as i sit here in silence, the kids are sleeping, my hubby is
resting. i'm taking a minute to reflect back over the last few days. i can only
say. i am blessed. my family is
perfectly complete....
Short version
Johanna Elizabeth Eigenheer joined us 2 wks early on July
21, at 10:38 am via cesarian section.
she was my biggest baby weighing 7lbs 3.9oz and measured 19 1/4" in
length. she has my dark hair, nate's new-born looks and ellie's soft, gentle
spirit. she has adorable, kissable cheeks and long fingers.
Johanna is hebrew for "my god is gracious"
Elizabeth is hebrew for
"concentrated to god" nate picked elizabeth
Long and very detailed version, aka Eigenheer style. ha!
chris and i woke up bright and early mon morning and headed
off to the hospital together. i have to say i was a bit jittery about a few
things, the spinal! and the unknown of what laid ahead...
after we registered, we hit up the prep room where I was prepped
by the nicest nurse. she had me all ready to roll by 6:30....when she came
baring the news that an emerg c-section was under way and i was bumped until
after
so after some relaxing, for an 1.5 hrs, i was wheeled up to
the l&d and my bed was literally touching the o/r door when the bed came to
a halt, another emerg section had bumped me again! ha. i was then wheeled into my private room
around 8 to wait until my turn. i was
hooked up to the monitors and chris and i just chilled. to be honest the time flew
by and i didn't mind the extra time to just relax and enjoy my last few hrs of
being pregnant.
around 9:45 i was asked to walk to the or. chris was then
told to dress up and had to stay in the room until after i was spinaled...that
made me sad, knowing chris was not there and i was alone. i hopped (haha) up on the o/r table and was
intro'd to the team who would be operating on me. my drug lady was wonderful! i was given some drugs and then it was time
for the spinal tap
i sat on the table, and focused my thoughts on good things.
i prayed that god would help guide her hands to the right place and i will not
have a repeat of the nightmare of the past spinal with ellie.... which i have
on video if anyone wants to see the pain i was in.....ha.... after 20 mins of
trying with no success and many insertions i was shifted into a new position
where my back was arched at a different level...which lead the ani lady to see
what the problem was. i have a crooked spine!
she later recommend that i get it checked out because to her it looks
like my spine is not developed properly....anyways. after 5 or so more pricks
the needle went in and i laid down
right around that time i felt all light headed and funny, apparently
my heart and blood pressure dropped and i was given a shot of adrenaline to
speed up my heart. totally freaked me out!!!
i am so not a drug person
i was then told by the assist surgeon that my hubby was
scrubbing up and i peeked up to see him waving at me. i gotta say, and i never
told him this....i was so HAPPY to see him!
chris then joined me and we did some pathetic kissing and
last minute giggles....i then turned my head to look up and focused my thoughts
on good things, haha. knowing they were cutting me open. after a few mins i felt calm and relaxed. i
had control over my thoughts! yeah. anyway
i looked up and asked chris when they were going to start, he laughed and said
they had been cutting for 10 mins
my obg took her time cutting and getting to baby jo, and i
have proof, chris video'd most of it. ha
chris then looked down at me and said "i see her"
and then the most wonderful sound of all (next to a cruise ship buzzing its
horn as you sail away, or the welcome show at disney or a flyer stating an
amazing sale.....) right yes the most wonderful sound of all. baby
screaming! she did 3 high pitch screams
and went back to sleep.
the asst. surgeon (who was SO funny and cracked us up the
whole time...he even took chris over the curtain side after i had jo, to show
him my body parts and explain in detail how it all works....YUCK!) then he brought jo to me for a look see and
she was taken to have a quick check. bec
of the pre-eclampsia and her joining us so early, she was checked before she
was put on my chest. to be honest it was
about 30 seconds and little jo was on my chest, right where she belongs!
