I spent the next 4 days cleaning our house, washing clothes, packing hospital bags, and installing the infant car seat into our car, along with our typical day-to-day tasks. By Monday evening, I was finally done! It was a huge weight off of my shoulders to be done with all of the prep work and ready to have our baby. On Tuesday, I spent the day relaxing with a friend. That evening we went out to dinner as a family, and then we dropped Josiah off at his grandpa's house where he stayed the next 2 days.
During the final days before Micah's arrival, I took a picture each day to countdown.
On Wednesday morning, we checked into the hospital at 5:45am. I barely slept at all- not that I had been sleeping much for the past month or so anyway. We were taken up to the triage room in labor & delivery where I was given my hospital bracelets, hooked up to an IV, put into a very lovely gown, and reviewed all of my medical information with the nurse again. About 15 minutes before the scheduled surgery, my dr. came in and checked on me. I had to drink a horrible shot of grossness- ironically designed to prevent me from throwing up during surgery but made me want to throw up right then. I don't remember doing this with Josiah either. At 7:45, my dr. walked Jesse and me down to the operating room where we got to hug my mom and brother just before going into the O.R. I went into the room where I met the anesthesiologist, the assistants and nurses counted instruments to make sure none would be left inside my body in the end, I had my blood pressure taken and was given the spinal anesthesia before laid down. I instantly went numb. Nice thing about the spinal! I felt really good through the whole thing. I wasn't as worried about getting sick during the surgery as I was with Josiah. They brought Jesse in as soon as I was prepped and ready to go.
Within minutes, Micah was delivered- at 8:03am to be exact. They brought him over to see me and then took him to be examined, cleaned up a little, and they let Jesse cut the umbilical cord. (FYI, they do cut it as they are taking the baby out of me, but they allow the dad to cut it even shorter afterwards.)
Once Micah was wrapped up, they brought him directly to me for skin-to-skin contact. It was very clear that Micah was ready to nurse. He was sucking on the dr's hand as the dr was pulling Micah from my belly. And as soon as they laid him on my chest, he began rooting around. So, they helped me get Micah latched on to breastfeed, and he took to it like a champ! They removed him when I was ready to be wheeled to the recovery room, but allowed him to latch back on after he was weighed and measured. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 9 oz and measured 19.5" long. This is a lb and half LESS than Josiah and half an inch longer! I was shocked at my little baby, and even more shocked that not only did he have hair (and a decent amount), but that it was dark hair!!! A far cry from my first baby boy who was bald throughout his first year of life, had blonde peach fuzz for hair, and weighed 7 lbs, 13 oz! Aside from his dark hair, let alone having hair, and his small weight, I was also surprised at how different Micah looked than what I expected. He reminded me nothing of Josiah or of Jesse, and Jesse has very strong family genes. So I naturally expected that our kids would never look like me, but always be his little mini me's. While not very many other people agree, Micah actually reminds me the most of my dad.
I spent about an hour and half, if I remember right, in recovery where I nursed Micah frequently, received pain meds to keep me comfortable, and waited until I could wiggle my toes. Jesse went to breakfast with my mom and brother during this time. And just about the time he returned, I was able to be moved to the mother/baby ward. Here, my mom and brother got to meet Micah for the first time and I sent out the word via text messages and phone calls that Micah had arrived.
My cousin Liz came to visit first, followed by Jolyn (not pictured) and Kim who are two of my best friends.
Shortly after, Jesse gave Micah his first bath. He hated being undressed and scrubbed, but loved the water running on him and instantly calmed down.
I was SO TIRED, but this was our first real picture together:
Jesse and I took a similar picture with Josiah:
(Josiah on the left, Micah on the right)
That evening, Jesse's dad brought Josiah up to meet Micah.
He did not like it at all! He cried and was shy towards us. He didn't want anything to do with Micah at all. I honestly think he didn't know what to think about us being in the hospital. He didn't understand why we were there and what I was doing in this big odd-looking bed. He warmed up just enough to sit next to me on the bed and color while I wasn't holding Micah, but, otherwise, wasn't up for family pictures.
