Mommyhood thus far

Daniel is here! He was born at 11:35am on Wednesday, August 18th by c-section. He was 9lbs. 6oz, and was 20.5 inches long. He is the sweetest little bundle of joy I've ever seen, and SO handsome.

Labor sucked (kinda), and here's the story: I had a non-stress test Monday morning, where they determined that the amniotic fluid was low. Anything under 5cm they send to the hospital, and I only had 1.5, so she sent us to Palomar to have me admitted and induced right away. We went to the hospital, where the doctor started me on Cervadil, which is supposed to gently induce labor in 12ish hours... I did that twice. I was so tired and stressed out, with IVs and monitors everywhere, and not able to eat anything. Tuesday afternoon (remember that I checked in at 10am Monday morning), the doctor decided to give me an epidural and start Pitocin. They did this all night, but there were like 3 times in the next 12 hours that Daniel had latent decelerations (heartbeat slowed way down), so after this happened the 3rd time they decided I needed a c-section before it turned into an emergency situation. I thank God that I didn't know how serious these decelerations were- I was stressed out and terrified enough. I guess I should have known by the 6 nurses and 2 doctors who came in at one point, but I just thought it was because my nurse was new... lol. God bless the dummies like me.
The c-section itself was terrible. They added a stronger drug to my epidural, but I felt a lot of the procedure. "Tugging and pressure" my ass, dude. I felt the whole thing. Next baby, we're doing a spinal block or general anesthesia, because that was crap. When they took me into the OR, Jake was told to wait by the door, and they'd get him in 10-15 minutes. They didn't end up bringing him in for 45 minutes, which was terrifying for both of us. At one point I actually thought that they started without him. Jake was so wonderful the entire time, though. He was brave and strong when I couldn't be, and he made me feel so much better, even when my incessant shaking and crying were terrifying him. I've always known that he's the most wonderful man in the world, and this confirmed it even more.

I'm so glad that the whole thing is over and Daniel is here, safe and sound and strong. The fear that comes with love this strong is crazy. I wanted so badly for him to arrive safely!

I'm healing pretty well from the c-section. I swear the tape that they used for all of the bandages and dressings were/are far worse to remove than the staples were. I had 18 staples removed last week, and I felt a bit of a twinge with each one. The tape residue is still on me, and I can't get it off with anything. I've used lotion, soap, rubbing alcohol, oil, and plain old picking at it, but I'm still covered in sticky residue. I also have 25+ Steri Strips across my incision which aren't coming off, and I am NOT inclined to just rip them off. My skin was cut clean through!! It was already back together, why should I have to rip tape off of it?! Boo.

So Daniel is 2 weeks old today. He has so much personality already! His big, bright eyes follow Jake around the room (as far as he can see), and he knits his little eyebrows together in concentration to figure out faces. He has beautiful little hands with long fingers, and he can't keep them from curling up by his face. He likes a pacifier sometimes (not often), but only when his tummy is full, butt is clean, body is swaddled and he feels well-snuggled. He doesn't cry much (I know, I'm jinxing it--but he's proving that statement wrong today already!). He loves to be held, and today he's only interested in sleeping if it's in my arms. I love snuggling his warm little body and watching his sweet face, though. He is SO handsome! I know I'm prejudiced, but I truly believe that he is the cutest little man that has ever been born. He's very aware and active, and I love watching his bright eyes process all of the new things happening in the world around him.

He seems to like it when I sing to him, but I can't for the life of me think of any songs when I'm holding him. We're stuck on a rotation of 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing' (the 3 verses I remember) and 'How Great Thou Art' (only the first verse). I love both of these hymns, but it would be nice to switch it up. Any suggestions?

So anyway, the moral of the story is: I love Daniel with my whole heart, and I love being his mommy. I do NOT like the process of having babies. There is only one good thing about the whole process, and it is not appropriate to discuss publicly. Like Jake says, it's hard to find anything good about being a girl... lol. But since being a girl gives me the privilege of taking care of this little bundle of joy and potential, I guess I'm resigned to it. As it turns out, God knows what He's about. :)

Dan is so precious! He's a funny, handsome, red-and-white little man. I can't decide if his hair is red or brown or blonde- it changes in every light, but always with red undertones. He has beautiful ears, and overall looks just like his papa. Jake doesn't think Dan looks too much like him, but definitely thinks he looks familiar. We saw Dan for the first time and recognized him immediately. Of course he's ours! I did have the strangest feeling for a week that he wasn't mine, though. I wasn't able to do much with him because of my c-section, so he felt like a stranger for a little while. Again, Jake came to the rescue and helped me figure everything out. I'm so blessed to be married to that man!

Uh-oh! my little man is waking up. He hasn't slept more than 30 minutes in his crib today, since he evidently prefers that I don't clean the house (sorry, Jake!). Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go cherish his snuggly little warm body and bright eyes, and pray my hardest that he doesn't turn into a colicky baby (for reals- I'm so skurred).