He's Here! Chase's Birth 4/3/13

I can't believe he is finally here! And so perfect! Chase made his grand entrance on Wednesday, April 3rd at 12:41 pm via scheduled c-section. He weighed a whopping 8 lb. 8 oz! This is big for a baby 2 weeks early but definitely not as big as we expected which proves those ultrasounds can be off by up to a pound or 2. At my last ultrasound 2 weeks before delivery, he was measuring 8 lb. 4 oz. so to have only gained 4 oz in two weeks is pretty unlikely so they were off a bit (thank goodness lol). Unfortunately, he lost a pound in the first 3 days so he dropped to 7 lb 8 oz and was only up an ounce on Tuesday at his well baby check up.

Now for the big story :-) ...

Due to the MTHFR and his expected size, the docs decided he needed to come 2 weeks early so we scheduled for Wed the 3rd. We arrived at the hospital that morning around 9:30 and they started prepping me. At this point I wasn't really worried (although my anxiety had been high all week, I was surprisingly calm) but my sweet hubby was terrified. Even though he's been through 4 births, he felt as though it were just like the first. But I think it was the fact that we were having a c-section (and all of the other children were vaginal deliveries) was what he was so worried about. At about 12:15, they had me ready to go and the doc was all set up in the OR. They wheeled me in by myself and had me get on the table and sit sideways while the anesthesiologist administered the spinal. This was AWFUL!!! I remember my epidural with my first and it was nothing..this was so painful! Once he had that done of course everything started going numb and they had me lay flat with my arms stretched out to the side. What I was not prepared for was the awful feeling that set in. It was like I was on the verge of a major panic attack and needing to vomit at the same time and not being able to breathe either. It felt like a ton of bricks were sitting on my chest and the more I tried to breathe the harder it was and the worse I felt. I never want to have that feeling again, it was extremely scary! But my anesthesiologist was awesome, he talked me down and did his best to keep me calm. He gave me some oxygen which really helped and once my husband got to come in I was feeling a little better. Then the fun began. Once they started pulling, the whole table shook and it felt like my ribs were being pulled out. Very weird feeling! But I felt no pain at all and it took about 5 minutes to get him out.

His first cry... all I can say is it was the most amazing sound and all my fear fell away. My husband and I cried and cried and to see that little face when they brought him around for me to see before they swept him away to be cleaned and checked was just surreal. I don't remember being very emotional when my first was born for some reason. I was overjoyed but I didn't cry. This time I bawled! I felt like all of the emotional roller coasters we had been on from the struggle to conceive to being high risk were all so worth it. Nothing in this world compares to seeing your baby for the first time. God is so amazing to give us that experience and it's just beyond amazing!

We were so thrilled that he was breathing good and all checked out perfect so hubs got to carry him back to the recovery room where the family waited. Of course that 20 minutes or so it took to close me up felt like an eternity! When I got back to the room I know I looked like I was in shock lol. They handed my little guy and OH how beautiful! He has his own look but looks alot like his big brother did. We are still trying to figure out who he looks like more lol.

Now for the not so fun part...recovery. I swear I've never been through anything more difficult and more painful in my life. Not to scare anyone but I think I would go through natural childbirth with no epidural 10 times over before going through a c-section again. But my case is probably a bit different with my back problems. Something about that spinal really messed up my back and I think that pain was even worse than the incision pain. When all the anesthesia wore off and they had me up and walking I thought I would just die! Even on percocet and ibuprofen 600, nothing even touched the pain. They finally gave me Lor.tab 10 and that took the edge off just for a little while. I was in the hospital for 3 days and I thought it would never end. The bed was too short so I could never get comfortable and needing to feed every 2 hours meant I got zero sleep. I think I literally slept a total of 45 minutes overall. To sum it all up, it was not fun and I hope I never have to do it again but it was all worth it. If we happen to have another child, I will fight for a vbac with all I've got for sure!

Today I am much better which is why I was finally able to post. I've been able to get up and down without too much pain and caring for Chase is getting easier. He is such a good baby! He never cries unless he's extremely hungry and I really think he would sleep through the night if I let him. Compared to his brother as a newborn, the difference is night and day! But we are so very thankful and I can't wait for his daddy to come home tomorrow. With his work schedule, he had to leave the day after we came home and has been gone all week. So this next week is going to be wonderful with him home!

We are just so overjoyed and blessed!