Like his IVF conception, the pregnancy and delivery were nothing like I planned. The last month of the pregnancy was pretty tough on me. Besides being hit by the car, I developed gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. That meant daily blood pressure checks and pricking my finger 4x a day to check my blood sugar.
As discussed in the previous blog post, Olivia's preschool graduation was Friday, May 19. On Saturday, May 20 Nazreen and I hosted a little going away party for Aunt Yasmin (I can't even talk about the fact that she's moving...ugh).
And on Sunday, May 21 we moved into our new house.
Once we learned about the preeclampsia, Dr. Shi told me to expect to deliver no later than May 30. So, I decided to stop working a little early with the hopes of having a week to unpack the house and get it in order.
But clearly baby had other plans. On Wednesday morning I woke up and checked my blood pressure and the top number was 160 -- the magic number where I was supposed to call Dr. Shi. I was pretty tired that morning because I had been fighting a NASTY stomach bug for the past few weeks (though I'm not convinced it was a stomach bug and not some other terrible side effect of the pregnancy) and I had been up most of the night before sick. But we called the office and spoke to the on call doctor. He suggested I come in to get checked out. When we told Olivia this, she was THRILLED. Ever since she learned about the preeclamsia, she had been hoping my blood pressure would rise and they would have to deliver the baby early. Literally the previous Friday she asked Matt for a quarter at a restaurant and threw it in a well and made a wish that my blood pressure would rise.
So, when we told her that my blood pressure was up and the doctor wanted us to come in to the hospital, we have NEVER seen our child move that quickly. Usually our mornings are filled with time warnings and urgings to hurry up. As soon as we said we had to go to the hospital she was dressed and dragging the baby's bag down the stairs in 2 minutes flat.
We packed a bag (just in case) and headed out. We dropped Olivia at school and went to the hospital. In the elevator Matt and I both gave a 50/50 chance of having the baby that day. When we got to the floor, we were pretty much immediately taken to a room and hooked up to a monitor. Dr. Shi arrived within 15 minutes and took a look at the numbers. Baby's heart rate was pretty slow and he wasn't moving as much as one would hope. So she told us she was delivering the baby that day and then she and the nurses had a complex discussion about whether it was an "emergency" c-section or an "urgent" c-section. At this point, things get a little blurry for me.
There were nurses, anesthesiologists and doctors surrounding me. I felt super sick still and was trying to process that we were having a baby today when my house was a disaster, I hadn't showered that day, and my hair wasn't done. All the while, these nurses were trying in vain to put an IV in my arms with basically no success turning both my arms black and blue. In the middle of all of this, Dr. Shi looks at me and says "Are you ok? What's wrong?" I couldn't really answer her because the only thing I could think was "Everything. Everything is wrong right now."
We quickly called our parents and then Matt went to get into his scrubs.
I was whisked into the operating room, given a spinal and before I knew it, things were getting started. I obviously had a wrong impression of a c-section. I thought that I wouldn't feel anything. Um. Wrong. I felt so much pressure. More than I can describe. Certainly more than I was expecting or comfortable feeling. I had the anesthesiologist right next to me and according to Matt asked him about every minute if (1) what I was feeling was normal and (2) how much longer. I was pukey, dizzy and claustrophobic. Relatively quickly, baby Eric was out safe & sound, screaming his face off
Matt went to be with him while the nurses/doctors cleaned him up and weighed him
As soon as they got the baby out safely, I
Soon our family joined us to meet the little guy
But the best part of the day was in the afternoon when Big Sister met Little Brother and my mamma heart exploded.
I hate this picture for all the wrong superficial reasons (super puffy face, messy hair, etc) but this perfectly captures the day he was born - messy, unplanned, a little chaotic but hearts bursting with love for these 2 little kiddos I'm lucky enough to call mine.
Olivia came to the hospital each day to see us.
My biggest concern was Olivia and how she would do being away from us while we were in the hospital. We had MANY conversations about how she wanted to stay with us and how she was sad about to be away from mom and dad. But, she did great. We unexpectedly had to stay an extra night because poor little Eric had to spend an extra day under the lights because his bilirubin levels were too low.
I was immediately devastated for both my kiddos and super worried about Olivia. But she did great - she came to the hospital to see us for several hours and then went to Humble with Mimi & Grandpa and had a great time. She also had a special surprise from Mimi & Grandpa waiting for her at the new house.
And though we missed our girl so much, we both enjoyed getting to know the newest baby in our lives during those long days at the hospital
We were finally discharged on Sunday (I feel like he is trying to psyche himself up about our ability to take care of 2 kids just as we were doing on the way home!)
And since then, this is what we've been upto:
Lots of morning snuggles
Lining up all the babies in the house
My first time to drive both kids (taking Olivia to school!)
Babywearing
Taking a stroll...
Visits from Aunt Naz, Tyler and Aunt Yazzie
I mean...Princess Yazzie
Baby baths (which he HATES!)
And generally just lots of love and attention
LOTS of smooches
And...when we can...some sleep!
Sleepy happy dreams
Most people have asked me how Olivia has adjusted. I say overall she has done great. In general she loves and is obsessed with her brother. She has also done great letting Matt take care of her more. These two have bonded and I won't even go into how amazing Matt has been but suffice to say, he really has earned saint status at this point. But, her whole little world has been completely changed and there have been moments when she just craves some alone time with mommy. And so we had a little mommy-daughter date night at Orange Leaf. It was quick and close, but gave us some time to check in with each other and focus on her. I did ask her if having a brother was what she expected. She thought about it for a minute and then said "No. There is a lot more hand sanitizer than I thought there would be." :)
Cate and her mom brought us dinner one night and it gave Olivia some much needed playtime with her bff.
1. In the hospital, he hadn't really found his voice yet, so instead of crying he just sort of squeaked. We started affectionately referring to him as The Little Mouse. So now if Olivia is alone in the room with him, we will ask her to call us if he starts crying. If he does, she will just yell "Little Mouse"
2. And, in that same vein, it didn't take long for the Little Mouse to find his voice. He hates being wet/poopy but equally hates having his diaper changed. He is sure to let us know his displeasure. After one particularly loud diaper changing session, Olivia was trying to comfort him and in the sweetest sing-songy voice she started singing "Who's my little screamy-weamy? Who's a little screamy-weamy?" And again, this nickname has stuck. Now when she gets home she asks where "screamy-weamy" is.
What a busy and lovely week this has been! We are all just falling in love with this sweet little guy and I am LOVING my time at home getting to know him.
