I've been meaning to sit down and write all about the day Jacob was born and "how it all happened." It was definitely a little adventure! I decided I better write about it soon before my memory gets fuzzy. I can't believe my baby boy is already going to be one month old in just a few days! I know he's still tiny, but at the same time he is already looking so much bigger to me! I am truly panicking about how fast my little one is going to grow up!
The day Jacob was born...Saturday, April 25th, 3 days after my due date...I woke up with no clue that it would be "the day." I had been having "practice" contractions over the previous days and weeks, but they were sporatic and had only ever felt somewhat uncomfortable at their worst...nothing that felt like "the real thing" to me. Well, late that Saturday morning, I don't even remember around what time, I had some contractions again, but this time they were moving out of the realm of uncomfortable into slightly painful. I didn't think too much about it at first because it was only slight pain and they weren't coming frequently. Ryan was on the computer and Thomas was distracted watching TV or playing with his toys, so I went into the office and sat in the recliner and talked with Ryan for awhile, then ended up dozing off. Ryan sensed something was really happening (he told me this later) because he let me sleep and when I woke up he had completely cleaned the kitchen and the kitchen floor til they were gleaming. After I woke up I continued to have contractions here and there, and they were continuing to be painful. This was in the afternoon sometime...I really didn't keep very good track of time! As time went on I started having a harder time with the contractions, and we decided we better start paying attention to how often they were coming. We realized they were coming just about every 10 minutes. At this point, Ryan was feeling way more convinced that something was seriously happening than I was. But we decided that if they kept coming and getting painful that we would call my mom so she could come out to be with Thomas, just in case we had to go to the hospital. (We would have just brought Thomas to the hospital with us and had my mom meet us there and take him to her house to stay, but he had the croupe at the time, and my brother and his wife and their 2 kids were staying with my parents, and I didn't want Thomas to get my niece and nephew sick...the croupe is very contagious). So, the contractions kept up and finally, when it was almost 5 pm, we go to call my mom. So I try, and I can't get ahold of her! Later I found out she was out running errands and had her phone with her, but it was on silent. It wasn't a big deal though, because Ryan's sister Sara lives even closer to us than my Mom, and I had asked her if she could kind of be "on call" along with my Mom as I approached and then passed my due date. So we called Sara about 5:20 pm and told her we thought something was probably happening, and asked if she could just come be with Thomas til we got a hold of my mom and she could come out to stay the night with him at our house.
Thankfully, unlike when I went into labor with Thomas, I was ready and packed for the hospital and most of my stuff had already been in my car for several days, and we only had to grab a few additional things to bring. Sara arrived shortly before 6 pm and Ryan was earnestly trying to get me out the door while I just kept talking to Sara. He was really getting nervous!!! Finally he got me out the door right about 6, and I guess by then I was pretty convinced it was really happening. It was hard not to be skeptical though! With my first baby, when I first went into labor, my contractions were pretty painful and coming just about 5 minutes apart for a few hours, and when we went to the hospital the first time, they sent us home! And I kept contracting like that for about 21 more hours before Thomas was born! So I was wondering if the same thing was going to happen with this baby boy...I really didn't want to show up at the hospital and get sent home again!
Well, as Ryan and I drove the 20-25 minutes it takes to get to the hospital, I finally became convinced that our baby really was close to arriving. (There are closer hospitals to us, but I loved the hospital I delivered Thomas at...Orem Community Hospital...and wanted to deliver there again, even though we've moved a little further away since then.) As we drove my contractions were getting worse, and with each one I really started feeling the urge to "bear down", or push, basically. This frightened me because it was an urge that was very hard to resist! I hadn't felt that at ALL when I was in labor with my first baby...when I talked with the nurses about it later they said it was because my first baby was posterior (facing the wrong way), and that the way pressure is applied when a posterior baby advances through the birth canal is often different, and might not cause the urge to bear down (though a posterior baby often causes back labor instead, which I definitely had a lot of with Thomas). Jacob was not posterior, and the urge to bear down was crazy strong and very new to me! Forgive me if this is simply disgusting, but I kept telling Ryan with every contraction, "I feel like I really need to poop!" We were both getting quite worried! As he drove he got on the phone to tell his mom we were on the way to the hospital, and as she is an experienced labor and delivery nurse herself, he was asking a whole bunch of questions and she started telling him everything he needed to do just in case we didn't make it to the hospital and he had to deliver the baby in the car or something! I was freaking out a little bit and trying to resist the urge to bear down, but she reassured Ryan that as long as my water hadn't ruptured or broken yet, the baby wasn't going to be born yet. During the drive I got seriously impatient...my contractions were getting stronger and stronger, and though Ryan was driving pretty fast, it didn't feel fast enough for me! I kept telling him to turn his flashers on and just go as fast as he could, asking him, "Can you still get pulled over by a cop if you have your flashers on?" I confess I even cursed a few times at some of the people we got stuck behind that just seemed like they were moving sooooo sloooow!!! I was like, "I'm about to have a baby here, people!!!"
