Saturday, August 31, 2013

Welcome Baby June

One might think that the 3rd time around, some of the excitement of having a new baby has worn off.  If anything, I'd say that it gets more exciting each time as I know what to expect and find myself able to enjoy the moment as opposed to being consumed with anxiety.  Our sweet girl held out until her scheduled c-section on August 23rd, despite almost nonstop contractions in the last weeks of my pregnancy.  When I got hooked up to the moniors at the hospital they couldn't believe the number and intensity of the contractions I was having-go figure.  The scheduled nature of this arrival threw my nesting instincts into an unbelievably high gear-stocking the fridge, laundry baskets empty, emails answered etc.  I couldn't seem to stop preparing to her arrival, it was a relief to check into the hospital knowing I didn't have to spend another day cleaning and organizing.  

We arrived at Northside at 8am, got admitted and taken back to pre-op for my 10am c-section.  I'd venture to say the 5 attempts at getting an IV in me followed by the epidural needle was hands down the worst part of the entire ordeal.  I'm not a huge needle fan; although I've gotten much better over the years but after 5 awful, painful attempts combined with the no eating after midnight thing and I was a woozy mess.  I had a harder time tolerating the epidural this time-my blood pressure was dropping to scary low levels (like at one point it was 70/40) which is a normal effect but certainly makes you feel like you're about to die.  My wonderful nurse was right on top of things and could easily correct the pressures with medication and was very reassuring that I was not in fact dying :)  This was also the first time I was actually being delivered by my doctor (rather than the on-call MD) which helped put me at ease.  

Once you get set up on the table in the OR, it is literally less than 10 minutes before they pull the baby out.  June Elizabeth came screaming into the world at 10:50 am.  She was 7 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches long and with a full head of dark hair just like Lucy.  When Johnny brought her over so I could see her, my first thought was "she looks just like her brother and sister!".  After an hour or so in recovery, I was in my room by lunchtime (although lunch was jello for me...booooo, I was STARVING) and no sooner did I get into my room did Hank and Lucy show up to meet their new sister.  

Hank has been absolutely smitten with June from the first minute he met her.  He is so protective and sweet with her-he makes her things at school and always wants to hold her.  Lucy is still a bit young to understand exactly what is going on, but everytime she walks by the baby she gives a big smile, wave, and "hi baby!".  I was discharged 48 hours after delivery, and this recovery has been very similar to my others, probably the easiest yet.  

June is now a week old, and so far been another super easy baby.  Johnny and I have said all along that there is no way we could get a baby easier than Lucy, so we have been preparing for another needy, fussy baby.  I realize that this will likely come in the next few weeks, but so far she has been alarmingly like Lucy.  She has been my best eater, she took to breastfeeding immediately and never turned back-we were back to birth weight by day 5.  She is still in that sleepy newborn stage, waking every 3-4 hours to eat and so far she's been sleeping at night for a 6-7 hour stretch--what??  I'm just enjoying it while I can, as I cannot imagine one of my children actually being a good sleeper as an infant.  

So with one week under my belt with 3 children, I'm going to have to say that really it hasn't felt any different. I suspect that my transition from 0 to 1 will remain the hardest, as it seems to just get easier each time we have a new baby.  I just don't worry like I did with Hank, I say all the time that my children have mellowed me in a way no medication ever could have!  At this point I know that these precious early days are so short. They become big, dirty, loud, and wild kids so quickly-and stay that way for a loooong time :)  Certainly the days feel like an endurance sport, but luckily Johnny and I have the energy for a challenge!  We were saying that other day that we crossed into the realm of "large families", and while it is scary at times thinking about how we will send these kids to college someday, we have always felt that 2 kids just didn't seem like enough; although 3 did seem to push the limit of too much :)  No turning back now. 


Finally done with the needles, and ready to meet our girl

Welcome Baby June












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