our walk to the Operating Romm (OR). Once we arrived Justin was instructed to get his OR attire on outside the door and wait there for instructions to come in. The hubby is not allowed in until after the spinal has been given in case they were to pass out seeing a long needle go into their wife's spine. They took me inside. It was FREEZING in there. I mean seriously freezing. They had to bring me warming blankets right away because I began shaking like a maniac and couldn't stop. Shaking like a maniac doesn't work well for having a long needle stuck into your spine. After getting everything set up we waited for Dr. Brannon.
Dr. B arrived with a bang busting in the door with an ultrasound machine. He wanted to be certain Baylor was still breech before he cut me open. As soon as he put the jellied wand on the top of my belly all you could see was a big round head. So, we were ready to get started. The needle guy got ready and I was prepped for my spinal. Let me say that I was very nervous about the spinal. When I got the epidural for Grayson the numbing stuff didn't start working as quickly as it does for most people and when he first tried to stick the needle in, I felt it! It was terrible and I was so fearful that would happen again. Not only that, but it was the same needle guy that did my epidural with Grayson. Lots of wasted fear because although the pressure was miserable, I felt no pain with the Spinal going in and before I knew it I was laying on the table and numb from my underarms down.
The nurses instructed Justin to come back in the room and take his place seated on a stool by my head. As Dr. B returned to the OR he says, "Hey Justin! Stand up and watch this." I guess all he needed was an invitation because Justin stood up and watched the entire event on the other side of the curtain. I could not see the doctor. I could only see Justin and the big blue curtain. The anesthesiology tech talked me through every step of the procedure so I would know what was going on. I could feel lots of pulling an tugging and after about 20 minutes I heard the doctor say "boy" and then I heard the cries of my little Baylor. Those first cries are such a wonderful sound. Baylor was born (pulled out by the doctor) at 1:19 pm, weighed exactly 7 lbs, and measured 19 3/4 inches long.
For about 15 minutes I could hear Baylor and I was kept in the loop by Justin who was with him as they cleaned him and did all the baby care stuff they do in the OR. I could not, however, see Baylor. That was very hard for me. I just wanted to lay eyes on him and see that he ws really here, but I was stuck still on the other side of the big blue curtain unable to see anything. Finally, they let Justin bring him over to me. I could not hold him or really even get a good look at him upside down, but I did get to at least see that living, breathing, wide awake, bundle of baby. My heart melted!!! He was so alert. All the nurses kept talking about his wide open eyes and beautiful lips. From those comments I knew he would look a little like his brother. Dr. B finished the work on me and declared that there is nothing wrong with my uterus (something he has wondered since my difficulty carrying the twins) and that if I desire and the baby is head down, I can do a vaginal deliveries from here on out.
The next hour was the longest ever. They took Baylor off (remember I still have held him or even looked at him upright) to the nursery and I was sent off to recovery in my Labor and Delivery Room. Justin went with Baylor so that he could take pictures and so that Baylor would not be without one of us while he was poked and inspected. Finally around 2:30 or 3:00 my little baby was finally placed in my arms. It was too long to wait, but it was definitely love at first sight when he finally arrived. He nursed right away and did very well.
Once I was declared recovered enough we were moved to our permanent room in the Women's Pavilion (23). We got settled there and shortly after Grayson arrived to meet his baby brother. It has been a blur ever since. Hospital stays are like that. Between the drugs, the all night check-ins, and the visitors during the day, I stay completely drained.
Baylor continues to do well. There was some thought he may be jaundiced, but the test came back within normal limits this morning. He is breastfeeding well and has only lost about 4 ounces of weight since Tuesday. We should be able to go home later this morning. I can't wait to get home to where the four of us can be together and start getting adjusted to our new family.
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