So we finally made it the hospital and drove right up to the entrance to the Women's Center and just left the car there and went in. (Wish I would've known the first time around that they will valet park cars for women in labor...with my first baby we parked our car and then I was really struggling to walk while having contractions! We pretty much just had to stop walking every time I contracted.) Even though we were parked right outside the door, I was hurting bad enough that I even considered having Ryan go in to get me a wheelchair, but I was too impatient...I just hung on him when we walked in, and when we got to the desk and told the nurse at the front that I was in labor, I saw some nurses in the back noticing me and giving me sympathetic looks. I had already pre-registered with the hospital, but the nurse/receptionist was still taking a minute to admit us, when a nice nurse came through the doors and said she would just take me back. This nurse, Ana, ended up being one of my delivery nurses and she was awesome. She took me to an observation room and then Ryan showed up a minute later. I got changed into a gown and then she came back to check me...she said I was dilated to a 5 and about 90% effaced. I told her I had been so worried we'd get to the hospital and get sent home, but she said "Don't worry...I don't send girls who are dilated to a 5 and 3 days overdue home!" That was such a relief to hear!
The nurse and Ryan and I talked while waiting for the anesthesiologist...well I talked when I could. At that point I was really hurting and I couldn't talk or do anything but breathe and concentrate during contractions. She checked me one more time shortly before my epidural, and I was at a 5 1/2. When the anesthesiologist came to administer the epidural he commented on how strong it sounded like my contractions were, concerned that maybe I was too far dilated for an epidural, but the nurse reassured him that she had just checked me right before he arrived. Shortly thereafter, maybe just 10 or 15 minutes later when my epidural had actually kicked in, Ana checked me again and said I was fully dilated! I had gone from a 5 to a 10 in an hour! So things were moving VERY quickly! And I had barely gotten my epidural in time! The nurses started getting all ready and then my doctor, Dr. Young, arrived. I was so glad he was able to make it, because I was told by my nurses that on Saturdays he and the 2 other OB/GYNs that work at his clinic take turns being on call, and it wasn't his day to be on call, so they said it might be the on-call doctor coming to deliver. I was a little disappointed at that prospect, but figured it wasn't a big deal since everything was going so well. They had called Dr. Young to let him know what was happening, but he had been driving home from somewhere and wasn't sure if he was going to be able to be there instead of the on-call doctor. Luckily, when he was relatively close by the hospital he called back to check and see if I had progressed, and when they told him I was completely dilated, he just came right in to deliver me! I was so happy when he walked in. He delivered Thomas, and I really wanted him to deliver my second baby!
Well, the doc didn't have to be there for long! My water hadn't broken, so he went ahead and broke it, and when they told me it was time to push, I almost couldn't believe I was really there, having our second baby! They could already see the top of Jacob's head! I pushed an incredibly short time...Ryan and I agreed it couldn't have been more than 5-10 minutes...and then Jacob officially came into the world at 8:02 pm! It was silent for a split second after he was completely out (which kind of scared me), and then when I heard him start to cry it was so exhilarating and surreal! I kept saying "I want to see him, I can't see him, hold him up!" And either the doc or Ryan said, "The cord is too short!" Apparently little Jacob came on quite a short line! So Ryan finally cut the cord and I got to see my little boy for the first time...he was screaming nice and loud and was healthy and perfect! He was born with a head of dark hair like his big brother, though he didn't have nearly as much hair as Thomas did. He weighed in at 9 lbs and was 21 inches long.
