New Addition

Today is the day we've been waiting for. Daddy and I headed for the hospital at 6:30 this morning, leaving Connor in the loving hands of Nanny. It was time for Baby Brother to officially join the family. Luckily there wasn't much traffic on the way downtown, so we were checking into the hospital by approximately 7:15. (There was a little incident of a very non-pregnant lady taking the last available parking spot in the iddy biddy labor & delivery parking lot, which took a few minutes to sort out.)

The actual delivery of Connor is such a blur for me. Since he was in distress, they made the decision to deliver him by emergency c-section and he was in my arms 30 minutes later. Everything seemed to happen so fast. This time, everything went much, MUCH slower. In fact, I remember wishing the medical staff would speed things up a bit. I even got to watch The Today Show. (Did you know the majority of tulips in the States are imported from the Netherlands? I didn't . . . until this morning. Fascinating, eh?)

Instead of being wheeled in on a gurney, I walked into the operating room this time 'round, where I sat for a bit before the anesthesiologist gave me a spinal block. The nurses warned me that the operating rooms are kept quite cool and had piled warmed blankets on top of me. However, it wasn't long before I was sweating profusely. Apparently something was wrong with the thermostat this morning and it was unusually warm instead. By the time I realized this, they were in the middle of cutting me wide open, so I chose not to say anything.

My doctor happened to be on call at the hospital but was supposed to be off at 8:00. He stayed well past it was time for him to go home so he could do the delivery. After making what should have been an adequate incision, Dr. Gardner and a resident tried to pop BB out but he wasn't budging. Dr. Gardner had to open me a bit wider with what's called a "J" cut (they use a vertical cut on the uterus, but since he wasn't coming out, they had to cut me a bit more, making the cut look like a 'J'). Even after that, the resident had to SIT on me in order to apply enough pressure to pop him out. My shoulders actually hurt after he was delivered from the weight and pressure they were putting on me to get him out. His head is even bigger than Connor’s was, which was part of the problem. The fact that he weighed in at 9 lbs 6.1 oz was the other part of the problem. He's HUGE! Before I even saw my precious new boy, I knew he had a very well developed set of lungs. I barely caught a glimpse of him due to the curtain blocking my vision. But once they cleaned him off a bit and wrapped him up nice and tight, they handed him over to Daddy. And that's when I first came face to face with my Riley.








While Daddy and I were otherwise occupied in the operating room, Grandma, Grandpa, Nanny, and Connor showed up and patiently (so I've been told) waited in the waiting room for Daddy to announce Riley's arrival. Connor was thrilled when Daddy finally walked in the room.











Once I was wheeled into the recovery room, our visitors were able to come back to meet the newest addition to the family. Riley was being weighed when they came in (yep, still 9 lbs 6.1 oz), so Connor didn't notice him until after he gave me a kiss and a hug. But once he saw him, it was love at first sight.

















Connor was excellent with Riley. He wanted to hold him by himself, but had to settle with "helping" hold him. Many, many kisses later, the excitement began wearing off for Connor. Ironically, I believe it was right around nap time. Luckily, Aunt Tin had the forethought of getting Connor a big brother gift - K'Nex. That occupied Connor for quite a while, but before long he'd had enough. He agreed to go home with Nanny, once we promised she would bring him back tomorrow.