Hunter's birth

We were lucky to know the exact date we were going to meet Hunter for a few days. That is the beauty of having a C-section. Not that I wanted to have 4 of them, but, alas, that is how it turned out.

Anyhow we were happy it was going to happen during the day when the kids were in school. It was weird to put them on the bus, take a shower, then head to the hospital. But it was also nice to be able to take our time and not have to rush. My surgery was scheduled for noon, which meant I  needed to be there by 10:30. We arrived in plenty of time, only to get all set up and wait...and wait....and wait.

We were there December 20th...the Friday before Christmas. So apparently lots of other women  who needed C-sections had the same ideas as me-get in and have it in time to be home for Christmas. It was quite busy. I guess there were 13 scheduled ones, and then by the time I was supposed to go in at noon, there were 6 deliveries that turned into C-sections.

I was finally wheeled back at 2:00! But I had the most fantastic nurse in my preparations. Her name was Rita and she was an ob nurse for 42 years!! She was amazing. Got my IV in right away. I've since spoken to nurses who used to work on the floor and they all know her when I mention her.

I went in and got prepped for surgery, then Dr. Tran got in and got started and they hadn't brought Darin in yet. I was getting worried! Finally Dr. Tran told someone to go get him. He later told me that no one got him, then the lady was mad he wasn't ready when she went out. He had to hurry to get his stuff on to come in. By the time he was in, she had already started cutting on me.

This time I was way more nervous than ever. I was so anxious while we were driving and the 2 hour wait to get into the operating room was torture! I just felt that since I was older, and weighed more, there could be more complications. I guess I could even confess that I was scared.

Turns out the surgery was textbook. It went well. Dr. Tran even told me that my uterus looked good and I could have another baby if I wanted! I was happy to hear that, although it didn't take too long after getting home to realize that I didn't think getting cut open again would be wise. (That's a whole post unto itself!)

So the surgery was pretty good, with the usual issues. I told the anesthesiologist (yes...I just spelled that correctly without help from spellcheck!) that I get nauseous, and he didn't really take it seriously, until I told him I felt like throwing up. Needed lots of medicine and oxygen.

We were so anxious to see what we were having. Finally the baby was pulled out and it was a boy. Which, by the way, everyone in the room was so excited to do a delivery where they didn't know if there was a boy or girl inside!

I was surprised...I was really hoping for a girl, and think I had talked myself into believing it was a girl. Darin said he knew all along it was a boy. I had a split second of sadness, then when I had a good look at him...just fell in love!

And he was so big! And perfect...started screaming and was a great color. Landon gave us a good scare and had to go to the NICU, so we were half expecting something similar. Not this one. Hunter was screaming and looked so good. He weighed in at 9lbs and 6oz. Our biggest baby. I was honestly  surprised  that he was that big because they told us Jordan was big, and she wasn't.

Here are pictures from the day.

Darin just before surgery.

Welcome to the world Hunter Andrew!

They changed the scales from when we had our other 3. I wanted a picture of him on the scale with his weight, but the old ones were horizontal and you could see it just below the baby. These new ones were harder to get a pic of the baby close to where the weight was listed. Darin tried hard, though.

Hunter was not so happy to be ripped out of his comfy home! But hearing him scream and have such clear lungs was music to our ears!

Trying to get him close to where it says his weight.

More screaming baby pics. Love em!

I LOVE his facial expression in this one. He makes that look still!

Oh, poor baby. Being poked and prodded.

Seriously...cannot get enough of those cheeks. and look at all his hair!

More screaming....

...and a plug!

Waiting for mommy to come to recovery to try and nurse.

All bundled up.

Totally backwards, but had to have the pics taken just before we left for the hospital. Man, I was big!

The cat had to get in the picture.

 

So in just a few hours, we become a family of 6! Crazy! I'll do another post on my recovery. It was quite different than the last 2 and deserves a post all on it's own!