Our Rainbow After The Storm: A baby story

Well Austin is now 1 month old so I suppose its time I post his birth story! A little late I know...

We arrived at the hospital about 15 minutes "late". We were told to be there at 7:30am on 3/25/11, but really it was just to make sure we got a bed. There was no rush really since te doctor didnt arrive till later and I knew that so I took my time getting ready. I didnt sleep at all Thursday night and of course I was so axious I got sick..yaaaay.

When we got to the hospital and checked in I weighed in and did the whole pee in a cup thing for the last time for a while. lol. {I gained exactly 25lbs this time..10 less than with Bella..woohoo go me} When i got to the room i changed into the lovely gown and i heard the nurse ask Ryon if this was our first and he said "no, second." I waited for her to ask about our first but she didnt. I stayed in the bathroom longer and cried...by the time I came out she had left the room. I was hoping she would ask so she would know how stressed we were...its always uncomortable to say no, this is our second, our daughter died last year. Usually you dont want to come back with a response like that because it makes people uncomfortable, but thats something we should have brought up to our l&d nurse. Oh well. A few minutes later 2 new nurses came in and said they were taking care of me instead. They hooked my monitor up, bp, and started my IV {by pricking me a few times!! Ive got goooood veins too!!}. Again, they asked is this your first? No, I replied. In my head I was so angry I didnt tell them but I didnt know how to say it. They were really nice (bummed I didnt write down any of my nurses names!).

At about 9:30am I saw Dr. McCoy, she checked me and I was 4-5cm and having contractions every 3 minutes. They werent bad at all, pain wise, but on the chart they sure looked bad. She looked surprised when I told her they didnt bother me. She put in the pill (Cytotec) and said she would be back in a little bit. At 10:30 she came back and the contractions were getting a little bit more uncomfortable but still managable. She asked if I wanted my water broken then and so i said sure why not! It took her a minute because the bag was thick, but then BAM! I had a tonnn of water. (10:36am) She then asked if i wanted my epidural. Well silly me said nah ill wait a little bit..thinking it would slow things down too much. They got called for an emergency csection and said they would be back to check on me in a bit. Well the second they all walked out of the room the contractions got super painful! I rang the call button and asked for the epidural. It didnt take that long for the anethesiologist to get to my room and Ryon got to stay but they made him sit down across the room (hello? hes chopped his fingers off and didnt pass out or cry, i think he could handle holding my hand) Anyway I was shaking and having painful contractions so it was a little hard to be still. She said I had a boney back, and it sure didnt feel good--I jumped a little :/
It took a bit for it to kick in but once it did I didnt feel a thing! They kept asking me if I was having a contraction and I would say no, and then look at the monitor and it would be a pretty bad one. Ah, good thing for epidurals! I guess they got pretty good and Dr. McCoy got out of the OR just in time...

At 12:09pm (I know this bc my mom and mil stood in the corner and snapped pictures the whole time with a clock above my head, we wont post those tho since they are x rated!) she came in and checked me and said WOW you dont feel that? His head is RIGHT there..we are going to have a baby!

Panic set in and I was in another world. They set up really quick that the nurses didnt even get back from the csection in time so another one came in. She asked if it was my first and Dr. McCoy(thankfully) gave everyone a briefing really quick about Bella. Dr McCoy sat on the end of the bed and I had a contraction and pushed 2 times. She then said "give me one more push, pause, and then ill tell you when to push again." I pushed 1 more time and out popped his head. I was crying so much I forgot she told me to pause so I kept pushing, they said stop! stop! (Oops) :) So I laid there with his head sticking out and gave it 1 more push and he was born at 12:15pm. Talk about a quick labor! I was in such a state of shock, I was expecting it to be a little while. He was 7lbs 10oz, 19.5in long.

The grandparents got to come in and visit before we were transfered to the mother/baby unit. The pediatrician came in and talked to us about Bella and checked him out and said he looks great but we will keep monitoring him, but everything should be fine.

While we were in the hospital they checked his pulse oxygen levels every hour for a while...and then every 2 or 3 hours after that for our entire stay. A few times it wasnt at 99-100 and we were a little nervous. Hearing that thing beep brought back so many memories. Super anxiety!We stayed an extra night just to be sure, but all was well and we got to bring our precious baby boy home on Sunday!

Leaving the hospital I was so sad...I knew I would be. As I sat waiting for Ryon to bring the car, with Austin in my lap I couldnt help but cry. I flashed back to sitting in the wheelchair at Jefferson...empty handed as my baby was being rushed to Winchester. I cried. Tears of JOY and sadness. The ride home was difficult as well and so many songs came on that reminded me of our sweet girl. It was just such a strange feeling I cant even begin to explain.

I was overwhelmed as I expected, so I requested no visitors atleast the first day. If I had it my way, we would not have had any visitors for atleast a few weeks. We needed time to bond with our new baby, to get adjusted to a newborn in the house, and breast feeding on demand. Hard to do with people around wanting to spend time with the little guy. Needless to say the first week or two were really hard on me with all the people in and out of the house. STRESSED to say the least. Things have calmed down around here now.

Hes now just over 1 month old and slowly but surely we are adjusting! Hes a pretty fussy baby when hes awake and until the other day he was nursing just about every hour, so the 3 of us were exhausted! Me and my 2 milk producing buddies that is! lol He sure is growing like a little weed! boys boys boys :)

This is his big sister after she was born...