I know, I know...so what good is a blog if I don't update it? Oliver James has arrived, and boy is he CUTE! I went in for the c-section on Monday morning as planned. I woke up in the middle of Sunday night with some crazy contractions, and thought that I might have him a few hours early. But it was like my body knew this was the last good sleep it was going to get for a while, so the contractions died down and I was able to fall back to sleep until it was time to get up at 6:30. The alarm never went off, but luckily I woke up and we got to the hospital on time (barely).
So I think that everyone knows that I was nervous about the section. It turned out to be okay, but I don't think that I would ever choose to go that route. I was monitored for about an hour before-hand -- hooked up so we could hear the baby's heartbeat, given an ultrasound, and discussed basic medical history. I also got an IV line in my hand, which I did not like. Based on my reaction to that, I got even more scared about the spinal.
And then it was time -- I went in to the OR ahead of Tim, where they adminsitered the spinal. I hated that. The procedure is similar to getting an epidural, but I guess last time I was in so much pain that the pain from the epidural didn't bother me. This time, it was all I had to focus on. I jumped when they put the needle in, and really, really, hated the feeling of the medication going through my legs. The whole thing was just uncomfortable and nasty. And of course I thought that I was the one person for whom the medication wasn't really going to work. Of course, it did, and from the time I started to go numb, things got a lot better.
Tim came into the room and sat next to me. Before I knew it they had started the incision. Literally, I didn't know it -- I thought they still had to do a test or two to make sure that I was numb. But Tim told me that they had already started. And a few minutes later the little man was born. Our doctor brought him over hanging upside down, and that was the last we saw of him for a while. They fixed me up and brought me to recovery. I actually felt pretty good. And the best surprise was that they wheeled Oliver in for a quick visit. It was so amazing to finally see him! Just the day before I had been worried that he wasn't moving enought, and there he was in all his baby glory moving around right in front of me! I fell in love all over again :)
A lot of our family had come for the birth, so we had a lot of visitors. Tim took everyone to lunch, and I finally went up to my room and got settled in. The deal was that I couldn't go to CHOP to see Oliver until the doctors were satisfied that I had recovered enough. So I made the quickest recovery possible -- I've had people comment all week that they can't believe I'm up and around, but being able to see him was the best incentive possible. Believe me - I paid for it later!
Oliver has his own adorable little cubby in the NICU. He is just the cutest baby since Mac. they have the same squishy face, but Oliver is a lot smaller! He was 6 lb. 11 oz. when he was born and about 20 inches. I don't have my pictures on the computer yet, but I promise they will come soon. For the first day, we all just looked at him and touched his arms and head in his little isolette.
On Tuesday he had his surgery. I was really nervous but things went well. The scar looks ugly, but they say that he healing well. I will FINALLY get to hold him today at 4 pm -- a full 48 hours after his surgery. I cannot wait.
Have to go see him now. Will update later.
