So we're back home now, we were discharged from the hospital on Monday afternoon. Both Jason and I were really looking forward to going HOME- we really enjoyed our stay at St. John's- the nurses were AMAZING there, but you know how it is...you just want to be in your own bed, and be on your own schedule (While the nurses were great, I'm not going to miss them waking me up every few hours to take my blood pressure! haha). Being home has been great. The transition hasn't been that hard- other than the fact that I know I need to sleep more. I just haven't felt OVERLY tired yet, but I think i just need to give in and nap when the baby does, as everyone says- especially while Jason is home this week. That's my goal for the next couple of days...stop doing so much! In the hospital I didn't take any additional pain medicine aside from what was given for the actual surgery and then an anti-inflammatory pill each day- I felt great the whole time...but now that we're home, sans that little pill each day, I'm feeling it- especially yesterday and this morning. So we're going to pick up some Motrin and I'll start taking that so I can start to feel better. Its hard to slow down when you just feel good, but again- goals for this week are to take it easy and take advantage of the Hubby help I currently have.
I know some people like hearing birth stories, others don't- I wont get graphic or go into much detail, so read if you want, skip if you don't want to know how everything went down :)
Jas and I got to the hospital on Thursday at 5:30am and I got set up in my awesome gown and had some initial tests done. Right around 7am they took me in to the OR to get prepped. I was getting a spinal block to numb me from the high torso down to my toes. I was really nervous about getting this shot, just because it sounded painful and anything puncturing my spinal fluid just doesn't sound like a good idea! haha. It was a good thing my nurses and the anesthesiologist were amazing at this point. The spinal block really didn't hurt at all. They give you a shot of a local anesthetic first to numb the area and then they give you the spinal block shot- pretty simple. It was an EXTREMELY weird sensation not being able to move my legs- but I didn't freak out at all, which I was worried I would...must have been that morphine! haha.
As all of this was going on, Jason was waiting in the labor prep room that we began the day in. Poor guy. The nurses told him it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes to get me settled in the OR, at which point they would come get him...well it took a LOT longer than 10 minutes...and he was freaking out. At one point he thought he missed the surgery!! But they finally let him in the OR to sit by my side which made everything a bit better. Prior to the surgery I warned the nurses and the anesthesiologist that when I lay on my back, I tend to pass out (Only during pregnancy)- they thanked me for telling them this and said they would just put a few IV bags under one of my sides to prop me over to the side. I figured this would NOT work, but I let them do their thing since they ARE professionals! Sure enough, within about 5 minutes of being on my back, I started to feel faint. The anesthesiologist could see my BP numbers dropping rapidly and turned the entire operating table on it's side. Had she not been paying attention and let me go about 1 minute longer, I'm sure I would have completely passed out. I felt SO uncomfortable, broke out into a cold sweat and just wanted to "Quit" at one point just to gain some control back. But once they turned the table to an angle, I felt great. The Anesthesiologist had to do this one more time during surgery because my numbers dropped again, but as soon as Logan came out, I was good again :)
Being IN surgery and being awake was weird. I don't think Jason liked it at all...however, he did say he would prefer THAT over seeing me battle labor pains for hours on end. The whole procedure just felt like the Dr. was pushing on my belly. I asked Jas at one point if they had even started yet and he looked at me like "oh yes...yes you are definitely OPEN right now" haha. As Dr. Morris made her way to where Logan was she laughed out loud and said "Ok, we definitely made the right decision on doing a C-Section! This head is HUGE!" haha. And since Logan hadn't fully descended, Dr. Morris had to actually suction him out a bit with a vacuum- I didn't know they did that in C-Sections, but I'm proof that they do! They got him out and attempted to show him to me over the curtain, but the drape was put up at a weird angle and I couldn't see him. Which, in hindsight is probably a good thing because Jas said he was a bit purple. While Logan was swimming in the womb, he took in a LOT of amniotic fluid...I apparently had a LOT in there- that's the main reason why my belly was SO large (And the fact that there was a 9lb 1oz baby in there!). The RN that was prepping me squeezed my belly at one point and said "oh jeez...you are ALL fluid!" then proceeded to WARN each Doctor, nurse, assistant etc that I was going to GUSH and they should get out the gutters! Awesome. Just awesome. Haha. And apparently she was right, I guess there was over a liter of fluid that splashed out during the operation and they were all drenched...sorry! Anyway, because of that fluid, Logan sucked in a lot while in the womb and needed to get it OUT before they could deem him totally healthy. So after he was out of me, they cleaned him up a bit, let me kiss him on the cheek and then he and Jason headed to the nursery.