The day Jacob was born...Saturday, April 25th, 3 days after my due date...I woke up with no clue that it would be "the day." I had been having "practice" contractions over the previous days and weeks, but they were sporatic and had only ever felt somewhat uncomfortable at their worst...nothing that felt like "the real thing" to me. Well, late that Saturday morning, I don't even remember around what time, I had some contractions again, but this time they were moving out of the realm of uncomfortable into slightly painful. I didn't think too much about it at first because it was only slight pain and they weren't coming frequently. Ryan was on the computer and Thomas was distracted watching TV or playing with his toys, so I went into the office and sat in the recliner and talked with Ryan for awhile, then ended up dozing off. Ryan sensed something was really happening (he told me this later) because he let me sleep and when I woke up he had completely cleaned the kitchen and the kitchen floor til they were gleaming. After I woke up I continued to have contractions here and there, and they were continuing to be painful. This was in the afternoon sometime...I really didn't keep very good track of time! As time went on I started having a harder time with the contractions, and we decided we better start paying attention to how often they were coming. We realized they were coming just about every 10 minutes. At this point, Ryan was feeling way more convinced that something was seriously happening than I was. But we decided that if they kept coming and getting painful that we would call my mom so she could come out to be with Thomas, just in case we had to go to the hospital. (We would have just brought Thomas to the hospital with us and had my mom meet us there and take him to her house to stay, but he had the croupe at the time, and my brother and his wife and their 2 kids were staying with my parents, and I didn't want Thomas to get my niece and nephew sick...the croupe is very contagious). So, the contractions kept up and finally, when it was almost 5 pm, we go to call my mom. So I try, and I can't get ahold of her! Later I found out she was out running errands and had her phone with her, but it was on silent. It wasn't a big deal though, because Ryan's sister Sara lives even closer to us than my Mom, and I had asked her if she could kind of be "on call" along with my Mom as I approached and then passed my due date. So we called Sara about 5:20 pm and told her we thought something was probably happening, and asked if she could just come be with Thomas til we got a hold of my mom and she could come out to stay the night with him at our house.
Thankfully, unlike when I went into labor with Thomas, I was ready and packed for the hospital and most of my stuff had already been in my car for several days, and we only had to grab a few additional things to bring. Sara arrived shortly before 6 pm and Ryan was earnestly trying to get me out the door while I just kept talking to Sara. He was really getting nervous!!! Finally he got me out the door right about 6, and I guess by then I was pretty convinced it was really happening. It was hard not to be skeptical though! With my first baby, when I first went into labor, my contractions were pretty painful and coming just about 5 minutes apart for a few hours, and when we went to the hospital the first time, they sent us home! And I kept contracting like that for about 21 more hours before Thomas was born! So I was wondering if the same thing was going to happen with this baby boy...I really didn't want to show up at the hospital and get sent home again!
Well, as Ryan and I drove the 20-25 minutes it takes to get to the hospital, I finally became convinced that our baby really was close to arriving. (There are closer hospitals to us, but I loved the hospital I delivered Thomas at...Orem Community Hospital...and wanted to deliver there again, even though we've moved a little further away since then.) As we drove my contractions were getting worse, and with each one I really started feeling the urge to "bear down", or push, basically. This frightened me because it was an urge that was very hard to resist! I hadn't felt that at ALL when I was in labor with my first baby...when I talked with the nurses about it later they said it was because my first baby was posterior (facing the wrong way), and that the way pressure is applied when a posterior baby advances through the birth canal is often different, and might not cause the urge to bear down (though a posterior baby often causes back labor instead, which I definitely had a lot of with Thomas). Jacob was not posterior, and the urge to bear down was crazy strong and very new to me! Forgive me if this is simply disgusting, but I kept telling Ryan with every contraction, "I feel like I really need to poop!" We were both getting quite worried! As he drove he got on the phone to tell his mom we were on the way to the hospital, and as she is an experienced labor and delivery nurse herself, he was asking a whole bunch of questions and she started telling him everything he needed to do just in case we didn't make it to the hospital and he had to deliver the baby in the car or something! I was freaking out a little bit and trying to resist the urge to bear down, but she reassured Ryan that as long as my water hadn't ruptured or broken yet, the baby wasn't going to be born yet. During the drive I got seriously impatient...my contractions were getting stronger and stronger, and though Ryan was driving pretty fast, it didn't feel fast enough for me! I kept telling him to turn his flashers on and just go as fast as he could, asking him, "Can you still get pulled over by a cop if you have your flashers on?" I confess I even cursed a few times at some of the people we got stuck behind that just seemed like they were moving sooooo sloooow!!! I was like, "I'm about to have a baby here, people!!!"
