Our fourth child arrived on November 5, 2013. Her name is Rebekah Agnes, and she weighed 11 lbs, 1oz (Smaller than our last baby!) and 20.5 inches and was born at 9:24am.
The details- I went in that morning for a planned c-section. After 3 previous attempts at a vaginal birth, and all ending in a c-section, this one was going to have to be a c-section. It was much different this time, knowing when she'd be born, knowing the c/s was going to happen, etc. I pictured it'd be quick and easy. Go in, have c/s, in an hour or two, we'd be in my room, having skin to skin and nursing and resting. When we arrived, we found out they'd had an unplanned c/s, and we had to wait around until they got the OR cleaned.
38 weeks, 1 day
Finally, a little before 9am, they had me walk to the OR. I was very nervous waiting for the anesthesia, but managed it well enough. It was very odd being awake and aware during the c/s (In my previous 3 csections, I'd been put under, I'd had the anesthesia go to high so was more focused on trying to breath, and was so tired from laboring for 28 hrs that I slept through almost the whole c/s) As soon as I laid down, I threw up some medicine they had given me. They said that was very common.
Thankfully I wasn't paying much attention to what they were doing to me. I was just anxious to hear her cry, to know they had gotten to her. Jon told me it took about 10 minutes to get in usually, but I never knew that. That was the longest 10 minutes of my life haha! Finally, I heard her. It was an overwhelming sound, but she sounded like she was gagging while crying, like she had fluid or something. Jon kept telling me she was fine, but I was skeptical. Eventually, they told me her weight, which we were a bit surprised by, as my doc had guessed she'd only be about 10.5 lbs, not 11lb 1oz. Then they said they were going to have to take her to the NICU. I was NOT expecting that. Come to find out, on her way out, she had swallowed amniotic fluid and needed oxygen. They quickly showed her to me, then took her to NICU. I began to cry and of course, wasn't able to hide it. Jon went with her.
They took me back to L&D to recover. Normally it's about 2 hrs there to recover before going to mom/baby. However, mom/baby was crowded and they were discharging people, so they told me to hang out in L&D for a while. That ended up being a good thing because i was throwing up everything they gave me. They gave me zofran twice, which didn't help. At one point, I went to go see her. I saw her for a short bit, and touched her through the incubator- they wouldn't let us hold her or nurse her because she had been so stressed out from the IVs, as they had to stick her 5 times or more. Very soon after arriving, I told Jon we needed to leave. No sooner did we get out of the NICU and I threw up again. Eventually they gave me a shot that worked instantly. After that, I was finally able to go see Beka and spend some time holding her.
The first time we went in, she was doing better on the oxygen and they felt she'd be able to come off soon. They were waiting until the next day to try to give her any food because they didn't want to stress her body out any more. They were having problems with her IV, getting it to stay. At some point, she had one slightly low blood sugar, so was getting dextrose via IV. (I was shocked because I had amazing control in this pregnancy, and none of my other kids ever had sugar issues.) At 10pm, we were heading to NICU when we were told to wait b/c they were having to do another IV and they were giving her formula so the IV wouldnt be an issue. I started crying, as I wanted to nurse her, no one asked me about formula, and they said they were going to wait until the next day to give it to her.
It was advised that I pump over night, and anything I pumped, I could ask my nurse to take to NICU. So I pumped every 2-3 hrs, and did get some colostrum sent down to her. We went back to visit her at 8am. We spent almost the whole day in the NICU, so it's really all a blur, but at some point, they allowed us to basically do SNS with her, put a tube in to her mouth to get the formula, while she also nursed on me, helping my milk to come in and getting her colostrum. At 7pm, after having to force more formula on her (Which she usually threw up), she was finally able to be discharged. I was frustrated during the day because they kept checking her sugars, said they were great, but were forcing her to continue to take formula to keep them up. Everything i'd heard was that if blood sugars are an issue in a baby, they regulate themselves within 24 hrs, but they wouldn't cut out the formula to see if her sugars were stable without it. My motherly instinct told me she likely was stable.
When she finally got discharged from NICU, they told us she may need to supplement with formula still until my milk came in. Yet, they never checked her blood sugar again after discharging her from NICU. We never supplemented. And she never appeared to need formula. About the 2nd time she tried to nurse after being in my room, we heard her swallowing several times and realized "Wow! My milk must be in already!"
After that, the rest was a blur. I nursed, started to be in more pain, and the next morning, Jon went to pick up the kids from our friends. Right after they arrived and met her, we were discharged to go home. Unlike any other hospital i've been to, they allow you to just walk out without a wheelchair. Oh, BAD idea. I didn't realize how long of a 'short' walk it'd be to the car, and was in a lot of pain by the time i got to the car.
Meeting her for the first time.
Sisters!
Daddy watching a movie with all 4 kiddos.
Recovery this time was much more challenging than in the past. I had a lot more pain, and had to take stronger pain meds than ever before. It also lasted longer, a full week. Now, Rebekah is 3 weeks old, and I'm feeling great. We started back to homeschooling this week from "maternity leave" and we're slowly getting back in to a routine. We've been so blessed by friends who have been so supportive, with watching the other three, providing meals, coming to Beka's baptism, and just wishing us well and praying for us. God is so good and we have been so blessed.
Last week, when she was two weeks old, Rebekah was baptized. We were very blessed because Jon's brother, Fr. Nathan, was able to fly in and do her baptism. It made it even more special for us. We were also very blessed because we picked our very close friends here to be her Godparents, so it was wonderful having her Godparents be present as well. We are slowly settling in to this family of six thing, and enjoying every minute of it.
Zach got to serve mass with Father at all his masses. He felt so grown up and proud.