i laid there for the next 30 mins or so loving my new baby
girl. as soon as she heard my voice, she lifted her head and placed her hand
over my mouth! seriously, i was blown
away by this little sign of "i know who you are"
as they sewed me up and checked in innards. ha i then had my
tubes clamped and shut for good. ill get
into that later... chris then took baby jo jo to my sister who was patiently
waiting for her. haha they had some time and i was taken to recovery
my recovery team was awesome and i LOVE the time alone with
baby and chris. jo nursed me right off
the back on the or table and i nursed her some more in recovery
i was then taken to my super, awesome PRIVATE (thank you
jesus!) room and was shortly joined by my parents, nate, ellie, jon, jess, cry and
her kids. once the fam jam had their
time with baby jo, they left us to enjoy our little blessing. we had a few more
visitors mon night, it was nice the flow off ppl coming and going and was not
overwhelming but perfectly timed (i'm not posting pics of the visitors cause it
takes too long and i'm on a time crunch to get this done but you know who you
are and i love you guys! thanks for the treats, gifts and remembering nate and
ellie!)
having had 2 c-sections before i knew what i was in for,
recovery-wise. i was determined. determined! to be sitting up before the
numbing wore off, so around 3 i had chris pull me up into a sitting position,
around 4 the nurse came in to check on me and was surprised that i was sitting
up already. on my own... ha. i told her
i wanted to walk, bec i was hooked up to the iv and had a catheter i wanted her
to know. so she ok'd it and i got out of bed, walked to the chair and sat up
for another 2 hrs and walked back to the bed.
i was surprised thou that the meds i was on did make me sick. throwing
up sucks, let alone with an audience....ha
the hospital has changed policy since i had ellie, one of
the best changes was the amount of time they spend taking vitals...instead of every
hr the first night, it's every 4. so mon night chris and i got 4 hrs of sleep.
yeah! awesome
my night nurse mon night was a hoot, i'll write a book about
her later just say she was a bit bitter, cranky, rude and condescending. for humour
and kicks Chris and I messed with her by being over the top nice. Ha. we still
laugh about her rude comments to me....and certain things she did.....
tues morning, I was woken up bright and early by my sweet
baby jo. we nursed and cuddled for the
most of the day. I held her as much as I
could. my iv and catheter came out tues
morning and i was sent free to pee out the 30 pounds of water i gained. it was
awesome to get up and walk!
tues we had another steady but not to much flow of visitors,
which is so nice! i spend the day peeing
and cuddling jo. haha
i had heard a rumour by the nurses wed morning that bec my
recovery was so flipping awesome, we may be able to go home early...like 48 hrs
early....and we were delighted to be signed out wed afternoon. 48 hrs after my
3rd c-section. i came back thurs to have
the staples removed and fri for a check up. how awesome was it to be HOME!
sleeping in my own bed! it rocks!
other silly details
milk- jo is a natural, she latched right off like ellie but
i noticed she nurses longer and stronger.
my milk came in thurs night! and i have been nursing her! she only lost 6% of her body
weight!!!!!!!! we have a scale at home
and are monitoring her weight. i am
THRILLED that there seems to be no milk supply problem this time around.... so
far.... how odd is that? after all the
crap i put myself through the last 2 times, this time its a breeze...we go to
the dr 2 wks to have her check up but i know she will be just fine!
sleep- jo is still in her newborn sleep stage, and i am
stoked to say that i am sleeping MORE now than i did when i was preggers! ha. i
get on average 3 hrs, then another 1-2. i can totally deal with that. chris is loving that i am nursing for 2
reasons
1-he can sleep while i nurse
2- my boobs are bigger. but he can't touch them....muwahhhhh
seriously thou, chris is supportive what ever i do
tubal- after much prayer and talking chris and i made the
decision to have my tubes tied while i was already cut open on the table. the original deal was i carry the babies,
chris gets the snip. well, chris lucked
out and he owes me big. like really big. like a vacation big. haha
seriously thou, we took in my age, i will be 40 net yr, that
with having 3 pregnancies ending with preeclampsia we feel that its wise to stop
we are thrilled to have 3 kids!
to say that we are happy with johana is an understatement.
there are no words that i can use to describe how amazing it is to have our
little unexpected and so much wanted little bonus baby, she completed us.
i love you little jo jo!
Posted by
mel
at
9:36 AM
