Blake's Arrival

SWITCHING DR'S AND CHANGE IN DATES
August was such a crazy month! I went to my 36 week Dr visit at Lackland and was told that I would need to find a new Dr because their clinic was closing on August 31st. As of then, my c-section was scheduled for 6 September. We knew that there was a possibility of this happening. We also know that they had to have known when they were going to be closing well before they told us! So that was the frustrating part. It didn't leave me very much time to find a new Dr. Luckily, I had looked into civilian Drs when I found out I was pregnant. I've never had much luck with military drs and wasn't sure I wanted to deal with them again. I guess that worked out in the end! :0) Because I had already looked into dr's I knew which clinic I wanted to go to that took our insurance. They were calling me 4 days later to get me in to be seen! My new Dr was Dr Kethireddy. And I was now referred to as "Huber" or "honey". She was very nice and we really liked her a lot. She worked with Derek's crazy schedule and was able to move my c-section to 1 September. She had to work us in because her time slots were already filled for that day. My blood pressure had been border line at my 2 prior visits in her office. (130's over 70's) On Monday, August 29th I got a call from the nurse, Kat, that they had an opening come up for surgery on the 30th and Dr Kethireddy wanted me to come in to have my BP checked and if it was high we would schedule for the next day. Well, I got this call at 3:00pm on Monday! I was at the bus stop to get Allie so after she got off the bus we hurried home to get the girls snacks and rushed to the office. My blood pressure was up! I don't know if it was because I was so caught off guard or what (145/90). Anyway, we were thrilled to be meeting our soon a few days early!!!

MAKING ARRANGEMENTS
As soon as we left the Dr's office I was making tons and tons of phone calls. First to Derek to let him know that we would be having our boy the next day. Then he had to get things set up for his paternity leave. This is new just this year with the military. Dads are now given up to 14 days of paternity leave!! It really is a miracle that Derek is able to use them with his current job. He was actually supposed to be gone on a trip the 30th and 31st but his boss told him there was no way he was going. Good thing!!
Next, was to my Mom. I wanted to let her know so she could spread the news and to make sure she hadn't bought a plane ticket because I know she was seriously thinking of coming for the 1st.
Then, I had to make phone calls to make arrangements for someone to take care of the girls. I had my Visiting teacher watch Avery most of the day. Our neighbor picked Allie up from the bus stop and then Avery was dropped off at their house shortly after. We're so thankful for their help!

SURGERY
We had to be at the hospital at 10:30am. Everything went pretty quickly since I had been in there just 2 days prior. (I thought my water was leaking.....not the case though) That was way too much time for me to think about the surgery and get all worked up about it! They finally wheeled me back at 12:20pm. One of the worst parts is getting the spinal! Once that was over it was pretty easy.....for me anyway. Although, when it came time to get baby Blake out they had to push REALLY HARD on my belly to get him out because I have so much scar tissue. That part hurt and I felt like I was going to throw up. I couldn't breathe at all while they were doing that! Then he was here and I didn't remember any pain that I ever had. I was shocked when they said he was 6 lbs 9 oz. I really thought we were going to have a 10 pounder this time around. We were already calling him Blake the Tank, but it's not really all that fitting now.
I guess I have a lot of scar tissue/adhesions on my bladder and they needed to check to make sure they didn't knick it. So they filled my bladder with a bottle of milk! As long as it emptied white then everything was good.....and that's just what happened. They were supposed to sew up some of my abdominal muscles. We're not sure if they did because we were so wrapped up in our new little guy. I'm pretty sure they did at least a little bit because from the time they told me that they were starting to stitch me up to the time they finished seemed a little long. Especially after finding out that they stapled my incision instead of stitching it!

RECOVERY
This has probably been my quickest, least painful recovery. I was up walking around, had my catheder and IV out, took a shower........all within 24 hours after surgery. I was surprised! I did almost pass out while in the shower. I was told to take the dressing off of my incision while I was in there. There were 2 really sticky strips and it was taking forever to get them off.......and didn't feel all that great. I finally just yanked the last little bit off because I could feel myself getting ready to go. I quickly sat down in the shower and put my face under the water and sat there until I felt good enough to get up.
I didn't get a whole lot of sleep the first night. It seemed like every time I would start to get into the deep sleep I was been woken up by a nurse either to get my vitals or to feed Blake (that I didn't mind). The 2nd night I didn't get any sleep AT ALL! Blake was in the room all night and I was by myself in the hospital for the majority of the time. Derek had to be at home at night with the girls, had to work a little in the mornings to get a few things done, and had to pick Allie up from the bus stop by 3pm. So really the only time he was able to be there was late morning through lunch and then they would get back around 6:00 or 6:30 to spend an hour or two with us before heading home for the night. I guess that is what happens when you have a growing family!!
The nurses were impressed at how well I was doing. They had no problem releasing me that 2nd day. I was ready to get home so I could finally get some rest!!

VISITORS
When Derek brought the girls in that first day I could hear them coming down the hallway. They were quiet themselves....it was Avery's shoes that were so loud! The girls came in and had the biggest smiles on their faces. They were looking around everywhere for their brother. The nurses still had him back for his bath at that time. I think they were a little confused because my belly was still big and they thought he was still in there. :0) The look on their faces when Blake was brought into the room was priceless! They couldn't believe he was actually here. I don't think their smiles ever left their faces. They were so happy and proud to be big sisters.
Now when it was just Derek and Avery at the hospital it was a different story on how Avery behaved. I'm sure part of it was lack of sleep and lack of attention. She was constantly acting up, crying/screaming!! We are definitely going to have to watch her really closely around Blake. I think things will get better once she adjusts. She's actually been really good with him while we've been home -- so maybe it just had to deal with the hospital environment.
My friend, Tonya, also visited us while in the hospital.

BLAKE
Come to find out the cord was wrapped around Blake's neck. I don't know how long it was like that. But, because of that, they were monitoring his sugar levels. For the first few hours they were normal but after that they were quickly dropping. He was pricked SO many times. Poor guy!!! We really didn't want to supplement any formula this early for fear that he then wouldn't nurse. But, at this point, I had to give in. He needed the nourishment to get his sugar levels up and I didn't want him to be pricked anymore. They were finally up by the next day. He started nursing really well early in the morning the next day too. Such a good boy! We decided to have the little guy circumcised. That didn't actually happen until a few hours before we left for home. Derek was able to be there for it and he nearly passed out! We're not sure what his weight was when we left.....we need to get the scale out and weigh him. I'm sure he's got to be close to his birth weight because all he does is eat.......and sleep. He passed all of his other tests and had his HEP shot right before we left.

That was long and drawn out! I'm sure we'll be posting lots and lots of pics in the near future.