Oliver Wayne is finally here! We welcomed our sweet boy on Wednesday, June 3rd. We woke up bright and early and headed to the hospital for our scheduled repeat C-Section. It was a calm car ride.. but weird in the fact that we knew within hours we would be holding our son. I was really nervous for it all, knowing what to expect everything to be like.
When we got to the hospital we were greeted by really nice nurses who asked me about my previous birth experience and then made sure that this experience went the complete opposite. Everyone came in and introduced themselves to us, explained what their role would be in the birth, and then again, asked how they could make me feel comfortable. It was absolutely amazing.
Once all of the papers were signed, and I was prepped... I had to walk into the OR. I didn't know that would happen, but it did. It was intimidating walking into that bright white operating room. Funny part was that I was too short to climb onto the table. They actually had to find a stool for me to hop up there on. Once I was on there I was prepped and given the Spinal block. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I definitely almost jumped out of my skin when I felt the pinch of it. Thankfully my anesthesiologist was incredibly nice and good at what he did. He made me feel safe and in good hands. (My last experience, my anesthesiologist was a total b***h, honestly.)
Once I was numbed and everything was good, everyone else flooded into the room. It went from quiet small talk between the nurses and I, to a buzzing bee hive. I remember just wondering where Dillon was, and when he would be there. Once he was finally there it all began. Pressure, tugging, talking, then I felt the weight of Oliver's body missing from mine... and then there it was! His little baby cry! I was so happy and relieved to know he was Earth side! And even more comforting, my doctor had said, "this baby is posterior too!"...... I was instantly filled with gratitude and so proud of myself for listening to my gut. I could have attempted what the doctors even confirmed would have been a nightmare of a VBAC that probably would have still ended up in a C-Section.Although I have dreamed for so long of that natural birth experience, I am so thankful that I made the choice I did. I would have felt robbed again of my dream if things would have went south.
Once they checked everything on Oliver really quick they instantly brought him and laid him on my chest. It was awesome that my hands were not shaking and going crazy this time. Even more so that when I felt anything weird I could tell my anesthesiologist and he had some way to fix it for me.
Getting to finally hold the little boy that was inside of me for so long was amazing. I was flooded with emotion and love. He was so cute, and to my surprise looked nothing like Opal. He was short and chunky, and looked like me! Every day he wakes up looking a little different and more like me. I love it! I held him for a few minutes, and would have got to hold him longer but I handed him off to Dillon because my eyes started to get really itchy and I couldn't stop blinking really hard. It was frustrating. But during this time Dillon got to go cut the umbilical cord, see Oliver be measured and weighed, and then we were all off to the recovery room.
Once we were there I got to nurse Oliver and cuddle him. It was the best moment. There's nothing like the first latch and that knowing that bond between you and the life you created is about to blossom. He did so well with his latch, and has only been getting better.
I'm not sure what it is about my body and birth, but I always have complications with bleeding. This time around I was passing baseball size blood clots after birth with a constant leaking of blood. Not good. But the DR stripped my uterus and after a while the clots stopped and the blood stopped leaking.
Once that situation was resolved I got to go to the mother-baby area and settle into my room. Once my legs were no longer numbed I got to go on a walk that evening before bed. My night nurse was on my nerves at that point lol. I was feeling really good, and I guess she wasn't used to that. I was taking small steps, smalllllllll steps!! And this woman kept telling me to slow down and that I was going too fast and that I should be in pain. I was so confused, like, was I supposed to pretend to feel worse than I did? Lol, anyways, walking was easy for me to do. It wasn't like I was speed walking or even walking at a normal pace... I was walking like an elderly woman who was very tired. The next morning my catheter was removed along with some monitor that was attached to my incision. I felt like a million bucks getting to use the potty by myself! And don't get me started on how amazing getting the IV removed was! It blew me away that this all happened on my first day post surgery!! None of this happened until day 5 with my last birth. I got to get dressed and do my makeup all on day 1!! It was so exciting.
My mother in law, father in law, and Opal came to visit after the surgery. I was incredibly nervous to see how Opal would take to Oliver. I didn't know if she would be happy, confused, angry... Didn't know. Thankfully though, she was amazing with him!! She came and sat next to me on my bed and kept saying "boy!" And "baby!" It was incredible! She kissed and hugged him a lot. You could see the love and adoration in her eyes. She is still doing great. We've only had 2 jealousy moments so far. I'm learning to balance how to spread myself between the two kids and my husband. Can you believe with 2 kids we've somehow still found time to cuddle and have quiet time to just talk on the couch. It seems so natural and easy, honestly.
Oliver has already been out and exploring with us. We have gone to Eastern Market, grocery shopping, and to a park for a picnic. We even went to lunch at a bakery I've been eyeing in Old Town Alexandria.
Recovery for me has been a breeze. With the last C-section I was miserable. I had so much pain, swelling and trapped gas. This time around I think the most painful part was my engorged boobies!! Hahah! They switched my medication this time around to one I wasn't allergic to, and then some ibuprofen also. I had been taking it all every 6-7 hours apart rather than the 2-3 that is suggested. I still have so much medicine in my bottles and have stopped taking them because I don't feel much pain. The worst of it is probably just moving in bed I can feel the pinch of the stitches on my uterus, but even that is only for a split second and it is gone. Amazing, right?
I didn't even have much swelling in my legs or ankles. The swelling and bloat on my stomach is fading fast too. I wake up every day and it is at least 2 inches smaller. I have no fear that it'll all go down and I'll be back to somewhat normal very soon. :-) no worries about that either though, just want to fit my shorts because it is too hot for yoga pants, haha!!
Since being home, our lives still seem normal. It feel natural to have this little baby nursing all day, along with a toddler who is getting into everything. Night time is actually fairly easy. Opal's toddler bed is in our bedroom. I nurse Oliver, wrap him up and place him in the bassinet. Then I lay a pillow on my lap/ chest and Opal climbs up into my lap and within minutes she passes out. I then move her to her bed and she's good for the night. I have been moving Oliver back into my bed and letting him cosleep with us because getting up and out of bed can be interesting with my stitches. It's much easier to just nurse him while sleeping, too.
So honestly, I've been sleeping normal too. The only thing I haven't been able to do as easily is cleaning up. I kind of just sit around in the sofa and Dillon cleans everything up. I'm so glad he's home to help me with everything. I couldn't do any of it without him. And bless his heart, he's been doing all of the diaper changes!! I have changed only around 5 diapers between 2 kids this entire week. I'm so lucky, lol.
I can't believe I am even saying this, but life with an eighteen month old and a newborn is going easy. I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but I'm just so thankful for it. I hope it can continue to feel this natural and amazing.
And I know I have been saying for months that we still don't know what is going on with our future... And as of today... We still don't. But I will tell you what we do know.
We put in our 30 day notice and will be leaving Virginia at the end of this month.
We scheduled our move with DMO (TMO) for the last Friday of this month.
We are moving to my hometown in California as of now, but that shouldn't actually be our destination. We should find out our new duty station by next week, but can't change the TMO stuff until they cut us official orders.
I hope that sometime next week I can have a post all about our future. It would be nice to know where we will be moving to in 2.5 weeks. It has been and still is extremely scary and stressful to not know what our future holds. It's even scarier to know you're technically going to be homeless and jobless until someone finally decides to get to work on your stuff. We have been waiting and waiting, and then his application gets sent back to be fixed or changed, or a signature has expired... It's just all been a nightmare. I'm ready for it to be done. And as far as we know now, it is finally at its last destination and on the desk of the final part of this process. We are so close.
So until then, wish us luck and keep my family in your thoughts please! <3
