I LOVE my life!!!: August 2012

Our precious Hyrum Bentley was born August 1. He weighed 6 lbs & 14 oz and was 19.5 inches long.

I was scheduled to have a c-section that morning so after a night of too-excited-to-sleep-iness we left at 7 am for the hospital to meet our new baby boy! We got there and all of the fun started. The paperwork, the IV (boo!!), more paperwork, the surgical garb, paperwork, jitters, nurse parade, paperwork, and spinal tap.

My OB (Julia Johansson) is a very on time and to the point Dr and she gives the staff a little bit of nervousness b/c she is so fast. All the staff kept saying while they were prepping me was we have to be on time! Julia will not be happy if you aren't in surgery on time. Your cut time is 9:30 and so you need to be fully numb and ready by 9:30 or Julia won't be happy. She isn't the least bit intimidating, but she does know what she is doing and doesn't tolerate lally-gagging. I just LOVE HER!!! Anyway, really for me the worst part was the IV. The spinal tap (just like an epidural) is no biggie. It's a lot of pressure, but really no pain other than the initial poke to numb the area. Then they lay me flat on the surgical table and I feel like a beached whale. It is really annoying b/c I'm fully exposed from below my chest. I had forgotten that I was supposed to be shaved in my lady area (if they aren't pulling him out from there why the heck do I need to be shaved?!) so the nurse had to shave me (EMBARASSING!!!) Mental note for next time: SHAVE!!!! Everything was a big blur as far as the delivery w/Brannick so I had forgotten about this step..
Anyway...there we are at 9:25 in the OR. I'm fully exposed and numb from the chest down and everyone is ready to roll.....no Julia. Five minutes goes by...no Julia. Ten more minutes...no Julia....The anesthetist (who was amazing and I LOVED) asked me if I had the right day and if anyone called to remind Julia she was supposed to deliver our baby today. Then at 9:40 she comes bursting through the door in her surgical gear a little annoyed b/c another one of her patients had become fully dialated, effaced, and ready to push faster then expected and she had to hurry and go catch her baby. LOL! She is hilarous! Anyway, I hear the anesthetist say "now is the time to see if I did my job properly" and Justin tells me she has already cut into me and is starting to pull out my innards. No messing around with Julia! Justin is a brave soul and chooses to watch the entire surgery (GROSS!). He said it's just like when he would deliver calves on the farm...again with the cows....
Well, apparently it's like Julia can do c-sections in her sleep (she probably can) b/c everyone in the OR is chatting and laughing. They were talking about some TV episode and how funny it was. I'm just annoyed that I am having surgery ( I was really irritable....it's the meds) and listening to their casual conversation. I hear them gasp, chuckle, and LOTS of suction. Well Justin told me later that apparently I had so much fluid that when she cut my sac open it came gushing out and spilling over the table. Everyone had to step back and the suction couldn't keep up. LOL! I hear Julia say that I must have lost 20 lbs of fluid and that our little boy was literally swimming around inside me. Well, that is fun for him I guess!! I then hear Juila saying that he is super slippery and she can't get a hold of him to pull him out. I feel lots of tugging, pulling, and pushing. I feel pushing on my stomach and pulling from down by my hips (the incision). Then she pulls little Hyrum out and pops him over the curtain that was up. HE IS SO BEAUTIFUL! A little slimy and covered in some blood, but tiny and perfect. I'll never forget how relieved I felt that we knew that he was here safe and he was crying. Julia tells me that he has NO problems with his lungs as he is screaming. I cannot express the immense joy I felt in my heart to hear our new little son cry. Brannick never cried and I yearned to hear him cry. I was overcome with love and happiness and of course Justin and I are crying. Time of birth: 9:52 am. They take him over to the nurses to clean, weigh, measure, and inspect. Justin goes over and takes tons of pictures. He usually hates to take pics, but he did such a great job capturing all of this!

They begin to throw all of my insides back in and sew me back up. Just in comes over w/Hyrum and announces he weighs 6 lbs, 14 oz. So tiny and perfect. They are finished closing me up and I am wheeled back w/our baby right next to us in his own little crib back to our room.
They get me situated and then say we need to get some rest and leave the baby!! THEY LEFT THE BABY! What are we supposed to do with a baby?! Well love him of course! My mom and Cami come to hold him and visitors come in and out. I just cannot remember a time when I was so happy!!

Notice Justin's shirt says I poop....too funny!

We try breast feeding him and the lactation lady (LOVE HER!) tells me he has an unusually strong suck and will do great! We did wonderful with our first few feedings. I say "we" b/c Justin gets the award for daddy breastfeeding. He was right there for every step and helped me IMMENSELY get used to it and remember the positioning and what the heck I'm supposed to do. You would think it's easy right? WRONG! I needed 6 hands to get this little guy fed!! It is time for his first real bath so the nurses come and whisk Hyrum away and he comes back with a BINKIE! I had told them NO binkies please!! It was the crappy green circle ones that give babies a VERY unrealistic idea of what a nipple is like and teaches them to nibble and play w/their tongue rather than suck. After this Hyrum has troubles latching on and we had to break down and use a nipple shield. They are great, but now he won't feed w/out it. Every now and again I can trick him and get him to latch directly on my nipple, but he usually figures it out after 5 minutes and screams until he gets the shield. Boo!!!
Anyway, life in the hospital is wonderful. I sent him to the nursery at night between feedings so I could get some rest and Justin went home each night to work on the house and the many projects he wanted to get done on his week off (including painting our bedroom gray - which was my bday present. It looks amazing! Thanks honey!). On Saturday morning we get to go home and both of us can hardly believe that we are leaving the hospital w/ a baby in the back seat!!! They just let us walk out with a baby!! Weird......

Life at home has been wonderful. We have been learning and adjusting to try to get a schedule down. Justin was FATHER/HUSBAND OF THE YEAR! I sat on the couch and snuggled Hyrum and he just scurried around the house cleaning and cooking. It was a little unexpected but wonderful!! He just told me to rest and enjoy our little guy while he took care of everything. I am so blessed!!!

We are working on a 3, 6, 9, 12 schedule of feedings and he is doing much better at sleeping through the night. He usually goes down between 9 & 10 and sleeps for 4 hours. Then we feed and he sleeps for another 3 hours. Usually he gets up between 5 & 7 and will not fully go to sleep so going back in the crib is out of the question so we lay on the couch together and snuggle and sleep. If Justin has to work the next day I do not wake him to help at night, but if he doesn't then he loves to get up with him and snuggle until feeding time. He really is the best husband/father ever! We are just enjoying every minute of being parents. My favorite thing is that when Hyrum is crying and knows he is about to get his way he kinds cry/moans/whines and sticks his lower lip out and trembles it. It is just the cutest thing in the world! It melts me everytime! He really is such a good baby! He really only fusses if he is hungry, needs a change, or has some gas. If none of those things are happening, he is peaceful and content. I just am so spoiled! I keep thinking we will hit the "babies just cry for no reason" stage, but until that happens, I'll consider myself lucky and enjoy every minute!

I plan to post some more of the cute moments later on, but wanted to get this initial post done. Much love to all and thanks for your support!!
Four weeks old!