Ben was born on December 16 via a scheduled c-section. We gave him the full 40 weeks to come out on his own, but my body wasn't having it. He weighed 9lbs 9oz and was 21in!
We woke up Tuesday morning and enjoyed getting Canon ready and off to daycare the 3 of us. We had been doing a lot of prepping with him, so he knew we were going to the hospital to have Baby Ben and that MoMo was going to pick him up and it was going to be "a party" with her!
We got to the hospital around 9:30am and by 10:30 we were in the pre/post operating room getting prepped. By 12 I was in the operating room getting my spinal tap. Oh man, that thing worked quickly!!! It wasn't 30 seconds before my toes started feeling all warm and they laid me down. Aaron came in and soon they were working on getting Ben out. I definitely couldn't feel any pain, but right at the point when they were pulling him out I felt a lot of pressure in my whole stomach/chest area.
As soon as he came out everyone was saying things like "he's so big" and "what a bruiser!" I'll admit now that made me feel good - a little validation of going ahead with the surgery. The anesthesiologist peeked over the sheet and said "oh even if you had tried, you would've ended up with a c-section" and my OB said that Ben wasn't even down in the pelvic canal yet, so I was super glad we had the surgery instead of laboring for a long time just to end up there anyway!
Alexandria hospital is a "baby friendly hospital", so they do everything to keep the baby and parents together. As soon as they were done checking him out, he was given to Aaron for skin-to-skin time while they stitched me back up. We all stayed in the operating room together until I was done. We moved back to the post op room for about an hour. I had little side effects from the drugs, just some nausea at the beginning when I tried to sit up too soon. It was here that I was able to first hold Ben and start nursing. My mom met us in this room too!
Then we moved up to the room we'd stay in until Thursday. I'm glad Ben came early in the day because we really got to spend good time with him before our first night. The nurses came in and gave him a bath, did their vitals checks on both of us, etc. My mom stayed until it was time for her to get Canon and then we settled in for the night.
The next few days were pretty much the same. I would nurse every few hours and we would take turns holding him, changing diapers, swaddling and sleeping. I was able to get up and walk around a little bit Tuesday night, then more on Wednesday and I even showered later Wednesday afternoon. The pain was certainly manageable, probably more so in my abs and back for trying to support my loose stomach more than anything else. I also was super swollen, some from before his birth, but a lot due to the surgery.
Wednesday afternoon Aaron picked up Canon from daycare and brought him to meet Ben. Canon kind of by-passed Ben straight to me - and also straight to his big brother present! He was pretty preoccupied with that for a while, but we finally got him to notice Ben and give a few kisses. We got a few good family pictures and that was that!
On Thursday morning I half-way jokingly asked if we could be discharged that day, and they said yes! So after getting everything together and papers signed, we were free! I was so glad because the bed I had to sit in was getting really uncomfortable. I couldn't lay down all the way or on my side, so my only option was to just sit or sit reclined. I was so over it and ready to be in my house, in my rocking chair, in my bed, etc.
We left mid-morning Thursday and things have been going well at home since! Over all I think it was a good hospital stay. The nurses were pretty hands-off, especially compared to our stay in Denver with Canon, which was both good and bad. I knew that Ben was losing weight, but no one ever said anything to me about it, which I wish they had. But then again, I wasn't super stressed out either like we had been with Canon. And people weren't coming in our room every 10 minutes either, which was nice! Unfortunately when we went to the pediatrician Friday morning, he had lost over a pound, so I had to start supplementing, but we had to do that with Canon too so I wasn't surprised. After 24 hours of feeding more often and supplementing, he had gained 7 ounces! I was able to stop with the formula and 48 hours later he had gained another ounce! We won't go back again until his 2 week check up, but I'm glad he is finally eating well.
Welcome to the world Benjamin! We are so in love and grateful you are here!!
The next few days were pretty much the same. I would nurse every few hours and we would take turns holding him, changing diapers, swaddling and sleeping. I was able to get up and walk around a little bit Tuesday night, then more on Wednesday and I even showered later Wednesday afternoon. The pain was certainly manageable, probably more so in my abs and back for trying to support my loose stomach more than anything else. I also was super swollen, some from before his birth, but a lot due to the surgery.
Wednesday afternoon Aaron picked up Canon from daycare and brought him to meet Ben. Canon kind of by-passed Ben straight to me - and also straight to his big brother present! He was pretty preoccupied with that for a while, but we finally got him to notice Ben and give a few kisses. We got a few good family pictures and that was that!
On Thursday morning I half-way jokingly asked if we could be discharged that day, and they said yes! So after getting everything together and papers signed, we were free! I was so glad because the bed I had to sit in was getting really uncomfortable. I couldn't lay down all the way or on my side, so my only option was to just sit or sit reclined. I was so over it and ready to be in my house, in my rocking chair, in my bed, etc.
We left mid-morning Thursday and things have been going well at home since! Over all I think it was a good hospital stay. The nurses were pretty hands-off, especially compared to our stay in Denver with Canon, which was both good and bad. I knew that Ben was losing weight, but no one ever said anything to me about it, which I wish they had. But then again, I wasn't super stressed out either like we had been with Canon. And people weren't coming in our room every 10 minutes either, which was nice! Unfortunately when we went to the pediatrician Friday morning, he had lost over a pound, so I had to start supplementing, but we had to do that with Canon too so I wasn't surprised. After 24 hours of feeding more often and supplementing, he had gained 7 ounces! I was able to stop with the formula and 48 hours later he had gained another ounce! We won't go back again until his 2 week check up, but I'm glad he is finally eating well.
Welcome to the world Benjamin! We are so in love and grateful you are here!!
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