Here I am typing on this silly device that doesn't autocorrect... again! ;) I'll figure it out yet! And I'm sorry these always end up being all about me. I guess once again my perspective is all I know.
My window keeps closing every time I use the right shift key. Ugh!
OK. So on Monday morning, January 21, 2015, I spent the morning finishing packing, painting my toenails (Tradition!), and wandering around nervously. We got everyone loaded in the car and off we went.
We dropped the kiddos off at Grandma Burk's house in Globe and hurried on our way. It was a bummer to be fasting! Grandma had bagels! I was also worried about Jeremy who had been feeling pretty yucky. We both got blessings before we went on down the road. I was so thankful!
We got to the hospital almost right on time and got checked in. This time they had us wait the 2 hours before surgery in triage instead of the surgery recovery room. They kind of switch back and forth between the two. Anyway, it was the usual. I got an IV in my left arm, and the anesthesiologist came in and told them to run another IV on me. He said it was just a precaution, just in case something went wrong and they had to give me blood. The poked my right arm, but it didn't go in, so they put it in my right hand. I expected it to be a pain in the bum to have it in my dominant hand, but it wasn't really so bad. They asked us all sorts of questions and had me drink the bicitra to "neutralize my stomach acid," trying to help me not throw up. They once again asked the age-old question, "And are you getting your tubes tied today?" Now, normally I freak out and say, "NO!" This time I freaked out and said, "I DON'T KNOW!!" Now, before you freak out I'd even be on the fence instead of just saying no, please understand that I'm feeling pretty scared about the possibility of getting pregnant again, and I have done my homework and read up on the procedure. I don't really want to talk about it, but this ended up being a huge part of the whole process because I couldn't say yes and I felt like I should. It ended with me in tears and freaking out. It's part of the story and I can't really leave it out though I don't want to discuss it. In the end, we were all on the same page that I didn't think I should get pregnant again but that I wasn't ready to say yes to the procedure. Too drastic I guess. So in the end because I couldn't say yes they didn't do it.
So then they wheeled me in the operating room. They're always changing policies about everything. Sometimes they've had Jeremy come in before anesthesia. Sometimes they wait until after. This time the doctor was already cutting when they brought him in, and I was freaking out because he wasn't there to hold my hand yet! But that's their latest policy. Oh, well. Anyway, so they had me sit up on the operating table with my back to the anesthesiologist, and he rubbed some stuff on my back to clean it. He felt around a bit and then poked. It hurt bad! It's the worst! I'm always afraid the're going to mess something up, too. Then after he'd emptied the needle in my back they had me lay down on the table. My body was already starting to feel funny. I think it feels like when your foot falls asleep except it's not really uncomfortable. You can still feel pressure, but no pain.
They put in a foley to drain my bladder and shaved the area where I'd be cut open. Everyone and everything got scrubbed up. They rubbed me all over with iodine or something, even on my upper thighs. The usual. The whole thing makes me shaky with adrenaline. Plus, they make me put my arms out to the side. They're not strapped down, but I feel like I'm not allowed to use them. All of this that I'm telling you is pretty much normal. It all happens every time. The guy who monitored my vitals was in charge of wiping my drippy eyes. I laughed a bit because I couldn't even cough properly since my lower body was asleep. I had a cough at the time that kind of came and went. Anyway, the cough just kind of made me laugh a little at the time.
They put up the blue curtain and Dr. Joe got busy. I was starting to really freak out because Jeremy wasn't there. The guy looking at my vitals reassured me that they were going to get him. Anyway, he did come in and I squeezed his hand tight, and he started chatting away with the anesthesiolgist and the vitals guy. He was so busy chatting he didn't see our cute baby as they brought him for me to get a quick peek before putting him in the warmer. Ha ha! It feels funny when the baby comes out because my tummy suddenly feels lighter even though I can't really feel anything. But right after I feel lighter I hear a cute little cry and then they bring the baby past my head on the way to the warmer. They pause for a second to let me see. Oh, what a cute boy! It made me remember I'd had a dream that he was ugly a month or two before. Ha ha! But this guy was CUTE! He was all red with dark hair as my babies always are, and with a new little face to get to know.
