After his birth, Perry & I wanted some time just the 3 of us to bond with our new little baby. We held him, took pictures, I nursed him for the first time, and had show & tell with my placenta {gross to some, but I wanted to see it}. While the doctor finished my repair {I had 2nd and 3rd degree tears/lacerations... NOT fun but I'll spare
any more details!}, Perry went out to share the news of Gabriel's birth with our family. That was around 8:50am. Then we waited. The hospital would have let visitors in sooner, we just planned for everyone to first see us after we were transferred to the mother-baby side of the unit. I was eager for the grandparents to meet him, but I know how things go in the hospital. The nurses get busy. There's paperwork to be done. The room has to be ready. The pediatrician came to see Gabe at 9:40am. Just before 11:00am, we finally were able to load all of our bags onto a cart, secure Gabriel in the bassinet, and hoist me into a wheelchair to move to my postpartum room! The nurse asked Perry if he could pivot-transfer me onto the w/c because my legs were useless from the epidural- that was funny! We quickly got settled into our room, number 32, and let me tell you- those rooms are nice. Walk-in shower, flat screen TV (that we only turned on for like 10 minutes on our last day!), pull-out couch for the Dads, modern decor. I love the hospital system that I work for.
My Mom and both of Perry's parents had stayed ALL night in the waiting room!!! They all arrived between 7-8:00pm the night before. From what they tell me, the waiting room is not conducive to all-nighters. And the vending machines are miles away on the other side of the hospital. The L&D and postpartum rooms are so nice, you'd think they would have upgraded the waiting room as well.
Meeting Gabriel...
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| "Grandma" |
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| "Nonny" |
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| "Boo" |
My Dad "Papa" and Karlene "Nana" came from Virginia as soon as they could! They met Gabriel that evening but I didn't get any pictures! Thankfully there were many taken on other people's cameras, so I'll have to get a hold of those. My brother Jason and his girlfriend Kelley also came from Wilmington to see us!
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| "Uncle Jason" |
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| Typical brother & sister picture |
Miscellaneous pictures from the rest of our hospital stay...
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| Family of three!!! |
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| There's my Dad in the background! |
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| SWEET FACE ♥ |
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| Typically I only post flattering pictures of me, but I wanted to document 2 things: (1) how my belly still looked like I was 6 months pregnant and (2) I got my Jersey Mikes sub!!! Mmm deli meat. Thanks Mom & Dad W. |
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Some random details I want to remember {sorry if it's TMI!}:
a) Six hours after my foley catheter was discontinued, my nurse and nurse tech came in to help me to the bathroom to make sure I was voiding on my own. With one supporting me on either side since my legs were still partially numb, I dragged my right foot walked into the bathroom. I didn't even feel like I had to go but I peed over 1000mL!
b) I was terrified to have my first bowel movement. So terrified that I pulled the red cord in the bathroom at 4 o'clock in the morning, resulting in my nurse and nurse tech running in there. But all I needed was reassurance to poop {and Perry was asleep}. Looking back now, that is so embarrassing, wow!
c) The only concern for me was my
hemoglobin was 9-something post-delivery so I was advised to start
taking an iron supplement. The only
concern for Gabriel was his bilirubin level (jaundice) but when they
rechecked it the following morning, it was within the "ok" range. His weight dropped to 7 lbs 8 oz when he was 24 hours old (6% weight loss, and up to 10% is considered ok). He was back at his birth weight of 7 lbs 14 oz at discharge!
d) Gabe ran a slight fever on the first night. It was most likely
because he was swaddled and sleeping on the Boppy on Perry's chest...
and Perry is a heater! It concerned us, but the nurse had us strip him
down to his diaper and when she came to recheck his temp, it was normal.
e) Visitors we had: Karlene's Mom, Evelyn; a girl I went to high school with who is a nurse tech in mother-baby, Jessica; the first labor & delivery nurse I had; and a couple who the Whitakers befriended in the waiting room who also had a new grandbaby stopped by to say congratulations. Nice, but a little strange having strangers in my hospital room... I actually was in the bathroom when they came in so I didn't meet them. I also received a phone call from the charge nurse, Anne, letting me know that everyone at work was thinking about me!
f) The first night we chose to keep Gabriel in our room but the second night, we were exhausted. I have never been so tired in my life. I would fall asleep mid-sentence trying to talk to my nurse. We let him go to the nursery for a couple of hours, come back to me to nurse, then back to hang out with the other babies so we could get a few more hours of much-needed sleep!
g) We requested that Gabe's first bath be given in my room. It was done at 1:45pm on his birth day. Poor little guy did not like it. at. all. {Thank goodness he loves bath time now though}.
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| Two and a half hours of squeezing him through the birth canal left him with a sensitive head... |
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| Getting warm |
My friend from nursing school and work, Jess, came to visit us on Saturday and brought a beautiful flower arrangement, balloon & drawing for Baby Gabe from her daughter Tyler Grace!
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| Look how swollen Gabe's eyes/face were!!! |
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| Diaper change surprise! |
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| Flowers delivered to us from Perry's Uncle Keith & Aunt Mary! |
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| While I was sleeping, Perry took several shots "around the room"... this is the only one I am willing to share! |
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| Buttons from my Mom |
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| Middle-of-the-night snuggles |
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| I didn't realize how yellow he was until I saw the pictures. Thankfully his jaundice resolved itself. |
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| LOVE THIS BOY!!! He's wearing the outfit we planned to bring him home in... until we put it on and saw that it was shorts! So instead, he wore it for his newborn pictures {coming soon to the blog!}. |
