My intervention day

One great thing about a c section, aside from the fact that an episiotomy is off the table, is that you get waaaay more time in the hospital. Side note - if you don't have kids and want your significant other to lose his mind, explain to him what an episiotomy is.

More hospital time isn't for everyone, but for clueless first time parents like us, being surrounded by trained professionals who actually know how to care for babies was pretty sweet. They offered to let us leave after 3 days, but insurance covers four, so we were like.... nah. Plus they bring the baby to the nursery to sleep, and bring him in every time he needs to eat. Sounds heartless, but it gave me great peace of mind to have nurses watching him while I slept. Although we've been home two nights now, and I've only frantically jumped out of bed once to make sure he was breathing. Much lower than the expected count.

It didn't hurt that our hospital was staffed by amazing people who were constantly willing to help you and patiently answer what I'm sure were the dumbest questions. We also had a huge room with a nice long bed for Eric to be comfortable. I didn't hate having food brought to me and the dirty dishes picked up on demand either.

A long labor plus a c section isn't exactly the ideal scenario. Once I got to the recovery room around midnight on Wednesday, I hadn't slept since Sunday and hadn't eaten since dinner Monday (I couldn't even eat dessert, that's how awful labor was). After surgery, you apparently can't do either of those things, and I wasn't even allowed to have water.



I had the ultimate compression sleeves on - they were hooked up to some machine and constantly inflating and deflating.

Eric, on the other hand, was feeling great as a new dad.

Awwww so sweet!

He was really excited that he got to see my insides.

 I was in recovery until about 2am, but it actually flew by, as things tend to do when you are fascinated by your new baby.

 

About as close as I could get with my body uncontrollably shaking.

BABY FEET

His first gift - a stuffed llama from grandma and grandpa! He doesn't seem to love them like I do (yet).

 They rolled me to my room about 2:30 am. I thought I could finally get some sleep, but the nurses had to check a million things, and go over a million things about what to do in the hospital. Finally, at 3:30am, Dalton went to the nursery and we got a little sleep. Not much though, because people were coming in constantly to check me, Dalton needed to eat, and then the pediatrician was there to meet with me at 7:30 am.

These sound like complaints, but I swear they aren't, I'm grateful everyone was keeping us healthy and that Dalton was eating good! I just needed to set the stage for Wednesday, which my family referred to as my intervention day. Meaning I looked like a before version of the drug addicts on the show intervention. Essentially two days of no food or sleep, plus morphine, will do that to you. Plus, it turns out that after a c section you're only allowed to "eat" clear liquids until you pass gas. Jello and broth really weren't doing it for me.

To illustrate, here's us filling out the birth certificate. Why they let me fill out important paperwork in that state is beyond me, although really Eric did the whole thing and I just sat there in my zombie state pretending to help.

You are beautiful.

Oh yeah, I also kept falling asleep mid sentence. And every time I nursed Dalton, I would look down and see two babies. All around I was nailing this parent thing. And human thing.




I still had the epidural in and was attached to the IV wheelie thingie, plus a bunch of other stuff, so walking to the bathroom was basically like competing in the Olympics at that point. It was this whole ordeal to get out of bed and unplug everything and then have someone walk me there at a pace of a 78 minute mile while the room would be spinning. I've heard with vaginal deliveries you can basically return to being a person once the baby is out? Please weigh in. That was not my experience.

Too much negativity. Cute baby picture interlude.

Moments after birth. Can't get over the cuteness.

Finally I was allowed to eat around dinnertime, and the hospital meatball sub was the best thing I ever remembered tasting.

Eric celebrated with me.

Hospital chocolate cake.

 Thursday was a whole different ballgame. We actually got some sleep in between feedings the night before. I got the epidural and IV out, was no longer hooked to machines, and got to shower. Most importantly, Eric made a Starbucks run. Between being sick and giving birth, I hadn't had coffee in a week.

So happy because it's all in my body and not the cup. Full caffeine too!

Now that I knew my own name, could stay awake for more than five minutes, wasn't seeing double, and was able to use the bathroom unassisted, life was great.



Getting ready for my first diaper change - since I couldn't get out of bed until then, Eric had been on his own!

This was the first day I felt like I could fully appreciate the fact that I had a son and he was the most perfect creature I'd ever laid eyes on.