Jack's Birth Story

Jack cooperated and stayed in until his scheduled arrival on March 3rd.  The day finally came and I have never popped out of bed that fast at 5am. I couldn't wait to get to the hospital to meet our boy!  I was hoping that nothing would delay my c-section because I was so anxious for him to be here.  We got to the hospital and went to a room to prepare for surgery. There was the added excitement of them moving the Labor & Delivery admittance office at the exact same time so there were people in and out of the room moving boxes and computers.  My mom was at home with Joslyn so it was only John and I and it was kind of nice to have that time, just us, before welcoming our son.  I wasn't nervous at all this time because I knew exactly what to expect. I was ready to get the show on the road! After an hour and half of waiting, it was finally time to get started! I had to go in first to get my spinal but soon John joined me and we waited anxiously to hear our baby boy's first cries.  The different thing about this time is that they pulled down the curtain so I could see them pulling him out. I thought it was incredible that I could see him entering the world because I did feel like I missed out on that part of labor last time.  I stared tearing up as soon as I saw him. He looked so perfect and had a head of dark hair! We finally got a baby that looked like what we thought our children would look like ;)  John was not as big of a fan of them lowering the curtain. I think he saw more than he wanted to see.  He was standing up to film it and then I heard the anesthesiologist say "are you ok?" and John saying he felt a little light-headed. The anesthesiologist told him to lay down on the ground. I couldn't help but laugh and John had a good sense of humor about it too because he took a picture of him lying on the ground.  The anesthesiologist also told him not to be embarrassed because it happens all time, even to an NFL linebacker.  They cleaned Jack up and weighed him and announced that he was 7lbs 10 ounces. I was shocked! I guessed he would be 7lbs but he was one pound and 7 ounces bigger than his sister!  They wrapped him up and put him into my arms and I couldn't believe how much he looked like his sister.  They have the same face!  They closed me up and then wheeled me into a recovery room. The thing I loved about this hospital is they never took Jack away from me to go the nursery.  They did everything in my recovery room and he never left my side. I hogged him most of the time and John only got to hold him for a little bit. John got Joslyn all to himself for an hour after she was born so I was going to soak up every minute I got with Jack!  I was able to nurse him right away and he did great latching on.  Soon we were making our way to our permanent room and then my mom and Joslyn came to see him.  Joslyn was amazing with him from the beginning.  She climbed up on the bed with me so she could be right next to him and kept touching his head and giving him kisses. It melted my heart.  I felt so blessed st have these two amazing children. My heart was full and I knew that our family was finally complete.

I told John if he was going to take a picture of me in my lovely outfit I had to get a picture of him in his scrubs.

Jack Anthony was born at 8:03am, weighing 7lbs 10oz and measuring 19 inches long.


John spending some time on the floor ;)

 

Ga holding her grandson!
 

Introducing Jos to Jack.

Our family is complete!

She had to take a picture of him with her camera.

The nurses had me get up that night to walk to the bathroom and the next day they removed my IV and catheter so I could take a shower. I had a little more pain this time than my last c-section.  One night, I was nursing Jack and the pain was so intense I had to have John grab him.  I had to accept that I needed the pain medication that I had been reluctant to accept when they offered it.  As long as I kept on schedule with the pain medication, I felt fine and was able to move and get out of bed more and more each day.  The nurses were amazing again and made me feel great because they constantly told me what a pleasure I was as a patient and how great I was doing.  The rest of our stay was a blur of diaper changes, little sleep, nursing, BP checks by the nurses for me and temperature checks for Jack, visits from Joslyn and my mom, a hearing test for Jack (he passed!), a visit from Olivia and a visit from Danielle. It was nice to have that time with just John and Jack before we had to tackle life at home with two kids.  My Dr. said that I could go home on Thursday if I wanted and I of course said yes!  We waited for Jack to get cleared by the pediatrician and then I got cleared and we were ready to head home!

My mom and Jos visited us every day.

She loved sitting on the bed with me and watching TV.

We tried to get sleep when we could.

My friend Olivia brought us balloons to brighten our room.

And my friend Danielle brought us flowers.

We spent a lot of time just staring at his face.

Ready to go home!

Jos was happy to have us home and very happy to have her brother home.

Jos told me to take him out of the swing so she could hold him. She hasn't stopped asking to hold him since.

John brought a hat home for Abby's bed before we came home and Abby had to make sure the smell matched ;)  She was great with him just like she was when Jos came home.

Blizzard sent us a baby gift!

My mom had a beautiful flower arrangement waiting for us.

It was so nice to be back home and back with our girl! I have never spent that much time away from her and I missed her terribly.  It felt great to be back together to begin our life as a family of four!