Sunday, July 3, 2011

Liam Thomas is here!!

Jake and I decided to do some last minute baby shopping to get a few things we wanted before baby arrived: Diaper Genie, a couple more sleep sacks, another box of newborn diapers. We chose to go to Robinson, which is an hour from our house because mama wanted a peach milkshake from Chick-fil-A and according to the Internet they should have had them as of June 1 (unfortunately, my info was off, but that's neither here nor there...) so it was worth a shot.

On our way home from our little Robinson adventure, (it was about 9:30PM) I heard a pop and then felt a gush. I told Jake "oh my gosh, my water broke." His response? "Are you kidding?" why yes, sweetie, that's why my panties and possibly the car seat are soaking wet. (;

On a side note, I could not get over how much fluid there was! Yet, somehow, I barely got any on the seat of the car. Amazing.

When we got to the hospital,I wrapped a hoodie around my waist and sloshed my way to the ER receptionist. She took one look at me (and my very obviously wet jeans) said "looks like someone's in labor," and directed me into a room where I checked in. Luckily, I had had an appointment with my OB/GYN the day before and he had sent me to L&D to get an ultrasound to verify the little guy was still breech and to schedule my c section (scheduled it for 6/20 at 7:45AM) and while there, the nurse had me fill out my paperwork so I didn't have to go through that mess.

I was taken up to a triage room in a wheelchair and prepped for my emergency c section. They put in my IV and catheter (ouch) and told me since I had eaten four hours prior and wasn't having any contractions yet, they were going to wait a little while.

Unfortunately, contractions started a short time later and they hurt way more than I thought they would. I breathed through them until they finally took me into surgery. They had Jake wait to go into surgery so they could give me my spinal. Good lord, that hurt like nothing else. The nurses were wonderful, though. One held me forward with my head on her shoulder and talked me through it. That was amazingly comforting.

They gave me the initial dose of meds, then upped it because I could feel a little when they made the initial incision. They let Jake come in then, and he sat beside me and held my hand; he was such a comfort. I was shivering uncontrollably from about my chest up, I don't know if it was from the saline in the IV or the spinal.

It was the strangest sensation feeling them tugging around inside me; I could feel them pulling him out, but it didn't hurt. At one point I remember sobbing uncontrollably because I was so scared but I calmed down quickly. Then I felt a huge relief of pressure inside me and next thing I knew, I heard our little boy screaming and I all of a sudden had tears streaming down my face (again); that cry was such a beautiful sound, I knew our little guy was okay. And man, did he have a set of lungs on him!

Liam Thomas was born at 11:58PM weighing 6lbs 10oz and 20" long. Such a beautiful little boy.

I was in recovery for five hours instead of the usual one or two because of the extra meds. I couldn't wiggle my toes for that long!

Recovery has been a breeze. My IV got taken out at 9AM the next morning, my catheter was out by 11AM, I was up and walking (with help) shortly after that, and I showered by myself around 2PM. We left the hospital after 48hrs, and I was lucky to have help the next week. Jake was off work all week except for Thursday, and his mom, Teresa, came down with his nieces Sunday night and they stayed until Monday evening, and my mom and sister came down from Tuesday until Saturday. I know not having to do everything with the baby and around the house really helped aide in my recovery and I'm so grateful for their help.

My staples were taken out a week after my c section, and I'm healing well.

I love being a mommy, our little boy is absolutely beautiful and such a calm baby for the most part. I have fallen so much more in love with Jake seeing him as a daddy. (:

The little guy is currently 16 days old. As I write this, he's snoring on my chest. So adorable.