Sam's Birth Story

Sam was born via scheduled csection. We knew he was bigger than average due to an earlier ultrasound so we opted to plan on a scheduled csection. The morning of his birth, Ainsley had preschool so my mom and I took Ainsley to her class. I stayed for about an hour and then Tom came and picked me up. We drove to the hospital and checked in. We were anxious and excited knowing that in a few hours we would finally meet our new baby. We were especially anxious to find out the sex of the baby. Neither of us had any inclination what it might be and so it would be a big surprise.

Unlike Ainsley's csection where I was a nervous wreck the whole time, this experience was calm and wonderful. We sat in the triage room for about two hours waiting for everything to be prepared. Then I walked from the triage and climbed onto the operating table. It was a very casual setting. There were about 12 people that were present during the operation. I was alert and calm during the whole thing. Tom watched a lot more of the surgery and would tell me what was going on. They pulled the head out first, and Tom announced "Woah, there is your kid." I immediately asked, "What is it?" The doctor said, "We don't know yet." Then seconds later they pulled out the rest of the body and the doctor announced, "It's a BOY!" We were thrilled. He cried for a few seconds and then was calm the rest of the time. They put him on a table to be cleaned and weighed right next to me. It was wonderful and I got to watch the entire thing. His blood sugar was a little low so they immediately fed him a bottle. He was quiet and content the whole time.

We still hadn't decided on a name because we had a really hard time discussing names during the pregnancy. Even after nine months, we didn't have any clue what the name would be the morning of the birth. We had finally narrowed it down to about four boy names-we liked Henry, Samuel, Bretton, and Charlie. Going into the operating room we knew that if it was a girl it would be Bianca Sadie or Hallie Maree and either Bretton or Samuel Butler if it was a boy. When they pulled him out, I asked Tom what he looked like....a Bretton or a Samuel and he said a Samuel so we went with it. It was as simple as that.

This whole time, they were still stitching me up. The doctors gave Tom a little anatomy lesson and showed him my uterus, fallopian tubes, etc. as they were putting them back in place. I was the first in this hospital to be given bio-resorbable staples that would naturally dissolve on their own rather than the traditional metal staples that would have to be removed. A rep from the company was there to show the doctors how to use them. After I was all put back together, they wrapped Sam up and let me hold him as they pushed me back to the triage recovery room. Then we stayed in there for a couple of hours holding him and bonding with him. It was a wonderful birthing experience. I really enjoyed it because it was such a stark contrast to Ainsley's birth where I didn't feel apart of the birth at all. I was an emotional wreck during her birth since it was more of an emergency. After pulling her out, she had to be rushed to the NICU nurses to be suctioned out. I didn't even see her until she was wrapped up and then only to show her to me before they took her to the NICU. I didn't see her for two hours later. So we really appreciated how calmly and smoothly Sam's birth went.
The rest of the hospital stay was not as ideal. Sam did great and was a wonderful baby the entire time. I was the one who had difficulty. For some reason I could not keep food down. Every time I moved the bed up or down I would get nauseous. I threw up all the first day, then the second day I was fine. Then on the third day, I continued to throw up all day so I had to be re-hooked up to an IV. The fourth day was the same, and finally on the fifth day I seemed to get over my nausea. I was finally able to hold down lunch and so they released me that evening.

We've been home for a day now and it has been wonderful. Sam did great his first night. He slept about four hours at a time which allowed us to get a little sleep. He was great all day today and we are thrilled to all be home. Ainsley has been such a great big sister. She wants to help all the time, sometimes too much. She has had a few tantrums, mostly when she wants Mommy's attention and I am busy with the baby, but overall she seems to be doing well. Here are some pictures of Sam's first few days, we will post more pictures and updates as they come!