Arrival of Baby #2

Wow, what a day. We had to check into the hospital at 5:30am (what?). Lame. I had to change into the lovely hospital gown and get all set up with paperwork and an IV. The nurse who set me up was very sweet, however she had a bit of trouble with the IV. Tried in right arm first, didn't work. Then tried left arm right above wrist. I wasn't looking but somehow quite a bit of blood washed over my arm (eew) during the entire process...she got it in and had to draw some blood for bloodwork, but the excess blood loss made me get all sorts of woozy. Only lasted for a few minutes and then I was ok. We just had to sit around and wait a while after that. I was hooked up to a baby monitor, so we could hear the baby's heartbeat--oh, and just so happens I was naturally having a few contractions! Ha! (But I couldn't feel a thing).

Anyways, probably about 7:30am they took me back into the operating room. It's so stark and cold in there. I started to get pretty nervous. The anesthesiologist was great, though. Very nice and calming. He had me lay on my side and gave me the local to numb up that spot on my back. That wasn't too bad. He said that was the worst part--but nope. Even though my back was technically numb, you can feel them putting in the real catheder/tube thingy. Eeks! It sort of sends an electric jolt into your back, but it's fairly quick. It made me jump, but soon afterwards my legs started getting tingly and soon went numb. Ahhh, sweet numbness. Of course my biggest fear is feeling ANY sort of pain!

The actual surgery went by pretty quickly and I was alert the entire time. The doctor said I had very little scar tissue, so it made for an easier repeat caesarian. Cool. Anyways, at first it felt like someone had a tube into my uterus and blowing bubbles. Bizarre. Lots of pulling and tugging, pulling and tugging. Next thing ya know, I hear a baby crying! OH CUTE! They held him up for me to see, all white and goopey. He was so much smaller looking than I had expected! I could hear him crying and crying while they were cleaning him up (in the same room) so that was fun. A bit more tugging and pulling sensation while they were getting me put all back together. Our little guy weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz, was born at 8:12am, and was 21.5" long. Nice!

Then they wheeled me off to the recovery room. I think I was in there for almost 2 hours (or so it felt). Roob was in the nursery with the baby. They kind of wash you off in there and wait for some feeling to come back into your legs, etc. But they leave the epidural in your back for another 24 hrs or so to deliver pain meds. It's nice, actually. Keeps you pretty comfortable without all the droggy side effects of the oral narcotics such as Percocet (which I think they'll start giving me on day #2). At one point they brought the baby to me in there so I could try nursing but he was still pretty fussy (has a nice set o' lungs) so it didn't go too well.

Eventually I was ready to go to my official post-delivery room about 10:30am. Hooray! Roob and baby joined me in there. We got lots of comments from nurses and staff about how much stuff we brought with us. It was pretty funny. We stuffed a bunch of pillows and other things into this huge "tent" carrying bag that someone here referred to as a "body bag." LOL. Yeah, we look like crazies. But hey, I have everything I could possibly want here with me. 'Specially if I'm going to be here for 3 to 4 days! Heh heh. Jase came to see his little bro for the first time and daddy snapped a cute pic of the two of them...love it! I was so nervous about how Jase would react. He seemed pretty disconnected with it all and wanted to push all the cool hospital gadget buttons. Daddy took him for a walk outside to see the ducks while my mom and I visited.
Oh, gotta love little yawns!
I finally got to stand up and walk around...pretty sore! LOL.Carrying the baby around...
This picture makes him look SO BEEFY, but it's an illusion. He's really lean and small! I need to get a naked pic of him so you can tell...
Love baby feet!
Hi there, it's me, your cute baby boy!
Oh his little cheeks...
Grandma Jenith getting in some baby lovin'...she's been housesitting and taking care of Jase for us (huuuuuge thank you for that)!
Grandpa and Grandma Erickson came to meet the new little guy after work! We had a fun visit!