So then Jeremy went to see him and take pictures while the doctor stitched me up. Dr. Joe commented a few times that my uterus was really thin, that it had been used to its full extent or something. He said in one spot it was so thin it was like a window. Technically, I could have said right then an there that I did want my tubes tied after all, but I didn't. The very idea still freaks me out! So I focused on my cute baby instead. I couldn't see him without craning my neck, but I could hear him. There is nothing like hearing your baby cry. It sounds kind of mean, but it's one of the greatest things about having a baby. It's surreal and absolutely incredible, and it makes it all very, very worth it.
So after they did the Apgar test and clamp the cord and stuff they wrapped him in a blanket and put on a little hat and Jeremy was told to bring him to me. At that point I'm still laying there not feeling like I'm allowed to move my arms (one of them has a blood pressure cuff on it and one of my fingers has a pulse oxymeter on it), so it's kind of an awkward way to meet a baby. Plus, the nurse insisted that Jeremy put the baby's face against mine so I couldn't even see him. That was frustrating! I guess it's that skin to skin contact that they're all insisting on lately. And then she told him to have me kiss the baby so we could get a picture, but I couldn't quite reach my lips around to that soft cheek! I loved feeling his soft skin, but that was awkward! It made me really anxious to hold him and look at him properly!
Around that point I started needing to cough guck out. That was a pretty normal occurrence for me right about then. I'd been fighting a cold, and every so often I just coughed guck out and then went on my merry way. Well, since I could only sort of cough (just in my upper chest and throat, but without the used of my stomach muscles) I couldn't get the guck out. It was funny at first and then it was aggravating! I couldn't stop kind-of-coughing! The vitals guy was kind of worried about me. He asked me all sorts of questions about how long I'd had a cough and what color the stuff was. He followed me as they wheeled me to the recovery room to make sure I was going to be ok. They handed me a little emesis basin to spit out whatever guck came out. It made me feel nauseated too. I just wanted to hold my baby, but I was stuck coughing while being unable to cough. Eventually, though, I got done coughing. Thank heavens! Then I could hold my baby! :)
We were alone with the nurses in the recovery room for about an hour I think before we got a neighbor. I nursed the little guy and he nursed like a champ! And, of course, his name was Matthew Henry, and we call him Henry. He has dark hair and dark skin, but both will lighten up over time. He doesn't look a lot like the other kiddos. It's so surprising to me! He has Papa's nose and my chin, but he just looks like his little self. He's like a wild card! He makes me excited to watch him grow and see what he really ends up looking like. He has a round little face like Michael. He's about the same length as our other babies (21 inches), but he's a skinny little guy with skinny legs and arms. He does have the cute chubby cheeks, and we could tell that in the last ultrasounds, but he's really kind of a skinny guy, which is quite uncharacharistic of our babies. I think only Michael as smaller. Henry was 6 lbs. 12 oz. He went down a few ounces in the hospital, so he was about 6 lbs. 3 oz. when we were discharged, but he's growing now. :) His little chicken legs are starting to fill out. :) Anyway, I love to just sit and look at him! He has pretty dark eyes. We can't tell what color they are yet. They're just dark right now. He is a cute, cute boy and I love him! :)
It was funny having a neighbor. Jeremy and I were just mostly talking quietly and enjoying our little guy. Our neighbors, though, were different. The lady was quite talkative. We heard a few things that raised our eyebrows right through the roof. I'm glad I can't remember what they were, though. ;)
After a couple of hours they let us go upstairs to our postpartum room. I like that they have me hold the baby as they wheel my bed along. :) They put us on the third floor this time, which has been redone since the last baby we had. It was so nice! They even had a couch that folded into a bed for Jeremy, and it was actually comfy! :) The only thing I didn't love was the shower. It was only separated from the rest of the bathroom by pulling a curtain around it. And there was just a drain the floor. It was kind of weird. It left the rest of the bathroom all wet. Ha! :)
When I got up there to that room I was allowed to have ice chips. That's the first thing I'd had by mouth since the bicitra at like 4:30, and before that all I'd had was cereal before 9:00 AM. By the time I got ice it was like 8:00 PM. I tell you, ice never tasted so wonderful! :) It made me so, so happy!
