We had scheduled a c-section because of the complications and failure to progress with the last pregnancy. It was weird, but very comforting and convenient to know his birthday before the day actually arrived. That alone took away a lot of the suspense and anxiety with giving birth.
I was very nervous because giving birth to Zoey was simply hell. And the recovery afterward wasn't a whole lot better. I remember feeling kind of panicky as we got ready for bed the night before Nate was born. I slept so terribly that night though because the baby was hurting me trying to push his head down and his feet up into my ribs. By the time morning came, I was ready for whatever it took to get him out of my body.
My mom stayed the night at our house, so Tanner and I left Zoey sleeping in her crib as we headed for the hospital. 15 minutes later, at 6AM, we were checking in to labor and delivery.
It is so surreal to me. There were about 15 other people there hanging out in the OR. Some were helping with the surgery, handing instruments and stuff. Some were just waiting for their turn to take care of the baby. Still though, everyone was so calm and quiet. No franticness or even excitement. It was just like a regular day at the office for them. I could hear the doctor talking about his weekend. I thought it was so bizarre. Later, when they were stitching me back together, I realized the anesthesiologist was being really quiet, just sitting there by my head. I asked him, "whacha doin?" He was apparently just texting! Answering a question about another patient, he said. No worries, just hanging out as if we were at the park roasting marshmallows together or something. 180¤ turn around from the painful, chaotic, tramatic birth we experienced with Zoey. I almost wish I could do it again. No. But I would watch it if there was a recording.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, they lift gross, purply, goobered, perfect, crying Nate over the blue sheet for me see for about 3 seconds.
This is when Tanner's mom, my mom, and Zoey came in to see us. I was worried that I would be too loopy or in too much pain immediately after the surgery to really interact with them, but that was not the case. Although super itchy from the morphine, I was a regular person, just without a baby inside me anymore.
I was thrilled when Zoey came running in with grandma all jumpy and chipper as ever. I had been nervous about how she would react to waking up with someone new; Tanner and I not being there at all. She was a champ throughout the whole thing though. Apparently she would get sad when they would have to leave the hospital without me for nap or bedtime, but other than that, I think she was pretty good. She has been and still is obsessed with her little brother. She always wants to hold him. She's always trying to share her food with him. And she's always trying to climb into the pack n play where he sleeps during the day in our living room.
Nate is the perfect baby. I don't know how we got so lucky. He is almost always content. He's cried only a handful of times in his whole life and that includes his first cry out of womb and the four times they had to poke him for his jaundice test. He was a little yellow, but it's going away on its own without having to have a light treatment. We're happy he's here with us now. And I'm happy I don't have to share my body as living space anymore.
Oh by the way, he was born weighing 7lbs 11oz and was 20 1/2 in long. He's still very tiny.
