coming up with a title to this post is too much to ask.
Well, it didn’t go exactly to plan, but yes, we have a baby. And he’s perfect. Gabriel was 6 lb, 9 oz., 20.5 inches. He came out with a head full of black hair and big dark eyes.
Like I said, the doctors were planning to induce on starting Sunday night, but on Friday morning we went in for her last doctor’s visit, and he didn’t like the look of the baby’s heart monitor, so he sent us to the hospital. Once we got there, the heart monitor was fine but her blood tests came back with signs of pre-eclampsia, so that was it.
Long story short; we got to the hospital at about 1:00pm on Friday, and Gabriel was born 9:30pm on Saturday. So it was a pretty long ordeal. L got an epidural even before she really needed it, so she wasn’t ever in much serious pain, but with all the drugs they pumped into her to keep her from having a seizure, and to get the induction process moving, and with all the various needles and O2 mask and tubes and such, (and she couldn’t get out of bed from the time it started,) it was a long miserable process. And then in the end the induction just sort of stopped. The contractions were going, but nothing was moving. So that was that, and 20 minutes after the decision was made to do a C-section, the baby was out.
We spent 4 nights in the hospital, all but the first with him in the room. And everything is going great. He’s eating well, gaining weight now (we went to the doctor’s office Friday), and pooping up a storm. He’s generally very calm and easy going, only really crying when he needs something. We’re still practicing our burping techniques, so that’s sometimes a problem with him.
My first real feeling about him was amazement, that he was so perfect, and that nothing was really wrong with him. I don’t know why; I guess subconciously I was assuming something would be wrong. But he’s continued to be the perfect baby, and I am slowly losing the idea that we don’t really deserve that.
My parents are here now for a week, and they’ve been a huge help; the first day and night alone were pretty exhausting, and I don’t know how we would have fed and clothed ourselves for very long if they hadn’t come. Mommy is doing fine, slowly feeling more normal. Obviously she would prefer to have not had a C-section, but it is what it is. We’re going to go out for sushi now. I’ll go back to work next week, maybe on a reduced schedule, but I don’t think my heart will really be in it, since Gabriel has pretty much claimed ownership of that.