So we finally made it the hospital and drove right up to the entrance to the Women's Center and just left the car there and went in. (Wish I would've known the first time around that they will valet park cars for women in labor...with my first baby we parked our car and then I was really struggling to walk while having contractions! We pretty much just had to stop walking every time I contracted.) Even though we were parked right outside the door, I was hurting bad enough that I even considered having Ryan go in to get me a wheelchair, but I was too impatient...I just hung on him when we walked in, and when we got to the desk and told the nurse at the front that I was in labor, I saw some nurses in the back noticing me and giving me sympathetic looks. I had already pre-registered with the hospital, but the nurse/receptionist was still taking a minute to admit us, when a nice nurse came through the doors and said she would just take me back. This nurse, Ana, ended up being one of my delivery nurses and she was awesome. She took me to an observation room and then Ryan showed up a minute later. I got changed into a gown and then she came back to check me...she said I was dilated to a 5 and about 90% effaced. I told her I had been so worried we'd get to the hospital and get sent home, but she said "Don't worry...I don't send girls who are dilated to a 5 and 3 days overdue home!" That was such a relief to hear!
The nurse and Ryan and I talked while waiting for the anesthesiologist...well I talked when I could. At that point I was really hurting and I couldn't talk or do anything but breathe and concentrate during contractions. She checked me one more time shortly before my epidural, and I was at a 5 1/2. When the anesthesiologist came to administer the epidural he commented on how strong it sounded like my contractions were, concerned that maybe I was too far dilated for an epidural, but the nurse reassured him that she had just checked me right before he arrived. Shortly thereafter, maybe just 10 or 15 minutes later when my epidural had actually kicked in, Ana checked me again and said I was fully dilated! I had gone from a 5 to a 10 in an hour! So things were moving VERY quickly! And I had barely gotten my epidural in time! The nurses started getting all ready and then my doctor, Dr. Young, arrived. I was so glad he was able to make it, because I was told by my nurses that on Saturdays he and the 2 other OB/GYNs that work at his clinic take turns being on call, and it wasn't his day to be on call, so they said it might be the on-call doctor coming to deliver. I was a little disappointed at that prospect, but figured it wasn't a big deal since everything was going so well. They had called Dr. Young to let him know what was happening, but he had been driving home from somewhere and wasn't sure if he was going to be able to be there instead of the on-call doctor. Luckily, when he was relatively close by the hospital he called back to check and see if I had progressed, and when they told him I was completely dilated, he just came right in to deliver me! I was so happy when he walked in. He delivered Thomas, and I really wanted him to deliver my second baby!
Well, the doc didn't have to be there for long! My water hadn't broken, so he went ahead and broke it, and when they told me it was time to push, I almost couldn't believe I was really there, having our second baby! They could already see the top of Jacob's head! I pushed an incredibly short time...Ryan and I agreed it couldn't have been more than 5-10 minutes...and then Jacob officially came into the world at 8:02 pm! It was silent for a split second after he was completely out (which kind of scared me), and then when I heard him start to cry it was so exhilarating and surreal! I kept saying "I want to see him, I can't see him, hold him up!" And either the doc or Ryan said, "The cord is too short!" Apparently little Jacob came on quite a short line! So Ryan finally cut the cord and I got to see my little boy for the first time...he was screaming nice and loud and was healthy and perfect! He was born with a head of dark hair like his big brother, though he didn't have nearly as much hair as Thomas did. He weighed in at 9 lbs and was 21 inches long.
I waited impatiently while they cleaned him up and checked everything out and when I finally got to hold him it was still so surreal! I loved finally having that tiny little baby to hold and cuddle! I was so happy with how my delivery went, and I was especially grateful that Jacob was healthy and perfect. Even though my pregnancy was basically flawless and there was never any issues or reasons I had to worry, I sometimes felt so much fear that our baby would be born with health issues or something wrong. A perfectly healthy baby really is a miracle and a blessing!
