Sam's birthday

My c-section date of June 22nd finally arrived!

and has come, and gone 5 days ago, which is still hard to believe!
It seems like a blur, and already so long ago that i was pregnant and miserable.

Can i just tell you how much MORE i love my babies from the OUTside!?

When I arrived at the hospital Friday morning I was already contracting, so I think Sam had decided it was his birthday anyway.

My c-section went flawlessly.

I walked back to the operating room (which is kind of like an out of body experience.)

my spinal went in just fine, and hardly hurt -- my IV placement hurt worse.

I had no nausea, no violent shaking/shivering like I had with Eli, and Sam was out pretty quickly.

He let out a cry, and we breathed a sigh of relief, and watched the nurses clean him up.

But he seemed very floppy, and he would get pink, then turn gray-ish again, so they put a little extra oxygen on him. His little chest was pumping so hard to breath, but no one seemed concerned.

The nurses were talking to each other about charting.

He was born at 10:06 a.m., and finally about 10:30 I asked, so it's a boy, right?

they laughed, and said yes, and weighed him for me since i asked.

8 lb 7 oz

and they kept on giving him oxygen.

they were still closing me up, so mike went with sam and a team of nurses to the nicu --

after I got to kiss his little face twice and tell him happy birthday.

and then we waited.

and waited.

and i sat in recovery.

and waited.

mike went to the nicu and would come back with half of a report, but no real understanding of what was happening.

other than sam was not keeping his oxygen saturation up on his own.

he was on CPAP, but at a low percentage, and he had fluid in his lungs.

mike mentioned meconium,

he mentioned antibiotics.

an IV line.

but no one was really saying what this was.

so we waited.

i didn't know if i should be worried.

but i was sure getting MAD that no one was telling me.

finally at 1:30 the nurse practitioner came to my room --- per my request.

she didn't have many answers, except it was probably just because he was a scheduled c-section with no labor.

no chance to squeeze the fluid from his lungs.

probably.

i could see him as soon as i could stand and step into a wheelchair.

it took FORever for me to get my feeling back in my legs.

I finally did, and then my bp went up to 159/113, so i had to wait to find out what the doctor thought about that before i could go to the nicu.

finally, at 4pm, 6 hours after he was born, i got to see my baby.

and hold him.

i was a little surprised by all his equipment and wires.

he had his CPAP, an IV in his little left hand, a pulse-oximeter, and an NG tube.

we stayed with him until my nurse came back to tell me i HAD to lay down and get my blood pressure under control.

at 8:30, we went back to visit sam.

mike wheeled me into the nicu, and there was a baby in sam's incubator.

with a little blue hat on that i had never seen.

and he had no tubes.

i remember saying 'mike, is that HIM??'

the nurse came around the corner and said 'SURPRISE!

Sam said he was sorry for the mix up, and he's sorry for all the fuss, and please feed him now.'

and just like that,

he was a healthy baby.

he had repeatedly ripped out his own tubing.

so they left it out.

and he was breathing just fine on his own.

his oxygen levels stayed up.

is respiratory rate was normal.

it was unbelievable!

I hate to take away from Eli and all the happiness he has brought to my life,

but I can honestly say that very moment was the happiest moment of my life.

we got to feed him 4 hours later.

and he tolerated it just fine.

in the meantime...

i peed.

which i couldn't do forEVER after eli was born!!!

things were looking up!!!!!!!

having a baby just might not always be a disaster for me!

and then...
they sent us home with our little, perfect, healthy miracle.
Samuel Emerson Windon

we are now complete.