Birth Story and first few days at home.

We got home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. Much better experience than when I had Finley. I got there at 10 am on Wednesday morning and they started an IV (ouch! more painful than the spinal injection) with fluids and spent some time monitoring the baby with a non-stress test. We answered tons of questions about medical history. Got the results of my labs and then we waited a bit for anesthesia to get there. The anesthesiologist didn't want to do the c-section because I had a cold and was worried about respiratory issues. Luckily my Ob wasn't too worried about doing it. It's not the kind of surgery you can put off for a week or two. By around 12:30 they took me into the Operating Room and gave me the spinal block. It was just a minute or two before I was totally numb. They do a test to make sure I can't feel anything and then they start working on getting the baby out. Our baby was completely unengaged and way up high, facing up. I heard the Dr say that she wouldn't have come out vaginally, so that made me feel better about having the c-section. She was so unengaged that the Dr needed to use a vacuum to get her out. I was nauseated in the same way I was with Finley, but they were able to give me Zofran in my IV and stop me from vomiting. Other than nausea I had very little discomfort during the surgery.

Rowan Iris was born at 12:58 pm, 6 lbs 13 oz, 21" long and perfectly healthy. They took us all back to our room. We were there for a short time and I was able to hold Rowan for the first time and start breastfeeding her right away. Then we went to the recovery room, where we spent the next few days. It took several hours before I could move my legs again. We were up most of the night, mainly because we were excited and well rested. My only issue on the first day was that the Morphine PCA they gave me did absolutely nothing for my pain and I was really hungry. I was allowed to eat that night and got my catheter and IV out the next day or was it the following morning? I don't remember. Once we got a sleeping, pain medicine and eating schedule worked out....we were doing pretty well. Rowan was sleeping in the nursery all night for 3 hour chunks of time while Ben and I slept. I got up for meds and nursing and went right back to sleep. My milk came in after just 2 days and now I have way too much. I haven't started pumping yet because I despise pumping!

We were a little bit worried about Rowan having a bit of jaundice, but her bilirubin levels never went high enough to be a concern for phototherapy. We were both discharged in very good condition.

Now that we are home, we are having an adjustment period and it's tough. Rowan isn't as good of a sleeper as she was at the hospital. Or I should say, not as good at night. She is wide awake at night! An excellent sleeper during the day. We haven't worked out a schedule yet for sleeping, so we've both been getting just a few hours of sleep every night. Between watching Finley, the dogs and keeping up with the house...we haven't been able to find much time to nap.

Just got back to finish this post..It's one day later and Rowan slept last night! It was awesome. I was just up to feed her and then back to bed. Three hours at a time!

Moved to Sturbridge!

Another 3 months since I last posted and so much has happened! We moved into our new house in Sturbridge and have been in a mad rush to get the house all set up. Aside from an awkward layout, we love the house. The entry way is huge and we just changed the flooring from carpet to tile. With a backdoor leading to the fenced backyard, it couldn't be more perfect as a dog room/mud room. It also has a beautiful sunroom that we use for relaxing and for a playroom. Finley's room, the baby's room and our bedroom are mostly finished. We still need some furniture and painting, but that is going to have to wait until later this summer. We have a small living room and are waiting for a new couch to be delivered in a few weeks, so that room has been storage for all our paintings and decorations. The office has been a temporary guest room and storage for books, but we just got carpet and tile put in the walk-out basement and will be setting that up as a guest room/mother-in-law.

It's all been quite overwhelming with the time pressure of the baby coming! I worked part-time up until last week and have been trying to relax, but it's very hard with Ben still in school and taking care of Finley. We did keep Fin in daycare up until this past week, which was a huge help for me. At the moment she is in NJ with my parents and will be there until Sunday when we get home from the hospital. Hard to believe I'm going in for my csection on Wednesday. I've been cooking and freezing food like crazy. I made sausage and spinach lasagna, 4 meatloaves, macaroni and cheese, white chicken enchilada casserole, banana bread, eggplant parmesan, steel cut oats and lots of other little things like shredded chicken and easy to prepare frozen foods.

What else is going on? Finley turned 3 and is fully potty trained. She loves to do art projects and play outside. She has just recently started talking to her pretend friends and really enjoys playing with other kids. She is all set to start Montessori preschool in the fall..we just need to find a daycare for the days that we will both be working. I have no idea how long I'll be home with the baby, but I do plan to breastfeed and and I do very much hate pumping breast milk...so I'll be trying to stay home as long as possible or working short hours.  Speaking of the baby...the pregnancy has gone much better than my last. I've been totally healthy with no major body pain or medical issues. I'm just easily tired, sore and sleeping isn't easy. Oh and heartburn is pretty bad too.

I'll try to post photos and updates more this summer! I need to get back to work...lots of cleaning and preparing still to do and maybe get some rest to get rid of this cold in the next few days.