My parents and Lynnette came to meet the little guy when we'd been upstairs for like an hour. It was so fun to have them come! Of course, one of the best things about having a new baby is having everyone hold him and love him. :) (Speaking of which, though Bubby has felt neglected at times, he really loves little Henry. He comes up to him and tries to hug him and says, "Ohhhh! Ohhhh!" He calls him Harry, and he loves to pat his head and face. "Harry" doesn't like that too much. Bubby's hands are too cold!")
They didn't feed Jeremy as good this time around. They used to have a fridge full of food that they let the dads get, but not anymore. One night I asked about it and my nurse said they didn't have that anymore, but she went and got him something anyway. She said, "And this extra sandwich and milk just fell into my hands!" ;) We loved that nurse! Her name was Rhonda, and she was training, so she had another nurse with her, but she did most of the actual work helping us when she was on duty.
We always have a nurse or two that we like best during our stay at the hospital. This time it was Rhonda. She was such a pretty lady I figured she was one of those people who wouldn't really associate with someone like me. Not that I think I'm not worth associating with or something. I'm just kind of an introvert, and people that pretty seem to usually fit in the group of people I don't relate well with. You know? Anyway, I was wrong. She was so fun to talk to! We found out that she's a mom of 3 or 4 teenagers, and she'd been a stay-at-home mom and had just barely started working again because her kids were all getting older. She LOVED the job too. You could tell. She told us one day that her kids all just wanted money for Christmas. She thought that was kind of lame and boring, so to make it more fun for her she took a bunch of cash in a bunch of different denominations and wrapped it all in different sized boxes. She said that every time her teenagers saw her coming out with more wrapped boxes they rolled their eyes. Ha ha! :) She told us that she thought of us as she wrapped even more. :) We just really liked her. She was fun.
It's really kind of fun for me to be at the hospital after giving birth. I get to spend time with Jeremy, and we get to meet all kinds of people. I get taken care of really well too. And the food is really good! Once I'm allowed to eat realy food I can order pretty much anything I want, and there's a huge variety of choices. I just feel bad for Jeremy. He has to go out to find something to eat or he is just hungry. Booo! He did find some interesting things to eat this time around, though, and he had lots of fun sharing his chocolate with our visitors and nurses. Anne and her girls came to see us the second night, and that was really fun. :) It was lots of fun to do Facetime with our kiddos. We didn't do it as much as I planned, but we did do it and enjoyed it quite a bit. And we spent a lot of time doing laps around the floor. I loved all the artwork and Christmas decorations, and it felt really good to get up and walk, especially after my foley and IVs were out. :) And speaking of which, I got up way easier the first time this time. I was so surprised! Usually the first time getting out of bed takes a lot more time and effort. I was quite pleased. :) In fact, the whole recovery has been pretty stellar. I've just kind of bounced back, and I'm feeling antsy to be able to do just what I feel like. :)
OK, back to that first night - the second and third times the boy nursed didn't go as well as the first, but more about that later. He did eventually latch on and get going. And in the middle of the night they took him to the nursery to do their little checkup as usual, and they gave him a bath. Jeremy and I fell asleep. I woke up briefly when they brought him back in, and I thought I saw him in a little Santa hat and stuffed in a red stocking. I couldn't be sure I wasn't just dreaming. I fell back asleep, and it was fun to wake up and realize I hadn't been dreaming. He was so cute! :) It was like Santa brought him while we were sleeping. ;)
Oh, one thing I thought was pretty amazing was that the first day, and, in fact, possibly within his first hour of being born, the little guy was already trying to hold up his head. It's pretty neat. :)
As I mentioned before, Henry did great nursing at first and then stopped doing as well for a while. One of my nurses noticed and decided to help. Oh, goodness! You indeed lose a lot of privacy when you have a baby! In the end it's worth it, but man! This nurse never asked if we'd ever had other kids. She came over and made me do the football hold. (How can anybody stand doing it that way? It's uncomfortable, and it's awkward.) Then she grabbed me and did all sorts of stuff trying to get him to latch on, telling me to not do whatever I tried to do to help. And then she tried to get Jeremy to help too. Oh, goodness! That lady! It made me mad. I realized after a bit that the little guy was probably not ready to eat, but never mind that. She worked him and me until he latched on. I gave up and picked up some papers I needed to read through while she continued on with her nonsense. Silly lady. I guess in the end it did some good because in the middle of the night one night Henry was crying, so I tried to make him eat, figuring that's what he wanted. I got all bent out of shape when he kept crying and wouldn't eat. Lack of sleep makes you not think clearly. But because that nurse had done all that when he probably wasn't ready to eat I realized once again that he wasn't ready. And now I've been able to remember better, which is something that's quite valuable when you can't think straight. At least I have one thought I can remember. ;)
