How Henry got here

I've been meaning to write Henry's "birth story" for the last two weeks, since that is how long we've been home from the hospital. Between the sore nipples, sore incision and tummy, exhaustion and dealing with a confused toddler you can understand why I haven't had the time to write anything up yet.

But here goes.

Henry came into the world on Tuesday May 15, 2012. He was born via C-Section at 8:19 am, weighed 9 lbs and 13 oz and was 20" long. His head was (and remains) huge and he is very broad shouldered as well. If he would have been in ideal birthing position (head in the birth canal) it would have been nearly impossible to push him out. Thank goodness for modern medicine, though I am still bummed I didn't get to VBAC. Some things just don't work out the way you want them too.

C- Section birth stories are sort of boring. I checked into the hospital at 5:30 am, got stuck SEVEN times by the nurses who were looking for a vein (apparently mine suck all of a sudden). I walked back to the operating room with my nurse, kissed my husband who had to wait while I got my spinal block put in and sat on the table. I hunched over as much as I could with a nearly 10 lb baby in me while the anestheologist stuck the needle in my back (it only hurt a little). Within seconds I couldn't feel my legs and a drape was pulled in front of my face so I couldn't see what was going on. I heard my doctor and the PA come in my room, and then Mike came in and things got started.  Within seconds I was being pulled and pushed and then some time after (Mike thinks about 10 minutes after he sat down) I felt a lot of pressure on my chest, the anesthesiologist was telling Mike to stand up to see him baby being born, and then I heard a cry....

Something I never experienced when Charlotte was born was hearing her first cry. She had some difficulty breathing when she was born and it took her a few minutes to get going. Hearing Henry's first cry was pretty emotional for both of us.

When he was out, my doctor held him up and he promptly peed all over me and her, Mike took a picture then he went to the warmer to get cleaned up and get his Apgar scores (9's on both!!) and then the nurse brought him over so I could see him closer. He was gray and puffy and squished but I loved him immediately but even more than that I was relieved, mostly to not be pregnant anymore and a lot because he was ok.

After Mike held him for a while he took him to the nursery for his bath, shots, testing, etc... and I was sewn up for another 30 minutes or so in the operating room. That is the worst part. You don't have your baby with you, or your husband, and you are awake during surgery while being sewn up.  When that part was done I was taken back to my room for recovery and was brought the baby just a few minutes later. What a stark contrast to when I had Charlotte two years before. It took hours to get her in my arms because of "low blood sugar" aka they had to give her a bottle without my permission don'tgetmestarted and it just took about 30 minutes to get Henry to me. We tried breastfeeding immediately and he was a champ at it and the rest is sort of history.

Here are the pictures from the hospital. I'm sorry they're so crappy, BOTH of my cameras took a dump on me and need to be taken in to be fixed so these are from my iPhone and my husbands droid (I won't tell you which is from which though)

My last preggo picture (EVER!!!!) 39 weeks

From here on out pictures are a little gory so be aware::

Pulling him out of me

Happy Birthday Henry! (Look at the size of the head!)

My first time seeing him

Getting cleaned up

 Finally getting to give my sweet guy some love up close, this was the best moment in the OR

 In the nursery, being weighed! 9lb,13 oz!

 All cleaned up and diapered and back in recovery with mommy

 Sweet kissy lips

 Some sweet snuggle time a few days in

Back home with both of my crazy monster babies together at last!