I Know This Much: Carter's Birth Story (AKA- The Longest Post EVER)

We started the day as a family of three...

Tuesday morning we got up at the normal time to begin the day- Sofie decided to sleep in just a bit, so Patton and I finished up some last minute tasks before showering and getting ready to leave for the hospital. Diane and Denise were on hand to watch Sophia, so by 10:00 we were off to start the process.

We arrived at the hospital at 10:30 and checked in. We were directed upstairs to the Labor and Delivery triage, where we had the exact same bed as we did with Sofie! The nurses were great and the process of monitoring and pumping me

full of IV fluids was smooth. All the participating parties stopped by for an introduction (the LDR nurses, the anesthesiologist and Dr Rhymers, of course) and by 12:10p I was making my way through the halls down to the operating room. The nurses and doctors quickly prepped me and I was given the spinal that would block all feeling for the operation. Just a few moments later, everyone was poised and ready- They let Patton in from the hallway and as soon as Dr Rhymers arrived the c-section began.

Much like the last time- I could feel nothing but a very surreal pressure as they cut and pushed and began to extract our little guy.

Unlike the last time- the anesthesia seemed very strong and made me both nauseous and feel as though my lungs were swimming in fluid.

In what seemed like a fraction of a second, and also an eternity, all at the same time (really it was 12 minutes)- I heard the first little gurgle of our newborn baby boy. What an incredible moment. It would be impossible to explain how fantastic that first little sound is- but I'm pretty sure it was in that moment that I grew another heart, all for loving this little baby.

Carter came out looking just like his sister did 14 months ago- perfect little head with button nose and the most beautiful lips ever. His cheeks, while noteworthy, could not possibly rival hers, but their expressions seem identical.

He scored high on the APGAR and all weights and measurements were in the very healthy range. Carter and Dad stayed in the OR for a few photos and then left for the recovery area. I had a few more moments of nausea (and either passed out or fell asleep) during the remainder of the surgery and then met up with my boys.

The recovery process was very quick this time around- Feeling returned to my legs and feet much faster than with Sofie and we were soon able to snuggle and stare and make all the necessary comparisons :)

It was while we were in recovery that the nurses noticed that Carter had a bit of a heart murmur and so quite a commotion was created over whether or not he should be admitted to the NICU- thankfully he was not. However- it was at this point that all the additional poking and prodding of our little guy began.

We were taken to our room by 2:30. It happened to be exactly the same room we were in last October with Sofie! It was oddly comforting to have the same room (and may of the same nurses) throughout our stay. My family was waiting to greet us and to meet Carter. [Insert 'oooohh'-ing & 'aaahhh'-ing here *] It was lovely.

Carter began making some pretty unusual noises, of the grunting variety, which was cause for some concern by our nurse. She ordered a battery of tests and had us all on pins and needles for most of the evening. After the results of the blood-test, the echo cardiogram and the chest x-ray were evaluated by the NICU doctor- Carter was give a clean bill of health- with the simple explanation that he had some residual fluid in his lungs left over from the c-section and that the heart murmur previously noted was likely an un-closed PDA (similar to what Sophia had until about 6 months). Healthy baby. Check.

We had plenty of visitors (the grandparents, aunts and uncles, Great-Grands and most notably one very big sister). I was very excited to see Sofie and to introduce her to her new baby- she however was not so impressed and, shall we say... less than excited. All told- it was a pretty uneventful introduction (*though I should say, she's coming around nicely :)

We stayed in the hospital until Thursday afternoon (a full day less than last go-round) but were home and fully immersed in the REAL WORLD (of having two babies, at home, by ourselves, holy crap!) by dinnertime.