We did lots of walking around and around as usual. What we do is the first time out of bed we walk around once. Then the second time we go 2 or 3 times, and then we just keep adding laps. It's a fun challenge. :) Also, the nurses put a little thing on his foot that made a silent alarm go off if we went too close to certain doors. So every time we came around to the door to the stairs the lights would flash. It was funny. :)
I spent a lot of time being sleepy this time around. Henry stopped letting me put him down after the first day or two. I spent a day sitting up in bed pretty much all night because every time I put him down he woke up. I kept falling asleep sitting up and then worrying that I'd drop him because the bed rails weren't as long as they used to be. A few times I got him in his bed and then got back in mine, and then as soon as I got the bed leaned back again and got all comfy he'd wake up. It was absolutely miserable! Ironically, Jeremy slept really well that night. Ha ha! I was so jealous!
They had me on Percocet again after I got done with the IV pain medicine, along with some major doses of ibuprofen. I think that the ibuprofen is what kept me from feeling those pesky contractions that happen after birth. I think it was that night that I'd stayed sitting up all night that Rhonda came in at one point and I was overdue for all my medicine, and it wasn't pretty. I had a major contraction. She hurried and got me my medicine (they want the patient to have as much say as possible in their pain management, so they wait until you ask for it), and soon I was all ok again. The only thing was that the Percocet made me super groggy. I started taking only one instead of two. It was enough to knock out the pain, and it didn't make me nearly so groggy. We were talking about pain medicine with Doctor Joe yesterday, and he told us he has no idea why people get addicted and want more and more of that when it makes you feel like that. I agree! He told us he has to beat some ladies off with a stick. ;) It does improve your mood, but it makes you so groggy and a little loopy.
I think that one of the best things about being in the hospital (sorry for this mixed up train of thought) is all the walking. It's fun to walk around chatting with Jeremy and looking at our cute baby. :) And everybody we pass tells us our baby is cute, and the nurses tell me I'm doing so great. :)
It was a little boring in our room. We did have WiFi, but Hulu wouldn't work. And they'd switched the TVs back to channels instead of movies like last time. I was bummed. There's never anything good on. On Christmas Eve we watched The Price is Right, but they had parents and their kids competing, so it was cheesy. It was such a bummer! We did watch something on the Travel channel at one point, but I can't even remember what it was. Must have been something exciting. ;)
On the day before Christmas Eve Dr. Joe came in dressed in normal clothes. I said, "Hey! You're wearing normal clothes!" He said, "Yeah, I have to go see my brother the dentist today." He said that they live so close to each other but the only time he ever sees this brother is when he gets his checkup. Ha ha! Well, that's kind of fancy. He has another brother that is a doctor and actually used to be in the same practice. He was still working there when I started seeing Dr. Joe, and he was actually there helping when Michael was born. Anyway, he said that he wouldn't be in the next day, so he was leaving the discharge orders with the nurses a day early. I apprecited that! Also, he didn't use staples this time. He used only stitches. That meant that I didn't have to get staples out the day we left, and I liked that. Most of the staples don't hurt coming out, but a few of them do. Well, this time, there was the regular dressing taped over some steri-strips. Those are just basically pieces of tape. Sort of. They're not clear. They're like fabric, but they're about as wide as tape. They told me I could have a shower as soon as my IVs were out, and I did. They told me to take off the dressing in the shower and that it was ok if some of the steri-strips came off. I did lose a few of those. It's always kind of freaky taking off the dressing. I'm always afraid I'll rip wide open, but I never do. It's just amazing how quickly a body heals!
