West Coast Frisbees: Oliver Thomas

January 8th was a day Jim, Ben, and I had been counting down to for a LONG time - the day we were scheduled to meet our baby boy! We had gotten past Christmas and I was slowly recovering from my horrible cold, so now it was time to have a baby! We had a check-in time of 5:30am; surgery scheduled for 7:30am. That probably sounds super early, but I was thankful to be going in first thing cause I knew I'd be nervous and get very little sleep anyway and you can't eat or drink before surgery, so the earlier the better! I actually got a call the day before saying we had been pushed back 30 minutes, so we were all set to arrive at 6:00am. My Mom stayed with us the night before so she could take Ben to school the next morning. Then she could head over to the hospital to see the new baby while Ben had a full day at school and then pick him up later in the afternoon to come meet his new brother.

I have to say, having a scheduled date and time of delivery was really nice. It was convenient to make sure Ben was taken care of and it all just felt so calm. My c-section with Ben was very last minute and because he was under too much stress, so it felt very surreal. Also, I had been in labor for almost 24 hours and taken drugs so I was exhausted and quite out of it. This time around, I was able to be completely present and even walked into the OR myself. Of course that meant I was also much more nervous and aware of all of the sounds and tugging, etc. during the procedure.

Jim and I arrived and checked in, and of course, they wanted to know why we were late - huh? Apparently our surgery time had not been pushed back 30 minutes - my nurse had it wrong! Oh well - it was funny cause the exact same thing happened to my sister when she recently had Hadley. :) My Dad arrived at the hospital and hung out with us as I was prepped for surgery. I have to say, the worst part of my whole stay and the most painful part as well was getting the IV. I had had a bad experience when I had Ben too, so I was nervous about it. The nurse tried one side (in the wrist area to keep the tube out of the way later) and I could tell right away that it felt wrong (AKA it hurt!). After telling her that (and her acting like she didn't believe me), she took it out and tried the other wrist. That one was worse - when she put in the tube, I had a sharp stinging pain travel down to my thumb! Then when the fluid started, it just pooled under one spot in my skin! She pulled that one out and finally got the head nurse to put one in the back of my hand. She got that one in no problem and with no pain. GEEZ. Later, one wrist was completely bruised for weeks and the other one still has a stinging pain that goes down to my thumb (5 weeks later).

Once I got through that, it was just a lot of filling out paperwork and waiting for my turn in the OR. I was definitely nervous at that point and was especially scared when we got to the OR and I had to go in alone first (while Jim waited outside) to get the spinal and onto the operating table. It took the Dr. two tries to get the spinal in, but once he did, things were pretty smooth after that. Jim came in and although I didn't feel anything after that, I was holding my breathe the whole time, waiting to hear that everything had gone OK and our baby was out and healthy. It was strange laying there with so many people in the room, chatting about NASCAR, listening to music, and feeling like time was standing still. I still had no voice (from my cold) so I couldn't talk or really respond to anyone's questions (so frustrating). Jim definitely kept me calm by telling me what was happening and that everything looked perfect. My Dr. told me I would feel a lot of pressure so I knew they were about to pull him out. I didn't really feel much pressure, but boy did I hear our little boy cry! When Ben came out, he was absolutely silent so this was a different experience, but a great one. I was lucky and didn't feel any of the side effects right after birth that my sister has described - heavy shoulders, chest feeling like something is on top of it, itchy face, etc. My Dr. held up our son so I could catch a glimpse of him before they took him over to the warming bed to get his APGAR scores, wipe him off, and cut the umbilical cord. Jim got to cut the cord and watch them tend to our new son. Then I finally got to see him up close. What an amazing feeling. I kept asking Jim if he had all of his fingers and toes. :) And he was just perfect. Definitely a good crier! :)

Jim and our new baby boy left to go to the Recovery Room while my Dr. got me all stitched and stapled up. My Mom and Dad were able to hang out in that room too, so they got to love on him before I got there. I was wheeled into the Recovery Room and we finally got to relax as a family. My Mom and Dad left to give us some private time and that is when Jim and I decided on his name. We were deciding between Samuel and Oliver and we both agreed that it had to be Oliver. Oliver Thomas. We saw the name Oliver (on Instagram of all places) a few months earlier and just really loved it and Thomas is my Dad's name. :)

All ready to meet our baby boy

Jim took this outside the OR while he was waiting to come join me inside

He's here! And he's got some great lungs!

Meeting my baby boy for the first time

Family pic

The nurses taking him to Recovery

OLIVER THOMAS

January 8, 2014

9:01 am

7 lbs, 2 oz

19 1/4 in

Taking his temperature

Finally all together

We spent the whole time like this - my absolute favorite thing in the world

We got settled into the room we would spend the next 3 days in and it was huge. It was so nice to have so much space and it was a corner room, so we had lots of windows too. The first day was spent loving on Oliver, keeping my pain well-managed, enjoying visits from Tracy and Jim's parents, and then the excitement of Ben coming to meet his little brother. He came running down the hall and was so excited! He opened his gift for his brother - a little blue teddy bear that he had picked out and made sure he had it at all times. Then he got to open his gift from Oliver - a train crossing guard for his train table - he loved it! It was so sweet to see Ben check out his brother and hold him for the first time.

Papa holding Oliver (with his eye ointment)

Mommy's turn

Grandma's turn :)

Papa again

Nana's turn!

Tracy was so excited to meet our little guy

Here comes the "BIG BRO" :)

Seeing Oliver for the first time

With his new teddy bear

Gramps, Daddy, and big brother checking out Oliver

Ben's gift from Oliver

Daddy and Oliver

Our first picture as a family of four

Ben holding Oliver

Melts my heart

Facetime with my sister and family in Colorado :)

Pure bliss

Oliver checking out his Mommy - strong neck muscles buddy!

We spent the next few days in the hospital, just recovering and loving little Oliver. He got his first bath, had the hearing test done, and then we had a few issues to deal with - jaundice and a minor tongue tie. His jaundice number was slightly above normal, so we had to use the bilirubin light for 2 days - just the kind that is like a board he lays on, but it definitely made swaddling and nursing a bit challenging. Then the lactation specialist noticed his tongue was a bit tied, so the Dr. snipped it a little bit. It is apparently very common and an easy procedure. Oliver was able to eat right afterwards. Besides those two minor things (and a little freak out I had over the circumcision healing process), we had a pretty uneventful stay at the hospital. C-sections are no joke - those first few days were pretty rough as far as getting out of bed and being able to do things myself. I was still without a voice most nights too, which made things that much more difficult. But for such major surgery, I started to heal pretty quickly - getting out of bed, walking, and even taking a shower. And I had no problem eating soon afterwards either - I couldn't get a turkey sub from Jersey Mike's fast enough! :)

One hiccup we had was Jim came down with a cold and nasty cough the second day we were in the hospital. We didn't want Oliver (or me) to catch anything and Jim needed his rest, so he actually went home nights 2 and 3 and my Mom stayed overnight to help me in the hospital. Not how we pictured it, but we managed. Having a baby in the winter (germ season) is rough.

Overall, we had a wonderful experience this time around. We delivered at Scripps Memorial in La Jolla and we were so impressed with the hospital and every staff member we came in contact with. The nurses and lactation specialists in particular, were all wonderful. Mostly, we're just so happy to finally be a family of four.

First bath on day 2