Everything had gone so fast...we were only at the hospital about an hour and a half before Jacob arrived! My nurses and the doctor kept saying we couldn't have timed our arrival at the hospital more perfectly. My doctor told me I had "good birthing hips," which he said he was worried would offend me, but I told him not at all! He had said something to that effect with Thomas, too. He told me that next time, I was, quote, "in serious danger of giving birth on the freeway!" That made us laugh. An hour and a half felt like we were cutting it a little close...at least for Ryan, who had been seriously stressed and worried about getting to the hospital in time! Hopefully I don't ever cut it too much closer than that!
I was so happy and grateful that my delivery went well...I couldn't have hoped for better. Everything went great when I delivered my first baby too, and as I got closer to my due date this time I kept reminding myself not to count on it going just like the first time, that I could even end up having to have an emergency C-section or something. But it was basically perfect!
I was also really glad that I actually got to have my baby room in with me at the hospital this time! When Thomas was born, his breathing rate didn't reach the optimal range it was supposed to within a certain time, and they were concerned that he had a little water on the lungs and could develop pneumonia, so he had to stay in the NICU the whole time he was in the hospital, hooked up to monitors and on a round of antibiotics. (It sounds scary to say "he was in the NICU," but in my small hospital it was basically just a special section of the nursery for preemie babies or C-section babies or any babies that had special circumstances. Babies with real problems or health issues were transferred to the NICU at the larger hospital in Provo.) So, I had to walk down to the nursery any time I wanted to see my first baby...I never got to have him hang out in my room with me until he was off the antibiotics and I couldn't even nurse him while at the hospital until his breathing rates improved. So I loved being able to have Jacob in my room with me whenever I wanted, to feed him or cuddle him or just to watch him sleep!
All of our visitors were planning to come see us the next day, so in the hours after Jacob was born it was nice for Ryan and I to just have time alone with our little newborn. I got to see the first real bath they gave Jacob at the hospital, which I hadn't gotten to see with Thomas...I didn't know that all you had to do was ask to be there! Ryan ended up deciding to stay overnight at the hospital on the pull-out couch they had in my room, and it was nice to have him there (though the pull-out bed isn't incredibly comfortable and he didn't sleep all that great!).
The next morning (Sunday) our first visitors were my Mom and Thomas. I was so excited for Thomas to meet Jacob, but was a little sad about one thing...he still had the croupe. When I took Thomas to his doctor when he first came down with the croupe, and I knew our baby would be arriving any day, my CNP said if Thomas was still showing croupe symptoms when the baby arrived, she didn't want him within 5 feet of the baby. But I couldn't cope with that idea...we decided when Thomas came to the hospital we would just have him wash up really good when he arrived, change into a clean shirt, and wear a hospital mask.
I was a little heartbroken because Tommy's visit didn't go that great...he was very cranky during the duration of it. He was sick with the croupe, very tired because he wasn't sleeping well at night (he had actually fallen asleep in the car 5 minutes before my mom arrived and she and Ryan had to wake him up), and he was hungry too. Tommy was definitely excited to see Jacob...when he first came to my door and saw me and Jacob, he wanted to run to us...but Ryan had to stop him and make him get all cleaned up first, which didn't sit too well with him on top of how grumpy he was. I think he just wanted to finally see his baby brother and didn't understand why were getting in the way! He was still coughing (that terrible croupe-y cough) frequently, and we kept telling him he had to wear his mask if he wanted to hold Jacob, but he refused, and I was so sad. I was afraid he would leave without even holding his little brother. It was fun watching my mom hold Jacob and meeting him for the first time. We kept trying to get Thomas to wear a mask, and right as we about gave up and decided to just let my mom take Thomas home, he finally said he would wear the mask. I was so glad, because I was so devastated that he would leave without so much as holding his little brother...I had been looking forward to that for so long! But I was still sad because the first time we ever saw Tommy hold Jacob, I couldn't even really see the expression on his little face, because of his mask. That was (and kind of still is) hard for me to get over. But I kept telling myself that the fact Thomas was sick and terribly cranky that day was nobody's fault. Even though I was so unhappy about Thomas having to be so restricted during his first time meeting Jacob, the thought of my brand new baby ending up with the croupe was terrifying to me. And Jacob never did get sick, for which I'm incredibly grateful.
