We are home
Coltsdad
member
After an interesting hospital stay, we are finally home.
This is likely to get long... just a heads up.
My wife went in for her last OB appointment Thursday and due to my wife's back labor and other minor issues, they moved the scheduled c-section up from Tuesday to Friday. We got an ice storm Thursday night, so we go and stay at my parents house since it is 2 miles to the hospital versus 20. So we spend the night, a VERY pregnant wife and a 6'2" husband in a full size bed. Needless to say our sleep wasn't the best, but the safety issue far outweighed the comfort. We got to the hospital (fortunately the roads were not too terrible) for our 10 AM c-section at 8 like they tell us, then at 9 they tell us we will likely go early. We go in at 9:30. Our son was wedged in such a position it took 3 doctors AND suction to get him out. They worked my wife's stomach HARD to get him loose. At 9:53, they finally get him out (at 8 lbs, 4 oz, 20 inches) and he had a little trouble breathing. Meanwhile, my wife is starting to space out a bit on the table. I can tell she's a bit loopy, but her blood pressure was OK. (At this point I look over and accidentally see her placenta sitting on her stomach... not what I really wanted to see) I didn't know where to go, they had my son on the little bagged air thing to get him to breathe stronger and my wife is on the verge of passing out for whatever reason, for all I knew it could have been something really bad. I was completely torn on which direction to go. My wife starts to balance back out and return to normal, so I concentrate on our son. He still wasn't breathing quite as well as they would have liked, so we are informed that he will go to the Continued Care Nursery... not as critical as the NICU, but still warrants observation. My wife literally saw him for 30 seconds, got to give him a kiss and off he went.
Recovery room sucked. She blamed herself for all of his issues. His breathing issue was from fluid in his lungs... normally, during labor contractions force the lungs to expel the fluid. Since she never entered full on active labor and her water never broke, he was born with the fluid still in there and while they got most of it, a little lingered. His blood sugar also dipped a few points below the minimal acceptable number, as my wife was gestational diabetic. The recovery room was full of tears, guilt and fear/disappointment.
We get up to our room, briefed on what is going on with him, and finally about 4 1/2 hours after his birth, we get to spend our first real time with him. He stays in the CCN for all day Friday and Saturday minus one 20 minute visit to the room to allow his brother to meet him (no kids under 4 are allowed in the CCN). Seeing your little baby hooked up to monitors, IVs, and with the nose tubes in (to try to dry the fluid) is just a hard thing to see. I know as far as things go, we got off light... babies have to go to the NICU and be hooked up to dozens of machines, but when it your kid and they are hooked up to the stuff, it is still really hard.
He finally gets released to us at 8 AM on Sunday and got to spend more time with his brother and grand parents and actually get held by everyone. We got released yesterday and came home around 4 PM. Big brother has done very well so far, hugging and kissing him and showing a general interest, even going as far as to refer to him as "MY baby" a couple of times.
Anyways, that is the birth story and so far, the life story of my newest family member. Our first was so "easy" that this one came as a polar opposite. We had hardly any visitors, as people wanted to give us space and some family members are sick... for big brother we had everyone and their mother come visit us. We are so happy he's home (currently asleep swaddled in his crib while mommy naps) and look forward to everything ahead of us.
Re: We are home
I am happy you are home... actually what you described above is exactly why we had a natural home birth. Our LO came out with some issues (I am beginning to think we all do) mostly due to his size (10.045 lbs) but once we got him for the night (all of 10 min after the birth) we didnt let go of him. Still havent..
6 Months old, wearing size 4 diapers, 30 inches, 20 lbs... just think, in another couple of months, you will be able to look past all the bad and see the awesome that will be in your hands.
Sounds like a long few days there, buddy. So happy that you are all home now, and everyone seems fine. Hopefully, but not probable, you will be able to get a little rest in between feeding and taking care of the other little one.
Enjoy your time bonding as a family with the new one. Sounds like fun, minus the lack of sleep, of course. Congrats to all of you!!