Braden's birth story - pt. 7

After the epidural kicked in, I was laughing and feeling just great.  I started having to push on the contraction right after it took effect.  I was also feeling so little pain that I was actually snoozing between pushes!  How crazy is that?!  Also, at this time, I was the first one to give birth that night and all of the doctors and nurses on duty decided to come to my room to watch the show.  Normally, that would have been something I would have spoke up about, but at that point I just didn't give a flippety-do-dah! :)  I pushed for an hour and out came my sweet little Braden-boy!  What an amazing little guy!   He was born at around 1:20 am (can't remember exactly anymore and am too lazy to get the books out to look :), was 7 lbs 6.7 oz and 19 1/2".  I just couldn't believe he came out of me!  Isn't God's handiwork so amazing?  Yeah, so even though I had the epidural, I totally felt him come out.  Apparently, I wasn't numb right at that area and it IS a ring of fire!  Well, I got to watch them do the apgar test and he did just fine.  Then, I got to hold him.  I also got to nurse right away.  It was really such a sweet time with him.  Getting to meet him and finally have him in my arms.  During the meet and greet, my placenta was delivered and I had a second-degree tear so I had to get stitched up.  The doctor had to numb me some more because I could totally feel it!!!  Poor Sam!  He's not one to handle blood and goop very well, but when Braden came out, he had been up for about 36 hrs and he was just a bit delirious!  He actually watched the whole thing from Braden popping out to the placenta being delivered!  He was even watching the doctor checking to make sure everything was normal with my placenta and asking questions, too.  It was kinda funny to watch because normally he would have been up near my head to avoid all of that! ;)  I had a catheter in, so I didn't have to get up to go to the potty right away. (It was the aforementioned good kind.) Besides, my legs were still numb. :)   When the doctors and nurses cleared out and we were left alone, Sam was looking a bit like a zombie, so he went straight to sleep.   He didn't hold Braden for the first time until after he woke up.   I was so tired the whole time I was in labor and even a little afterward, but when it was just me and Braden, I could NOT go to sleep.  I was in awe and I stayed that way well into the next day!   I was only in the hospital a total of 2 days, during which Braden got his circumcision done.  Sam went with him because I didn't want Braden to be in there with people he didn't know all by himself. :(  That was an interesting experience for Sam.  I think he is still scarred by it. ;D  At this point, I was having a lot of trouble getting around.  Every step I took was excruciating.  It took me about a week and a half to be able to walk right including my joints getting back to their normal positioning and for the stitches to heal enough to make a difference.

We went home early and everything was going well, until my milk came in.  It came in the same night we went home while I was asleep, so I didn't realize it.  Well, I got super engorged and Braden couldn't get anything out.  Again, didn't realize it.  The nurse that does checkups for early releases came to our house the day after she was supposed to because of a schedule complication.  She walked in, took one look at him and was like, "He's really yellow."  She got her little instrument and checked him, but it kept giving her an error message.  She then said she wanted to get Braden checked back into the hospital for tests and treatment.  She felt like his bilirubin was high enough to worry about it.  She also asked if we had formula in the house and to give him a bottle to start him pooping out the bilirubin.  Of course, hormonal me just broke down.  I was bawling and super upset.  I could barely get up off of the couch much less anything else!  She said that she still had to check me and make sure I was okay and that I shouldn't be getting up and moving a whole lot yet.  Sam wound up having to take Braden back to the hospital by himself.  Thankfully, my mom was there with me and she helped out so much.  The nurse checked me out and then asked about the nursing.  I told her that I was engorged and she checked that out and was like, "Oh, my goodness!"  She suggested the cabbage leaves and alternating hot and cold packs.  She also asked if I had a breast pump.  I did, but I hadn't gotten the attachments for it yet.  Well, as Sam was trying to check Braden in, the admittance person told him that I had to be there with him too.  This was actually a relief to me because I did NOT want to be away from my baby!!!  My mom got me into her car and off we went to the hospital.  (Some visit for my mom, but I was so glad she was there!)  We got checked into a room on the children's ward, not NICU.  I didn't realize it at first, but there were all kinds of sick kiddos on that floor.  That was pretty much the one thing I didn't need to see at that point in time........ Next time....THE FINALE!