Baby Sam arrived at 8:51am on Thursday, May 18, 2017. He was a scheduled c-section at 39 weeks. The other boys were both c-sections, but at 40+3 and 40 weeks. Samuel weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 19.5 inches long (our smallest baby!)
Aaron and I both took Wednesday off and it was a great day to finish up a few things and enjoy each others company. We took the boys to school, had breakfast, went to Chapel, cleaned/organized and then spent the afternoon and evening celebrating our last night as a family of 4! We ate dinner at Los Tios and then went to Canon's t-ball game! Ha, a pretty normal evening and perfect for us. Post bedtime there was a bit of scrambling getting everything packed for the hospital and ready for the boys to be with my mom and friends for 3 days, but we got it done in time to go to bed at a decent time.
Thursday morning we were up super early to be at the hospital at 5:30am. My mom stayed the night with us so she could take the boys to school. Registration, check-in and pre-op all went smoothly. Things took a bit longer than we thought with an IV that was dripping a little too slowly, but finally around 8:30am they walked me back. Having already had 2 c-sections, I knew what to expect going in, but I was still a bit nervous. The anesthesia went in perfectly though and they finally brought Aaron back. Once my doctor came in, they got started. The anesthesiologist began giving me kind of a play-by-play of what was happening and I had to quickly shut him down. I just wanted Aaron to talk to me and distract me. I don't actually remember what we talked about, but not that far into it I could feel the pressure of him leaving by body and started saying "he's coming!" Seconds later they were showing him to us over the screen! Right before he came out I asked the doctor's to predict his weight and got some 8.5-9lb predictions. They probably would have been right, but apparently as soon as he came out he peed everywhere, so they were joking they lost a few ounces right there! My doctor also commented on how big his hands were! They took him to the warming/weigher and got all his stats and vitals. Then Aaron held him skin-to-skin while they were finishing everything up with me.
We spent about an hour in the post-op room where I got to finally hold him and start nursing. My mom came then and was able to see him for the first time! I felt good coming off the anesthesia - no shivering and nausea thankfully! We were then moved into a regular L&D room, however that room's AC wasn't working and I was sweating the entire time (probably also due to the percocet). We were finally moved to another room and that is where we stayed until Saturday. I stopped taking the percocet Thursday evening and have stuck to good old Advil and Tylenol since. The nurses had me up and walking around on Friday and I even felt good enough to shower (or felt gross enough!) Friday mid-afternoon. My incision is healing really well. The hardest part is just getting in and out of bed and trying not to bend over too much.
Aaron brought the big boys on Thursday to meet him, though they were pretty distracted by all the things to look at in the room and weren't too interested. I asked many times to get pictures or if they wanted to hold him and they both said no. Aaron took them to Toys R Us on Friday afternoon to get big brother presents and they came back to the hospital with this huge ship and army guys, but it gave them something to do while they were in the room and worked out really well. They were very enthusiastic about seeing Sam and giving him a few kisses, but happily played for a long time too. Finally I was able to get Ben to sit on my lap and hold him on Friday and Canon asked to hold him on Saturday.
We went into the hospital not know exactly what his name was going to be. Aaron really wanted Beau, and while I wasn't opposed, it wasn't my favorite either. I was much more for Samuel or Jack. We spent a lot of Thursday "testing" out the different names, calling him Beau for a time and then calling him Sam for a time. I really wanted Aaron to make the final decision, I feel like it is an important way for him to bond with the baby, especially during the newborn phase where I am doing mostly everything. Anyway, around 4am when we were up in night, Aaron finally came out and said he thought his name should be Sam. He admitted that he had a general idea of Beau being a "bruiser" like Ben was when he came out - a big, chubby, round baby - and that this baby just wasn't that. He says now he also got a sense (divine?) that this child's name is Samuel. So that is when we decided! We texted people early Friday morning to share the news that we had finally decided!! Patrick is a nod to my mom, whose first name is Patricia, and I'm so proud to give her a namesake among all these grandsons she has!
Sam was awesome in the hospital. He hardly cried, even when they were pricking him or testing him for something. He slept easily in the bassinet, and slept a lot! I was definitely waking him up every 3 hours to nurse. I remember Aaron having to pace around the room with both the older boys in the middle of the night, and I am so grateful he didn't have to do that. He got some solid sleep so he could keep up with the big boys during the day and I even got some solid 2 hour stretches since Sam so easily slept there! One thing I was really worried about was his weight loss. Both the big boys lost more than 10% of their body weight and we had to start supplementing early. I'm not opposed to supplementing (believe me!) it just adds a lot more to the feeding process that can already be stressful for me. They weighed him during night both nights and he maintained what he needed! The first night he was 8lb 5oz and the second night he was down to 8lb 0.7oz, but that was within normal! I was so, so relieved. (Monday at his first doctor's appointment he was back up to 8lbs 1.6oz!!!)