Again, poor Jason at this point. I swear the husbands have a harder time on the birth day than the mother's do- he was a stressed out wreck. As they put me in recovery, Jason was in the nursery checking on Logan. Apparently none of the nurses or doctors were worried about him, but the fact that he wasn't 100% doing awesome, Jason was dying. I guess when a baby swallows too much fluid, there isn't a whole lot they can do, as long as he's relatively healthy- they just need the baby to cough the fluid out...well have you ever asked a baby to cough on cue? Ya, doesn't really work. So basically they just make the baby uncomfortable to get him to cry so he does it on his own (Logan did cry when he first came out, so he could breathe fine, just had a bunch of fluid in his system). So they gave him a bath, did all of his tests etc and eventually he coughed enough to come see me...this was seriously like 2 hours LATER! Thank goodness for morphine and prayer. I was in the recovery area with the RN just waiting...normally, I would be in a full panic attack at this point, but I just couldn't let myself go there. I asked the nurse at one point if everything was Ok and she assured me it was all fine, just a long process. So I just did a little prayer/chant/mantra asking that Logan be Ok...and it worked!
Soon enough, I heard Jason's sweet voice and saw him wheeling Logan towards me in his bassinet! FINALLY! I still couldn't TOUCH the bambino because I was just too out of it with the morphine, but just being able to see him and see that he was perfect was enough. I couldn't believe how much he looked like Jason- the ears, eyes and chin are TOTALLY Jason! The head shape is mine all the way, so it will be really fun to see how he grows and morphs into his own little person.
After recovery, we were wheeled to our room. There had been a LOT of babies that week so we were actually put up in the GYN ward, which was just down the hall from the Labor and Delivery area- same room types, just different location which was fine. We did our 2 hour bonding time where I got to nurse Logan for the first time. Very cool. I won't go in to detail, but it was just a very cool experience to know that my body could be responsible for keeping this little life healthy. He latched on pretty well right away which was another big relief.
The rest of the day was spent seeing the family, and loving up on Logan. The nurses kept coming in and asking if I had any pain...I didn't...ever. It was very weird. At first, we chalked it up to the morphine still being in my system, but 24 hours after labor and still no pain...weird. But a good weird, because I'd prefer that over excruciating pain!
I think I managed to walk to the bathroom (With assistance) on the first night which was pretty cool. And Jason and I went on a walk around the ward on Friday.
The rest of our stay was great. We had a few visitors and our parents with us each day which was an awesome thing. On Saturday my Dad came over to hang out while the Grandma's were off shopping for food for Jas and I and making us delicious food to freeze for meals. Saturday was also the day of Logan's circumcision...poor guy- again, I think Jason and the Dad's were more traumatized by this surgery than Logan was. The only crappy thing about the surgery was that the nurses warned us 50% of babies fuss and cry ALL day afterwards, while the other 50% just sleep through the trauma. Well, Logan decided to sleep through the trauma....and what sucked is that we were told by several nurses and our pediatrician to let him sleep...to not wake him and feed him. Jas and I thought that was weird, but figured they knew what they were talking about...well not feeding him ended up setting us back a LOT. Logan lost way too much weight that day and because of it, the Dr. wanted us to supplement each feeding session with formula. We happily obliged to this new plan, but we weren't thrilled with it. I really wanted to do 100% breast feeding and i wasn't sure what supplementing with a bottle and formula would do to his feeding preferences at these early stages. But, the bottom line is that it worked. By the next night, Logan had gained an ounce which made everyone happy. They wanted us to continue the formula use for awhile until he was back to his birth weight. Groan.
After recovery, we were wheeled to our room. There had been a LOT of babies that week so we were actually put up in the GYN ward, which was just down the hall from the Labor and Delivery area- same room types, just different location which was fine. We did our 2 hour bonding time where I got to nurse Logan for the first time. Very cool. I won't go in to detail, but it was just a very cool experience to know that my body could be responsible for keeping this little life healthy. He latched on pretty well right away which was another big relief.
The rest of the day was spent seeing the family, and loving up on Logan. The nurses kept coming in and asking if I had any pain...I didn't...ever. It was very weird. At first, we chalked it up to the morphine still being in my system, but 24 hours after labor and still no pain...weird. But a good weird, because I'd prefer that over excruciating pain!
