The last week of the pregnancy felt like the longest week ever! I started swelling in my feet and feeling a lot of pelvic pressure. My blood pressure continued to go up and down and my Braxton Hicks contractions got more intense and formed patterns that made me nervous he would arrive before our scheduled date.
I had a cleaning lady come to the house on Wednesday and it was worth every penny! I was just too uncomfortable and large to be cleaning baseboards and ceiling fans and lugging around the vacuum cleaner. She did a great job (I only had to go behind her in a couple spots) and she even changed the bed sheets for me. Which is a bigger deal than you think because my belly pretty much prohibited me from leaning forward more than a foot. That night I also had a massage. It was amazing and I finally didn't feel sharp pains in my lower back for the first time in months.
Thursday I took Charlee to the meet the teacher event at her new preschool. She was so excited to see her name on a chair, cubby, and coat hook. She played with her new classmates and really connected with her teacher quickly. It made me feel better about her starting classes two weeks late. I'm so excited for her to learn and make friends and to have some one-on-one time (and nap time) with Beck too. That afternoon my parents arrived and offered to babysit Charlee while I got a mani/pedi. It was really nice to have a couple hours to myself. We ordered pizza for dinner and everyone went to bed early that night.
Eric and I woke up at 5am. I thought I would be exhausted but there was so much adrenaline running through me that it didn't matter. Eric got a little rest once I was hooked up for monitoring before his parents arrived. The surgery was scheduled for 8:15am, but it was pushed back a little because my doctor was stuck in traffic. Luckily it wasn't too long a wait and we were rolled back about 20 minutes later than expected.
Going in for a scheduled c-section was so different than when I went in for Charlee. There was no rush. The anesthesiologist came by in advance to discuss the spinal instead of just talking to me in the OR and I even had the procedure on the Labor & Delivery floor instead of downstairs in an emergency OR. The spinal was a much better experience this time too. I told them how I had to be stuck 3 times with Charlee and so they tried a little higher than usual this time and it took right away. The surgery went well. It didn't take as long as I expected and the only surprise was how much I was shaking as they closed me up and in recovery (that didn't happen last time). They gave me Benadryl for the itching in advance but it didn't work as well as I thought and I was still very itchy.
Beck came out a big boy! He cried right away and then they did his APGAR and got his measurements before bringing him over to me. With Charlee I was in a smaller OR and I could see the nurses doing those things, but I couldn't see this time. Eric was over there, so I tried to be patient. Eventually they brought my baby boy over to me and laid him by my face for about 5 minutes (I couldn't do skin to skin or nurse on the table because of my previous reaction to the spinal). Once it was time to close me up Eric and Beck were taken to the recovery room.
After a few minutes the doctor got a phone call in the OR that Beck's blood sugar was really low and they wanted to give him formula since I wouldn't be taken to recovery for a while longer. I hesitated because I didn't want him to have formula at all, but finally decided to allow them to syrine feed him a little just to regulate his blood sugar levels. When I got back to recovery I was able to give skin to skin and nurse him. He latched on right away and nursed like a champ. He had some respiratory issues and they thought they would need to take him to the nursery but agreed to let us stay in recovery a little longer to try and get him breathing normal again. It got better and they took us to our room and said they would check him again in a bit. Luckily he kept breathing better and better and didn't have to be taken to the nursery. Then we found out his bilirubin levels were elevated and he may need light therapy. They kept checking him and doing blood work every 12 hours but he never needed light therapy, which was a huge relief to me!
We stayed in the hospital until Monday afternoon. Charlee and my parents came to visit every day. Charlee loved meeting her baby brother and was beyond excited to hold him and kiss him. When we brought him home on Monday Charlee couldn't even wait until Eric got him in the door before she was trying to kiss him again!
The first week home was less stressful than I expected thanks to my parents. My mom and Kirk did an awesome job taking care of Charlee and keeping her busy. I tried to give her extra attention when I could by playing games and reading to her in the recliner. I was very sore and extremely swollen, although not nearly as bad as I was after I had Charlee. We had two doctors appointments with Beck to check his bilirubin levels and the pediatrician was happy with his diaper output so he decided light therapy was not necessary. I had my sutres removed on Friday and the doctor seems happy with my recovery up to that point. The best part of Friday was that I gave Beck his first bath. He didn't mind the water until we started using soap. Then he cried until he was bundled back up in a towel.
Saturday morning the photographer came to take Beck's newborn photos. I was so swollen that I couldn't fit into any of my clothes. I actually weighed more than I did before I had surgery because I was retaining so much fluid! Hopefully I don't look too gigantic in the photos!
Sunday morning my parents left to return to Florida and that afternoon Eric's parents, George, Tasha, Kimber, and Case all came over to see the baby. Charlee and Kimber had fun playing and Beck slept through most of the visit. Charlee went home with Eric's parents for the week to give us some time to adjust to life with a newborn again.
This week has been pretty relaxed. Beck still sleeps a lot, so I'm only tired from having to wake up every 2 hours to nurse him. Which is better than waking up every 45 minutes to pee like I did in the last few weeks of pregnancy. I did have to go in for an unexpected doctors appointment on Tuesday because I was suffering from a pretty intense headache for 2 days. The doctor prescribed me some more medicine and sent me on my way. Beck came down with a cold on Tuesday so Eric has been staying up most of the night with him and I am up during the day. But he is doing much better and is less congested and not coughing as much now. But I will admit, having a 10 day old come down with a cold is pretty scary!
Beck had his 2 week checkup today. He weighs 10lbs 5 ounces, is 21.75 inches long, is the 85th percentile for height and weight, and surpassed our expectations for growth. I can't believe he is already 2 weeks old. Time is flying by. And I plan to enjoy every second that I can with my two beautiful babies.