One thing that helped finally convince Thomas to put on his mask was the gift I told him that Jacob had gotten for him. I had heard that its sometimes a good idea to get young children a small gift or toy when they have a baby brother or sister, just so they feel special too and not overlooked when so much attention is put on the new little one. So I bought Thomas a pack of 4 little Matchbox airplanes/helicopters and packed them in my hospital bag, intending to give them to Thomas when he first came to visit. When Tommy wouldn't put the mask on, I told him Jacob had a present for him if he did. When I gave Thomas the little planes he was pretty excited. They are some of his new favorite toys and when he plays with them he always talks about how Jacob gave them to him.
Throughout the rest of that day we had lots of family come to visit: Nate and Fabi and Julia, Eric and Hayley, Sara and Jon, my Dad, Zane, Amber, Ciara and Dalin, Travis and Jared. It was a party in my room for the majority of the day! It was fun, even though my room did get a bit crowded at times...I think my nurse at the time was annoyed! The nurses are all about moms getting their rest, but I felt great and was in no mood to lay around in my hospital bed napping or something. I wanted to be up and moving around, feeling normal again...I was just so incredibly happy to not be pregnant anymore! (My sister-in-law Jenise had her fourth baby in December, and she had said something to me recently about how the minute your baby is born, you already feel like you can breathe again. I hadn't thought about that much when Thomas was born, so I paid particular attention to how it felt the moment Jacob was out...it really was immediate, glorious relief as I felt my big ole belly deflating!)
I really enjoyed my hospital stay...Orem Community Hospital is awesome. I delivered Thomas there and even though we had moved a little bit of an inconvenient distance away since Thomas was born, I really wanted to deliver there again. Its a small hospital with really nice, big rooms, and my nurses (except for one really weird one) were all great. Since its so small and intimate the nurses really take good care of you, pay attention to you and remember who you are. I don't think I even remember seeing another mom during my whole stay! And I LOVE the hospital food...I seriously got so excited for every meal! I stayed the full 48 hours after Jacob was born and I was a little sad to leave when it was time for me to be discharged! I remember feeling the exact same way when I had Thomas too.
Going home:
When we arrived at our house, Thomas was so excited for his little baby brother to be home! Aunt Sara & Uncle Jon had watched him while Ryan came to get Jacob and I. Thomas' croupe had improved a lot during the couple of days Jacob and I were at the hospital, but he still hadn't gotten over it completely, so we were still a little nervous about Jacob getting the croupe too. We tried to teach Thomas not to cough near the baby and we made him wash his hands a lot (which he didn't love). I was so glad Jacob didn't ever get sick, and even happier when Thomas was all better and I didn't have to worry about either of my babies being sick!
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Okay, so a couple of funny stories from the hospital...they both might be a little bit TMI (too much info!), but I HAVE to remember them!
Within the hour or so after Jacob was born, I was of course wanting lots of photos...of Jacob, of Ryan and I each with Jacob, of all 3 of us...the camera was getting lots of use and everytime we put it down we would get distracted and then when we wanted to take photos again we couldn't remember where we'd put the camera. Well, at one point, we seriously could NOT find the camera. Ryan and the nurse looked everywhere, and of course I was still confined to the bed, but I was looking as much as I could too. I was thinking, "We've been using it constantly, where could it have gone?" Then I said something like "I hope its not buried under my blankets or something!" Well, at that moment a little feeling of dread came over me...the nurse looked, just in case, and sure enough, it was tangled up in all of the blankets covering me! I was practically sitting on it! I had apparently put it on my lap and forgotten all about it being there and it somehow disappeared into the blankets. I was terrified for a split second when the nurse discovered it there, but thankfully the camera was completely fine. (Well...the cord did get a little dirty (gross, I know) and one of my incredibly nice nurses was nice enough to take the cord off and clean it in hydrogen peroxide or alcohol or something. Crazy! Yeah, I was much more careful with the camera after that. =)
Second story: My first few times changing Jacob's diaper at the hospital made me nervous. I know, I've changed a newborn's diapers before, but Jacob just seemed so fragile to me and it had been so long since I'd had a newborn...I felt almost like a first-time mom again when I changed his diapers the first few days. Well, one time when I went to change his diaper at the hospital, I unwrapped his blanket and discovered that he had had a complete meconium blow-out!!! That black, nasty, tar-looking poop was everywhere! All over him, his clothes, and even the inside of the blanket he was wrapped up in! There was no way I was going to be able to clean him adequately with wipes, so I called the nurses station to let them know that Jacob would probably be needing a bath...the stuff was seriously everywhere! A nurse that wasn't mine came and got him and when she saw the mess, she was like, "Oh yes, he definitely needs a bath!" Then my nurse, after she had seen the mess, came in and said she was amazed! She said it was probably the biggest meconium mess she had ever seen a newborn make and that she'd be surprised if he had any of the stuff left in him! Eeeeeew....