I did get one picture of me with both of my boys, though:
Jesse and his dad:
My aunts visited at the same time:
Jesse spent the first night with me in the hospital while Josiah stayed with his grandpa. I ended up staying from Wednesday morning to Saturday afternoon, but Jesse spent the rest of the days at home with Josiah. This made it very different from Josiah's delivery as I was alone much of the time. I treasured my visitors and was disappointed when some had to cancel or were unable to come a 2nd time. I was also disappointed by how many of my close friends didn't bother to come at all. But I was appreciative and enjoyed every moment with those who did come. So I tried not to dwell on the negative and just use my free time to sleep, post pictures on facebook, or watch tv with my baby boy.
On day 2, I was overwhelmed with the love and support from my MOPS group. MOPS just began at the end of September and I had only been to a handful of meetings at the time. Yet, 3 of my beautiful MOPS friends came to see me in the hospital and gushed over Micah the entire time (that's a bigger number than how many of my close friends came to see me, by the way). I have become so grateful for my opportunity to be in MOPS and grow to love these ladies, but that's a post for another day. So, here's Kirsten, Linsay, and Megan:
My cousins came up to visit too (Sam and his wife and 2 daughters):
(I love how Natalia is cradling the blanket so softly even though no baby is in it!)
At 3 days old, I finally got to get a picture of Micah with Dr. Haugen. This was neat for me because Dr. Haugen also delivered Josiah despite the fact that he wasn't my OB at the time. In fact, it was because of that delivery and how much I enjoyed him that I switched to his care. I would've loved to have a picture of Dr. Haugen with both boys, but that was never possible.
Look at all that beautiful hair on my sweet baby!
Uncle Michael, Jesse's brother, came up to visit Micah when he was 3 days old:
(Micah was supposed to be named Judah Michael after Jesse's brother. But as soon as we discovered that we were in fact having a boy, Jesse began to 2nd guess the name. He didn't feel the same peace about his son being named Judah as he did about Josiah's name. So, we went back to our short list and chose Micah James instead-James after Jesse's dad. As it turns out, though, Michael didn't lose his namesake since Micah and Michael both mean "Who is like God". So Micah is, in a way, named after both his uncle and his grandpa.)
Aside from our visitors, the hospital stay went well. My nurses were great and very accommodating. The most annoying thing was to have one nurse tell me to rest and the next nurse tell me to walk frequently, but it wasn't too terrible. My pain level stayed really low. The nurses were always surprised to hear that it was only a 3/10 or less most days. My incision was healing well. My bleeding was minimal. Micah nursed like a champ. He got an 8 & 9 on his APGAR test. He passed his hearing test too. His bilirubin levels stayed at low-risk for jaundice. He got the vaccines he needed. And, although his weight dropped from 6.9 to 6.6 to 6.3, it went back up to 6.5 before leaving the last day.
Saturday, Nov 5th was the day we checked out of the hospital. I chose to stay the extra day to relax and be taken care of. However, the 5th was Jesse's birthday and I was ready to go home and start my life as a family of 4. We had to wait F-O-R-E-V-E-R to finally check out because it was Saturday and the pediatrician didn't make her rounds until late, but by 3pm we were given the go-ahead to check out.
My mom was there to help me pack and drive me home. We buckled Micah into the carseat and I was blown away at how tiny he seemed. He HATED being buckled in, but I've learned with time that that's just part of Micah's likes and dislikes.
We made a stop by the store and picked up a cake for Jesse's birthday and headed home to settle in. Josiah, now in his own element, seemed to warm up to Micah quickly. He patted Micah on the head, said "baby" and even gave Micah kisses!
And then Micah passed out for the evening...
...after all, it'd been quite an exhausting experience in those first 4 days!
No comments:
Post a Comment