Thursday, June 14th was my last full day pregnant. It was a bit surreal but I kept myself busy running errands. Just once I pulled the "I'm having a baby tomorrow, you better do what I want" card (@ Home Depot). Ryan worked all day. That night we took Bowzer and Olive to the dog park and picked up pizza. Pretty unremarkable but all we could think about was how much our lives were going to change the next day! I don't think we talked about too much, just kept saying over and over again "I can't believe we're going to be parents tomorrow." I was a little nervous thinking about what wouldn't go according to plan and if he wasn't healthy.
My cesarean was scheduled for 1:30 PM on Friday, June 15th at Kaiser in Redwood City. The instructions were to call at 9 AM to find out when we should go to Labor & Delivery. I was expecting to leave the house at 10 but they asked us not to come until noon. I wasn't allowed to eat or drinking anything after midnight so killing time was pretty tedious. We took the dogs on a long walk and then FINALLY, it was time to go.
I checked directly into Labor and Delivery and they started the process of taking my vitals, putting in an IV, and did an ultrasound to check the baby's position (he hadn't budged at all). They were unusually busy that morning, had already performed two cesareans (the hospital's cesarean rate is about 10%), so we ended up waiting longer than planned. FINALLY it was time to go. The nurse walked me into the OR while Ryan donned his scrubs. It's policy not to allow anyone else in the OR while the spinal block is being inserted so I was by myself with the doctors and nurses. The nurse was really great in helping me through the spinal block, I knew it wouldn't be comfortable but didn't expect that I'd have to "breathe through" the pain. I was also suddenly really nervous and emotional. It's hard to breathe through pain when you're crying and shaking! It was pretty quick that I couldn't feel anything below my waist and just took a few minutes for the doctors and nurses to get set up. Ryan was now by my side and within minutes, baby Brent was out!
As soon as someone told me he was out (he wasn't crying yet), I lost it and started crying and crying. Ryan was able to go over to see him, help clean him off, cut the umbilical cord, and get some photos. I could sort of see what was going on but it seemed like forever until Ryan (or a nurse, hard to tell them apart in scrubs) was able to bring him over to me. Ryan says it was 3 minutes. Brentley Stephen Phillips was perfect! He was born on 6/15/12 @ 3:04 PM and weighed 7 lbs, 4 oz and was 19 inches long. My itty bitty boy!
Ryan and Brent went to the Labor & Delivery room while I was stapled up. This part is a little fuzzy for me because of the pain drugs but Ryan tells me the nurse gave him a bath, put him under the heater, and then I FINALLY was able to hold him after about 10 minutes after I arrived in the recovery room. We spent time together as a new family, I nursed Brent, and Ryan took some pictures.
Our parents and Drew came in about half an hour later. Everyone was so happy to meet him! We took lots of pictures, opened champagne (no, I didn't have any), and everyone had a chance to hold him. Awhile later I was moved up to the maternity suite and luckily, I got a good sized room all to myself. I was dreading the possibility of sharing so I was extremely happy when the told me I'd most likely have the room to myself and, if for some reason they needed it, they'd move me to a smaller room so I could continue not to share. Phew!
The next few days in the hospital are a blur - I think that's inevitable when you're on drugs and aren't allowed to leave the maternity ward! As far as hospital stays go, mine was pretty good. All of the nurses were very helpful and encouraging. Nurse Ryan was the most helpful! He changed every diaper while we were in the hospital and became an expert at swaddling.
Saturday morning we were up at 5 to nurse, I got out of bed to eat a little breakfast, the nurse took out my catheter and my IV. My parents and Drew visited. The day consisted of visits from nurses, doctors. Sunday was pretty similar, Rich, Deb and my parents came to visit.
We went home Monday morning (6/18) - it was so nice for me to get out of the hospital and breathe fresh air! He met Bowzer & Olive Monday night (they had been staying with Rich & Deb). Bowzer is very interested in him and is very concerned when he's crying. Olive initially could care less but is starting to become more interested.
Brent is enjoying his home very much. He's sleeping A LOT, like all new babies should, and is eating very well. He's supposed to be back to his birth weight within two weeks and until then we have to track all of his pees, poops, when, and how long he eats. It seems like all we talk about is pee, poop, and nursing! He eats fairly consistently every 3 hours for 20 - 40 minutes and we're (mostly Ryan) is changing diapers about 10 times a day. The last few days he's been most active from 10 PM - 12 AM, otherwise he's very sleepy. He cries when we're changing his diaper and when he's hungry but is pretty easy to calm down with swaddling and shushing. We haven't given him a pacifier yet but might next week. Nursing is generally going well but he can be lazy at night which can be frustrating. We've already started reading to him - he seems to really like the rhythmic patterns of our voices. I tried reading him "On the Night You were Born" but I couldn't even make it past the first page without crying.
My recovery is going well. I feel pretty good, just am not walking as fast, lifting anything heavy, or driving. It's much much better than I expected. I was really worried I'd be useless for a few weeks but it's really not too bad. We've been on a few walks around the neighborhood, to Target, and to the live music downtown on Friday night.
Brent has had several visitors - multiple times from all the grandparents, and Uncle Drew. Jessica, Courtney, Peggy have met him in person and we have skyped/sametimed with Rod & Sheila, Willie & Jamie, and Uncle Justin & Auntie Adriana. Mike, Sarah, and Jackson are coming this morning.
That's all for now! We have lots more photos so I'll be posting more. If you're interested in seeing all of our photos, let me know. We have a Shutterfly site where we're posting all of them, I can give you access.
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