So on that lovely note. =) I was very happy with Jacob's delivery and felt like everything went great. I also felt like I recovered very easily and quickly, even though I had had to get a few stitches. I have to say again...I'm so happy not to be pregnant anymore!!! Aaaaah, the relief of not having to pee every 20 minutes! And no heartburn! And no waddling! And no swollen feet! And more than anything, I'm so grateful that I have had two healthy babies, and two great deliveries. Childbirth really is a miracle, especially when it occurs with no problems or issues. I definitely don't take it for granted!
Going home:
When we arrived at our house, Thomas was so excited for his little baby brother to be home! Aunt Sara & Uncle Jon had watched him while Ryan came to get Jacob and I. Thomas' croupe had improved a lot during the couple of days Jacob and I were at the hospital, but he still hadn't gotten over it completely, so we were still a little nervous about Jacob getting the croupe too. We tried to teach Thomas not to cough near the baby and we made him wash his hands a lot (which he didn't love). I was so glad Jacob didn't ever get sick, and even happier when Thomas was all better and I didn't have to worry about either of my babies being sick!
Okay, so a couple of funny stories from the hospital...they both might be a little bit TMI (too much info!), but I HAVE to remember them!
Within the hour or so after Jacob was born, I was of course wanting lots of photos...of Jacob, of Ryan and I each with Jacob, of all 3 of us...the camera was getting lots of use and everytime we put it down we would get distracted and then when we wanted to take photos again we couldn't remember where we'd put the camera. Well, at one point, we seriously could NOT find the camera. Ryan and the nurse looked everywhere, and of course I was still confined to the bed, but I was looking as much as I could too. I was thinking, "We've been using it constantly, where could it have gone?" Then I said something like "I hope its not buried under my blankets or something!" Well, at that moment a little feeling of dread came over me...the nurse looked, just in case, and sure enough, it was tangled up in all of the blankets covering me! I was practically sitting on it! I had apparently put it on my lap and forgotten all about it being there and it somehow disappeared into the blankets. I was terrified for a split second when the nurse discovered it there, but thankfully the camera was completely fine. (Well...the cord did get a little dirty (gross, I know) and one of my incredibly nice nurses was nice enough to take the cord off and clean it in hydrogen peroxide or alcohol or something. Crazy! Yeah, I was much more careful with the camera after that. =)
Second story: My first few times changing Jacob's diaper at the hospital made me nervous. I know, I've changed a newborn's diapers before, but Jacob just seemed so fragile to me and it had been so long since I'd had a newborn...I felt almost like a first-time mom again when I changed his diapers the first few days. Well, one time when I went to change his diaper at the hospital, I unwrapped his blanket and discovered that he had had a complete meconium blow-out!!! That black, nasty, tar-looking poop was everywhere! All over him, his clothes, and even the inside of the blanket he was wrapped up in! There was no way I was going to be able to clean him adequately with wipes, so I called the nurses station to let them know that Jacob would probably be needing a bath...the stuff was seriously everywhere! A nurse that wasn't mine came and got him and when she saw the mess, she was like, "Oh yes, he definitely needs a bath!" Then my nurse, after she had seen the mess, came in and said she was amazed! She said it was probably the biggest meconium mess she had ever seen a newborn make and that she'd be surprised if he had any of the stuff left in him! Eeeeeew....
So on that lovely note. =) I was very happy with Jacob's delivery and felt like everything went great. I also felt like I recovered very easily and quickly, even though I had had to get a few stitches. I have to say again...I'm so happy not to be pregnant anymore!!! Aaaaah, the relief of not having to pee every 20 minutes! And no heartburn! And no waddling! And no swollen feet! And more than anything, I'm so grateful that I have had two healthy babies, and two great deliveries. Childbirth really is a miracle, especially when it occurs with no problems or issues. I definitely don't take it for granted!
1 comment:
I love that you posted the story (even the little "tmi" ones... I don't think they would bug anybody) The pictures are so cute too. And you look GREAT! I am so jealous. :)
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