Our son has arrived

I never made any progress on going into labor on my own. I ended up scheduling a cesarean section for my due date. Since my dr wouldn't let me go past that date anyway, I figured I may as well have it scheduled in advance and I could cancel it hopefully. For some reason the hospital scheduled me for the first surgery of the day which meant that I had to be at the hospital at 6:00 am! So early! I wasn't sure if I'd be put in a smaller room than last time since I wouldn't be laboring at all, but it was an equally large room so that was nice. And Mr. W packed himself some blankets since last time the daddy bench for sleeping was right underneath the vent. It made sense in August for the air conditioning to be on, but I was surprised it was cranked up in December too.
Things did not start out great considering the nurse who administered the IV messed up and had to do it again. That ended up hurting, and even now over week later while I am home I have an enormous bruise on my hand. Then after I went into the operating room, the anesthesiologist who was administeting my spinal couldn't get it in correctly either. I was already psyching myself out over the surgery so this didn't help, especially because I felt like I was so precariously perched on the operating table having to lean forward to give her an arch to my back. With as large as I was I felt so unbalanced and thought I'd fall off the table. It turns out this left a giant bruise on my back. However, for as much as my doctor does not remember things about me off the top of his head, he did remember that I'd hated my first c- section and was telling everyone in the operating room that they had to make sure it was a better experience for me this time. The anesthesiologist told me she would be sure to make sure I didn't have the shakes this time. Whatever she did, it helped because my arms were not thrashing about during the surgery. They didn't begin to tremble until after I was sewn up, transferred to a hospital bed to be wheeled back to my room.
I'm not going to lie though, I was scared and unhappy during the whole surgery. It is hard for me to be excited about the baby coming out when I'm in that condition of just wanting it to be all over. Obviously they need the OR to be well lit, but having to lay there facing all those lights I couldn't help but cry. If I'm ever able to get pregnant again I will remember to bring sunglasses into the operating room!
He was a big baby! That was the first thing all the nurses and my husband were talking about after the doctor pulled him out. And hairy to apparently. With both my sons one of the first things the operating team has said was that they have red hair. I didn't really think so with my first son, and it has maintained a blonde appearance. So I was a little hesitant to get excited while I was still being stitched back up. But they kept commenting on how hairy he was. Mr. W said he had a mono brow that merged into his side burns. I couldn't see from the lights, the drugs, and the tearing up so all I could do was lay there and think, "Dear God, what did I just give birth to?" When I finally was able to see him though, I was relieved to see that he wasn't obviously hairy. Although he does have the hairiest ears I have ever seen on a baby! The hair grows in different whorls on each ear. It is pretty darn cute. He tested very well getting a 9.9 Apgar score. It was nice to hear that everything was normal since I couldn't see what was going on. Cesarean sections are such abnormal experiences in my opinion.
The nurses had all been placing bets on how big he would be. My doctor seemed to smugly be saying that there was no way that I would have been bale to deliver such a big baby vaginally. When they finally weighed him we learned he was 9 pounds 6 ounces!!! I was dumbstruck. 9 lbs 6 oz!?! How could he be so big? I thought My Little Helper was a big baby at 8 lbs 6 oz... and he was a week overdue! This baby was a full pound heavier and had a week less to grow. I conceded that it probably was best that I had the c-section.
He was born at 8:10 am and by 8:45 we were back in the room and he was on the breast. Latching seemed to be a little easier this time. The fact that I know I can successfully nurse gives me more confidence going into it too. As before, nursing isn't a cake walk in the beginning. I don't see how any mother who has had a c-section is going to have her milk come in early enough that the baby won't lose 10 % of their body weight. Honestly there is so much pressure on you that if a mother was on the fence about nursing or formula feeding I can't imagine why she would not go with formula. Since he was so big I decided I wasn't going to let his weight loss stress me out. My milk would come in. If my older son made it, this one would too. I pretty much decided I wasn't going to worry about what the nurses and lactation consultants were saying. I think it is like too many cooks in the kitchen. Everyone has their own idea of how mothers should do it, and often times the information is conflicting. So we did what worked for us the first time and ignored what didn't.
Now that we are home we are settling into somewhat of a routine. Our Little Helper seems to enjoy his baby brother. My mother comes once a day to help out for awhile because she is one winter break. Her newest grandson's arrival was very well timed!
We are so grateful for our Christmas gift!