On Christmas Eve we got all ready to leave after breakfast, and then we just had to wait for the pediatrian to come and see Henry and discharge him. They weren't organized about it, so she had no idea which patients were trying to check out. It was like 2:00 when she finally came, but it wasn't long after that. Our little guy was all dressed and everything was ready to go. I wished I'd ordered lunch, but we'd been expecting that pediatrician and kept being told that she'd be there soon. Silly! Well, we did get out of there finally. Jeremy left me with the lady who drives the wheelchair, and he met us at the front with the car. I was so glad to be going! And the nice thing was that Jeremy had been able to get my medicine from the hospital pharmacy, so we didn't have to try to get it later. :) It was all ready when I needed it.
On our way home we stopped at the Globe Stake Center. Grandma was having a Christmas Eve party, so that's where our kiddos were. We ate and there were presents, and then we hurried out of there as quickly as we could. We were so ready to get home! We stopped at Grandma's house to pick up all the kiddos' stuff. I think they did pretty good keeping it all together this time. It was kind of sad, though, because Bubby's stuff accidentally got left in the car, so he wore the same clothes the whole time, and Grandma had to buy some diapers for him. Oops! It was so good to be with our kiddos again and have them meet their little brother! I don't think they all got a turn holding him before we left Globe, but we tried!
It was dark when we got home. I ended up sitting up most of the night in bed. My rear end got kind of numb, but we made it! I asked Dr. Joe what to do about stairs, and he just said take them slow so as not to strain stitches. So I did, and it was absolutely fine. It didn't hurt at all.
We'd been smart and had wrapped all the presents early. Jeremy and Hyrum got them all set out after everyone went to bed. Luckily, somebody had brought us treats that we could leave out for Santa. I got Henry to sleep and then I hurried and helped Hyrum sort out the stockings. I was glad I could help a bit! By that time Bubby had confiscated his Papa, so Hyrum was doing it by himself. Thank heavens for Hyrum!
The next morning I went down and sat with Henry on the couch and watched and took pictures as Jeremy tried to bring everyone in one at a time. It didn't go as well as we planned. We ended up just letting everyone in. We got bikes for everyone from Joshua down to Timmy, and they were all pleased. Bubby had gotten a tricycle for his birthday, and Hyrum didn't want a bike. We got him a little laptop like the one I'm using right now. Joshua found some slippers in a catalog that he liked, so I got him some, and I got Jeremy and me some too. I love them! Timmy wanted a toot gun, and that was one of the first things we found at the store. Ha! He was so pleased! I also got him a little stuffed Mario. He didn't ask for that, but he's been so pleased to have it.
I wanted Benji to make some waffles for breakfast, but it was getting late in the morning and we were all starving. I did have some bacon and sausuage, though. He picked one of those and made it with some eggs. Then Jeremy and I went back to bed while the kiddos played with their toys. I was so tired! I couldn't get my eyes to stay open. Jeremy surely felt about the same. We kept being disturbed, so eventually we gave up and went back downstairs, but thank heavens we got some sleep! Some time after lunch time Paul and Carrie came to meet our little guy on their way to Carrie's parents' house. And then Kimberly brought her boys too. It was so great! :) Some of Kimberly's boys got to hold Henry and were so pleased.
And that was about it for our Christmas. Hooray that we have a new little guy for Christmas! It actually took me a week before I took pictures of him under the tree in his elf suit. I tell you, even though my body is working good, it has taken me longer to get around to doing things than usual! But I hereby declare this here piece of writing done! And if I think of anything else I'll add it later. Maybe tomorrow I'll get some pictures on. It's a dang good thing I backed up my pictures because my computer is on the fritz and appears that the only thing we can do is reset it. :( I back up pictures on an external hard drive. Thank heavens!
Well, here's one picture of the cute guy. He cries a lot and doesn't like put down. And because of him I've only slept laying down for a few hours since we got home 3 1/2 weeks ago! But he is so very worth it! He is so fun to cuddle and kiss and look at. And he recognizes me. Sometimes he stops crying just when he hears my voice. It's amazing to be that kind of comfort to somebody! That is something you simply cannot put in words. This motherhood stuff - it's so hard, but it's so beautiful, and there's absolutely no question that it's worth it. Man, how I love this guy! Man, oh, man, I say!