Generally speaking, I don't love being in the hospital. I made it very clear with each nurse and shift change that I was hoping to go home on Saturday. I find sitting in the hospital bed all day long to be pretty uncomfortable and then the nurses are always coming in to disrupt what little sleep I was getting! I'm always anxious to get home and get settled in our house, with our people and in our routine. So I was very pleased to know they were working to make a Saturday departure happen! We left the hospital around 1pm and it timed up perfectly with when my sister was arriving into town to get Canon for the beach. We met up with her at a Starbucks and she and her boys were able to peek in the car and see him!
I'm so glad to be home! I am so glad to not be pregnant! I am so glad to have another little Schultz boy to love on and lose sleep over! Welcome to this loud, chaotic and loving family Sam!!
Aaron and I both took Wednesday off and it was a great day to finish up a few things and enjoy each others company. We took the boys to school, had breakfast, went to Chapel, cleaned/organized and then spent the afternoon and evening celebrating our last night as a family of 4! We ate dinner at Los Tios and then went to Canon's t-ball game! Ha, a pretty normal evening and perfect for us. Post bedtime there was a bit of scrambling getting everything packed for the hospital and ready for the boys to be with my mom and friends for 3 days, but we got it done in time to go to bed at a decent time.
Thursday morning we were up super early to be at the hospital at 5:30am. My mom stayed the night with us so she could take the boys to school. Registration, check-in and pre-op all went smoothly. Things took a bit longer than we thought with an IV that was dripping a little too slowly, but finally around 8:30am they walked me back. Having already had 2 c-sections, I knew what to expect going in, but I was still a bit nervous. The anesthesia went in perfectly though and they finally brought Aaron back. Once my doctor came in, they got started. The anesthesiologist began giving me kind of a play-by-play of what was happening and I had to quickly shut him down. I just wanted Aaron to talk to me and distract me. I don't actually remember what we talked about, but not that far into it I could feel the pressure of him leaving by body and started saying "he's coming!" Seconds later they were showing him to us over the screen! Right before he came out I asked the doctor's to predict his weight and got some 8.5-9lb predictions. They probably would have been right, but apparently as soon as he came out he peed everywhere, so they were joking they lost a few ounces right there! My doctor also commented on how big his hands were! They took him to the warming/weigher and got all his stats and vitals. Then Aaron held him skin-to-skin while they were finishing everything up with me.
We spent about an hour in the post-op room where I got to finally hold him and start nursing. My mom came then and was able to see him for the first time! I felt good coming off the anesthesia - no shivering and nausea thankfully! We were then moved into a regular L&D room, however that room's AC wasn't working and I was sweating the entire time (probably also due to the percocet). We were finally moved to another room and that is where we stayed until Saturday. I stopped taking the percocet Thursday evening and have stuck to good old Advil and Tylenol since. The nurses had me up and walking around on Friday and I even felt good enough to shower (or felt gross enough!) Friday mid-afternoon. My incision is healing really well. The hardest part is just getting in and out of bed and trying not to bend over too much.
Aaron brought the big boys on Thursday to meet him, though they were pretty distracted by all the things to look at in the room and weren't too interested. I asked many times to get pictures or if they wanted to hold him and they both said no. Aaron took them to Toys R Us on Friday afternoon to get big brother presents and they came back to the hospital with this huge ship and army guys, but it gave them something to do while they were in the room and worked out really well. They were very enthusiastic about seeing Sam and giving him a few kisses, but happily played for a long time too. Finally I was able to get Ben to sit on my lap and hold him on Friday and Canon asked to hold him on Saturday.
Sam was awesome in the hospital. He hardly cried, even when they were pricking him or testing him for something. He slept easily in the bassinet, and slept a lot! I was definitely waking him up every 3 hours to nurse. I remember Aaron having to pace around the room with both the older boys in the middle of the night, and I am so grateful he didn't have to do that. He got some solid sleep so he could keep up with the big boys during the day and I even got some solid 2 hour stretches since Sam so easily slept there! One thing I was really worried about was his weight loss. Both the big boys lost more than 10% of their body weight and we had to start supplementing early. I'm not opposed to supplementing (believe me!) it just adds a lot more to the feeding process that can already be stressful for me. They weighed him during night both nights and he maintained what he needed! The first night he was 8lb 5oz and the second night he was down to 8lb 0.7oz, but that was within normal! I was so, so relieved. (Monday at his first doctor's appointment he was back up to 8lbs 1.6oz!!!)
Generally speaking, I don't love being in the hospital. I made it very clear with each nurse and shift change that I was hoping to go home on Saturday. I find sitting in the hospital bed all day long to be pretty uncomfortable and then the nurses are always coming in to disrupt what little sleep I was getting! I'm always anxious to get home and get settled in our house, with our people and in our routine. So I was very pleased to know they were working to make a Saturday departure happen! We left the hospital around 1pm and it timed up perfectly with when my sister was arriving into town to get Canon for the beach. We met up with her at a Starbucks and she and her boys were able to peek in the car and see him!
I'm so glad to be home! I am so glad to not be pregnant! I am so glad to have another little Schultz boy to love on and lose sleep over! Welcome to this loud, chaotic and loving family Sam!!
Love this story!
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you friend!!
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