I think I managed to walk to the bathroom (With assistance) on the first night which was pretty cool. And Jason and I went on a walk around the ward on Friday.
The rest of our stay was great. We had a few visitors and our parents with us each day which was an awesome thing. On Saturday my Dad came over to hang out while the Grandma's were off shopping for food for Jas and I and making us delicious food to freeze for meals. Saturday was also the day of Logan's circumcision...poor guy- again, I think Jason and the Dad's were more traumatized by this surgery than Logan was. The only crappy thing about the surgery was that the nurses warned us 50% of babies fuss and cry ALL day afterwards, while the other 50% just sleep through the trauma. Well, Logan decided to sleep through the trauma....and what sucked is that we were told by several nurses and our pediatrician to let him sleep...to not wake him and feed him. Jas and I thought that was weird, but figured they knew what they were talking about...well not feeding him ended up setting us back a LOT. Logan lost way too much weight that day and because of it, the Dr. wanted us to supplement each feeding session with formula. We happily obliged to this new plan, but we weren't thrilled with it. I really wanted to do 100% breast feeding and i wasn't sure what supplementing with a bottle and formula would do to his feeding preferences at these early stages. But, the bottom line is that it worked. By the next night, Logan had gained an ounce which made everyone happy. They wanted us to continue the formula use for awhile until he was back to his birth weight. Groan.
On Monday, just before we were getting ready to be discharged, we called the lactation consultants to our room to see if they could give us some last minute tips on techniques. While they were helping, we mentioned to them what we had been told about not feeding Logan and that now we were giving him formula...the head consultant was FURIOUS. She practically demanded the names of the nurses would had given us this advice. She couldn't believe that the staff had actually told us to NOT feed our baby. Once she calmed down, she gave us some great tips. She said that as soon as we get home, I should start pumping. My milk had come in (Boy had it ever! That's a funny story for another time...and another audience), so there wasn't going to be an issue there. She said that we should nurse him as needed (every 2 or 3 hours) and then pump and instead of giving him some formula after each feeding, give him some breast milk in a bottle. It'll be easier for him to consume, and we'll know the exact quantity that he's getting. This made Jason and I feel SO much better. So that's just what we did, and just what we've been doing and it's worked like a charm. At Logan's weight check appointment yesterday, he had gained 2 oz since Monday and the doctor said he was well on his way of getting back to 9lbs 1oz by July 13th, which is when our 2-week appointment is.
After being discharged from the hospital, Jason and i started our new life as parents at home! Everything has gone really well so far. The biggest challenge has been trying to figure out when to pump and when to feed so that we have a good back up supply. We're getting there, but the little guy has started increasing his appetite so quickly I can barely keep up!
The lack of sleep hasn't been too big of an issue, I think mainly because it's not like I'm up at 3am just waiting for something to happen...I have a duty if I'm going to be up- I have to nurse Logan. And I think because of that, and maybe some wacky hormone that women get, I've been adjusting quite well. Jason was amazing last night and let me sleep through the night while he did the 6am feeding- 7 hours of sleep felt more like 24 and I woke up very refreshed!
As far as my recovery goes, that too has been going very well. As I noted before, I never needed any additional pain medication after the surgery. I did pick up some Motrin at the store yesterday to relieve a bit of muscle soreness, but nothing too extreme. Before the surgery, Jason and i figured I would maybe be able to walk down the hall on our first day home, MAYBE if I was feeling up to it we could make it all the way to the elevator...well, we did all that and a LOT more. We walked probably a good mile with Logan in the stroller on our 2nd night home. Today we did a little less and walked to the local market for lunch. I don't walk quite as fast as I usually do, and I have to take a sitting break in the middle of it all, but I'm doing it. The biggest pain I feel is in my back. I think I am favoring my mid section and not letting it get too jostled, therefore I'm arching my back in a funny way. Also, being in the "look down" position while adoring my Son and nursing has put a strain on that area as well. But aside from that, I think I'm doing really well.
All in all, I love being a Mom. I feel so blessed to have this child in my life. I feel so grateful that Jason and I were able to conceive, have a great pregnancy, great delivery and great recovery. Logan is just perfect in our eyes and I can only hope to have a dozen more just like him...Ooh, I hope Jason doesn't read this and see that number! Haha :)
I promise other posts won't be this long :) I just wanted to get the full story out!
Love,
Ash
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