Catch up...

Hello readers! It's been an eventful week and a half. I'd like to document the details of Andrew's birth now so I don't have time to blur the details from lack of sleep. This is more for me than anyone else, but I am happy to share his birth story with anyone who cares to read this.

I was scheduled for a c-section on Thursday, January 24th at 11:00 a.m. We made that decision on Monday the 21st. On the way home from that appointment I said to Brian, "I am happy with our decision to have a c-section. I am just going to miss that moment of going into labor and knowing that THIS is it!" Careful what you wish for. I woke up at 2:00 a.m. feeling really uncomfortable. And at 2:30. And at 3:00 and 3:30. At 4:00 I woke up to the same pains and was really irritated because I was counting on a good night's sleep. When the pains hit at 4:07, 4:16, 4:26, 4:33...I started realizing there might be something to them. I woke up Brian and we called my parents who were leaving for St.Paul at 6:30 anyway and told them to leave early. At 5:30 a.m. I called the hospital and they said to come in because by this time the contractions were 4-5 minutes apart but quite short (30 seconds)BUT completely in my back already. (something I had with Jackson for 34 hours) We called Peg to come over until my parents arrived and we left for the hospital at 6:00. By 6:15 I was determined to be barely 3 cm. That was my "magic number" with Jackson. I stayed at 3 cm for about 30 hours. We watched it for a while and it didn't go anywhere. After 5 hours of back labor we decided we'd had enough and the surgical team got ready for the c section. I have never been so scared. They put the catheter in - I was super nervous about this but it wasn't bad. People came in to talk to me about the procedure and everyone was FANTASTIC. From the nurses to the anesthesiologists...all wonderful. Then it was time to go. I WALKED into the surgery room. Seems weird to walk into a room minutes before they open your abdomen. Brian had to stay out of the room until I was completely prepped so I had to do the spinal alone. I was shaking because I was so scared. My nurse was so kind and let me squeeze the life out of her hand. At my Aunt Carol's suggestion, I repeated the Hail Mary over and over and over until it was all over. I just said the first part though - "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb." The next part is about praying for us at the hour of our death and I just wasn't ready to go there. Anyway, the spinal wasn't bad at all! However, it made my blood pressure drop quickly which made me really nauseous. They were able to control that quickly though and I felt better by the time Brian came in. I was numb very quickly and the surgery started right away. I didn't feel anything and my surgeon said right away that my previous scar looked great and the there was very little scar tissue. This was great news as it will make a third child easier to carry and deliver. After about 15-20 minutes, they told Brian to get his camera because the baby was going to come out. The surgeon said, "This baby definitely belongs to you two!" And that was it! At 9:39 Andrew Michael was born. He cried immediately - this gorgeous, strong, loud, proud cry. What a beautiful sound! I think he made it extra loud because I missed Jackson's first cry. They brought him over to me after a few minutes and laid him on my chest. That little face! I was in love immediately! They took him away after that and Brian went with while I went to recovery. I was light-headed and nauseous again so they worked on getting that under control. They watched me for about 2 hours because there was a little more bleeding than they liked to see, but it turned out to be fine. I am a little foggy about how I got to my postpartum room and the following hours, but I know I got to hold Andrew right away and that they had me try to breastfeed him but he really wasn't too interested in eating.

My parents and brother Michael and sister Angela brought Jackson over after his nap. Jackson was a little apprehensive about the whole thing. He was a little afraid of the baby and was very concerned about why I was in bed and looking a little rough. He didn't want to touch Andrew and would always say, "no thank you" when asked. They had me try and eat something for lunch but the lemon jello promptly came right back up so I stuck to a water diet for the day. On Friday my parents and Michael and Jackson came back in the morning and then they took Jackson back to Winona with them for a few days. Peg came later in the afternoon and brought the "just had a baby" package of treats: Swedish fish, Dots, and Junior Mints. Later that evening we received another visit from Angela and then Peg and my college friends Kathleen and Suzanne. That was very special that they came to the hospital to see us as we don't see each other often.

On Saturday Becca and Ted came to see us. Saturday night was a rough night with nursing. Andrew had a hard time latching on and cried A LOT. We thought about staying in the hospital until Monday to make sure we worked out the kinks, but decided to just tough it out at home. We went home on Sunday afternoon at about 3:00. I was sad to leave. I felt like I was leaving our safe little nest with the fantastic nurses who took such great care of us and going out into the big bad world where no one was there to help me at 3:00 a.m. when I needed it. That was the hormones talking.

I think that is where I will end this post. The longer I keep this one up, the further behind I am getting. And I am so exhausted I can hardly form a sentence. This is probably not my best writing, but the details are there.

More later!