I just want to start off with saying how luck I am. I have the most amazing husband and two little boys! I could not ask for more. This blog entry is going to be Grady's birth story. Not that it was anything crazy but I just want to record it so it'll be written for him to see one day.
At my 20 week anatomy ultrasound not only did we found out we were having a boy but we also found out I had placenta previa. Not a huge deal. It's actually very common and usually corrects itself before birth but requires a c section if it doesn't. I did have to have ultrasounds every 4 weeks so they could keep an eye on it. At 35 weeks they said that it had just barely corrected itself and if the baby turns head down then I would be go to go with a vaginal delivery. Right after 37 weeks he finally turned head down. It was such a relief once he turned head down because for whatever reason when he was transverse he made my resting heart rate sit at 130 and go as high as 170 while doing no physical work. So I had to see a cardiologist and had to do a bunch of tests (CT scan, multiple EKGs, echocardiogram and some others) to make sure that my heart was ok. Everything came back normal and they just diagnosed it as tachycardia caused by pregnancy. Once he went head down heart rate went back to a normal level I was finally able to breath. They wanted to do another ultrasound at 38 weeks. I was really excited for this one because it was just a couple days after Andrew returned home from deployment and he would be able to see the baby for the first time. The ultrasound went great but at the end the high risk doctor at that office wanted to do another transvaginal ultrasound to double check the placenta. Well she found a blood vessel coming off the placenta and blocking part of the cervix so she told be that I'd have to have a c section just to be safe. So that night my OB called me and scheduled our section for April 30th, a day before I would be 39 weeks.
So we arrived at Charles Regional Medical Center at 6am on April 30th. I did not sleep at all the night before. I was terrified. I had never had surgery before and just was not sure how recovery would be. After the did some monitoring and filled out some paper work they moved us into another room by the operating room and discussed how the whole operation would go down. This is where I finally saw my doctor and she went over some more info with me. It's nice going to OB where there are only 2 doctors because you get to become comfortable with. I didn't that this would be important but that morning I was so happy to see Dr King's face. Then they took me into the operating room. This was my least favorite part. I did not want to be separated from Andrew while they did all the pre op stuff like the spinal block but it is what it is. The spinal block was crazy. I could not feel anything from my shoulders down. I could feel my arms enough where I could wiggle my fingers but that was about it. It was the weirdest feeling. After everything was ready to go they brought Andrew into the room. They allowed him to take pictures the whole time which I thought was crazy.
By the time they allowed Andrew in I was already feeling pretty loopy. I thought everything was funny then my blood pressure would drop really low and I would start throwing up. So the anesthesiologist had to keep pumping medicine into me so I wouldn't get too sick. It was a rollercoaster.
Andrew watched the whole thing. We even got some pictures of it. I freak out when I get my blood drawn so I'm glad I had that blue curtain. When they took him out the brought him straight to this table and cleaned him up. I wasn't able to see him at all so I'm thankful Andrew got these pictures.
He was perfect!! He got a 9/9 on his APGAR.
Then I finally got to meet him!! It was a very short little visit before they took him out of the room. So I was once again left alone in the room while I got stitched up. It felt like it took forever!! I was so sick but all I wanted to do was go see my baby.
Before he was born Andrew and I took a guess at how much he would weigh. I guessed 8lbs 6oz and Andrew guessed 7lbs 8oz. So I won with our little man weighing 8lbs 4oz.
I wasn't there for any of this but here's his first bath.
Of course Andrew had to take a selfie lol
I thought this was so cool! I wish we would've gotten Hunters footprints too.
I love this picture!!
Then they finally brought me to them. I was able to nurse him right then and he latched on great which was awesome because I was too sick the rest of the day to nurse him and his blood sugar was low so they had Andrew give him formula. Around 10pm that night I was finally able to nurse him again. I hated having the oxygen in my nose but my levels were low. Thankfully they were able to take it out before Hunter got there.
At around 5 they had a tornado warning and had to bring everyone out of their rooms and out to the nurses station. Luckily we were at a very small hospital so there was only like 8 people there. I was on the phone in this picture because Aunt Jenny was on her way over with Hunter but I told her to take her time so Hunter got a little extra time at café rio.
I wish I would've felt better so I could have enjoyed this part more. But I was so excited for Hunter to meet his little brother. He completely understood that this was the baby that was in my belly and the doctor had taken him out. He is such a good big brother. He gives him his pacifier when he cries and today he told me baby brother needed milk and insisted that I feed him. He is very protective. Hunter did not like the doctor touching Grady at his 1 week checkup. It's so funny to watch. Right now he is rocking him in his rock n play and telling him to stop sucking on his fingers.
Hunter doesn't really like to hold him. He says he's too heavy. But he's always interested in what he's doing.
Hunter came back the next morning and we took our first family photo!!
