I Lost My Cord Today!

Mommy was changing my diaper today and she saw this little hard brown thing. "Hmm," she said, "that can't be poop..."

It wasn't! It was my cord, all brown and dry and nubby. It finally fell off. I'm a real boy now, with a real belly button! (A cute innie, if I do say so myself). I'm getting so big!

(That sniffling sound you hear is Mommy, being sad that I'm growing so fast.)

Welcome to the World!

Charles Spenser Finnegan B***** was born at 8:43 am on January 17th, weighing 5 pounds, 11 ounces and 19 inches long.

He was born via scheduled csection -- actually, the csection had been scheduled and rescheduled--we had juggled schedules around quite a bit and my mom even had to change her flight after the 37week amnio came back with immature lungs, so we had to wait another week. I had PIH/PE and the balance was to get as big a baby as possible before my blood pressure got so bad that my head popped or something. At least my kidneys and liver weren't involved this time.

The csection was pretty easy this time around, compared with having an emergency one under general anesthesia. We got to the hospital at 6 am -- and yes, I drove (I'm not sure Alex slept at all the night before). We got settled into our room, although there was a little confusion at first because the wing was so crowded that we had to share our room with another mom getting prepped for a csection. I was pretty upset and probably overreacted -- I had visions of having to share the room the entire time, which would have truly sucked big time.

After getting changed, the IV, and swallowing the nasty anti-heartburn med they give you, we met with the anesthesiologist. Meriter is a teaching hospital, so we met with a resident who was supervised by the actual dr. They were both really nice and spent a lot of time talking about pain management options with me and my weird history and reaction to anesthesia and meds.

I got a spinal, which was probably the most annoying part of it all. It took forever for the dr. to get enough of the medication in. Meanwhile, you have to hold perfectly still so they don't paralyze you for life or cause a bleed that will give you a nasty four-day headache. I finally said, "Um, I can only stay in my happy place for so long here, guys" which got a big laugh but didn't make the process go any faster.

This was once we were down in the operation room. Alex had to wait outside the room while they did that part. Then he got to come in, all dressed in his scrub finery. He looked so cute, and was so excited and nervous, it was sweet,

The actual operation didn't take too long. I couldn't see anything because of the drape, and I wouldn't let Alex peek over either -- no one needs to see my intestines except the doctor. The feeling of the surgery was odd -- you don't feel pain, but you do feel pressure and tugging. The doctor told us what was going on, although it was kind of surprise (to me anyway) when we heard the first cry. Charlie was here!

The doctor popped the baby over the drape so I could see. He looked small and slippery. Alex went with the baby to the pediatrician's table, where Charlie was weighed, measured, wiped down, etc. We opted for the vitamin k shot, but not the Hep B vaccine or the eye ointment. Then Alex brought Charlie over for me to see.



Unfortunately, I really couldn't crane my neck around enough to get a good look and I was kind of distracted by the sensation of things being tugged around the sewn up. I was also feeling a bit weird, like I couldn't breathe well and very light-headed and dizzy, not to mention nauseous. I was concentrating hard on not coughing or throwing up. (I was also listening to the anesthesiologists talk about how high my blood pressure was and how they didn't think I would have made it much longer -- it's always nice to have a little valdiation).



Once everything was sewn up, the team moved me to the mobile bed. That was weird; I couldn't feel anything from the chest down and they were leaning me over and moving me around. I felt as if I was going to fall right off the OR table, although of course I wasn't. But I also couldn't move myself to compensate...



We went to the recovery room and the nurses helped get Charlie latched on right away. Charlie did great; he had (and has) a really strong suck and took to breast feeding like a champ. Alex and I really enjoyed looking at our beautiful baby boy and bonding a little with him.



It was weird trying to move my toe and having my entire leg jump, but eventually the spinal wore off and they moved us up to our recovery room on 6 North (which we had to ourselves). Our adventures as parents to Charlie had begun!