Day 1 with Ronan

I feel as though I haven't slept in days. I didn't get any sleep Friday night before our induction and last night I didn't get up to my room until after midnight. Not only did we lose an hour last night thanks to the time change, but every 2 hours (if not even more frequently) there was a nurse or CNA coming into the room to either check my vitals or the baby's or to tell me it was time to feed the baby. Sometime in the early morning hours, a nurse came in to take my catheter out and to help me to the bathroom for the first time. I had remembered from my delivery with Nolan that the first time I got up I felt a rush of blood come out of me so I was expecting that again. While there was some of that it was nowhere near the extent of last time and I am guessing that had to do with the fact that I ended up having a C-section this time. What I wasn't expecting though was the excruciating pain in my abdomen from trying to get up even with the help of a nurse lifting me up from the bed. I knew to expect it to be hard to get up and sit down, but having never felt it before I wasn't prepared for just how much it would hurt.

When I went to the bathroom I saw myself in the mirror for the first time since before the delivery and I was shocked at my appearance. The bags under my eyes were so tremendously puffy and dark black. I looked as if I had been hit by a truck. I have never in my life seen my eyes so puffy. I told Marshal I did not want any pictures taken of me while I looked like this. Just the act of going to the bathroom and back was pretty taxing and painfully, so I gladly said yes when the nurse asked me if I would like some more pain medicine and requested the 600mg of Motrin to start with. Within 30 minutes the Motrin was working great so I opted to not request any of the other two pain medicines that were available for me. Around 6am, a CNA came in to get me up and go for a walk. Who knew just walking around the hospital floor would be such an ordeal?! We walked down to the nurses station and around it down the other hall and back. I pushed my IV pole along as I walked using it and the nurse for support. My stomach felt hugely swollen and sore and my legs still felt like bricks. Every shuffle of my legs took great effort and I was glad to return back to my room and my bed where Marshall and Ronan were anxiously waiting.

As they day went on we had lots of visitors. In addition to our parents and all our friends that were at the hospital all day yesterday, our nephew Robi came by to meet the little guy. Robi had been there most all day yesterday but had left in the evening to go hang out with some friends so had missed seeing Ronan last night when he finally decided to come out. Robi wasn't the only cousin that Ronan got to meet today though as my cousins Candie and Ashley also came from Goldsboro to come meet him. Ashley was so cute watching him. When they left Marshall said he watched Ashley holding Ronan and watched her fall in love with him. Our friends Tina and Jaime also stopped by with their baby girl Harper. Harper is 7 months old and today was the first time that Marshall has ever held Harper.

Up until now he had refused to hold her as he wanted to hold his own baby first. Today though Harper practically demanded that Marshall held her as she was totally intrigued by him and virtually leaped into his arms. While Tina and Jaime were there visiting, my cousin Jay also stopped by. At one point I looked up and there were 10 people in our little room. It makes me feel great that so many people love us and are so happy that Ronan is here that they want to be a part of our joy.

Tifni was also working today so she stopped by to visit us and hold Ronan some. We are no longer on her floor since she only works Labor & Delivery but we are only 2 floors up so she was able to stop by during her day when she had some down time and again before she left for the night. It was really great seeing her and having her check on us and see how the nurses were treating us. We also had a pediatrician come by and check on Ronan this morning but since it was the weekend it was jus the pediatrician on call for a group of three pediatrician offices and wasn't actually Dr. Horger or anyone from his practice. We will see Dr. Horger tomorrow and hopefully have Ronan's circumcision tomorrow.

It was a long day and really difficult for me trying to breast feed with such a swollen and sore abdomen.  I had all kinds of pillows around me trying to prop up the baby to keep the pressure off my abdomen. We had a lactation nurse come by and help me try to get the baby to latch properly. She also had me to start pumping so that my milk would come in sooner. So now in addition to having nurses coming in and poking and prodding me and checking on my bleeding and pushing on my stomach, I also had a nurse coming in and making me pump in addition to breast feeding. I can see that with all that is now going on I'm not going to get any sleep while in the hospital. I can't get up and down out of the bed without help so Marshall tended to all of the baby's dirty diapers which was awesome. He was really excited to do it. I don't know many husbands that would act like that regardless of the condition their wife was in so I'm definitely counting my blessings that my husband is that amazing. I think even the nurses were a little perplexed as to Marshall's eagerness to change diapers.

Marshall even had the lactation nurse show him how to clean the breast pumps and put them together so he could do that for me. I'm not sure what time it was when the last of our visitors left for the day as the time seems to just slip away from me in the hospital. It's as though the hospital room is a time sucking vortex in which no time really exists and the days just run together. We did at least have a real window in our room so I was able to see if it was day time outside or not. Hopefully tomorrow Ronan will get his circumcision and then Tuesday we will be able to get to go home. By the evening time they told us that Ronan is a little bit jaundice so we are trying to get my milk to come in sooner as the more fluid he can take in and excrete the sooner he will get rid of the billirubin inside of him causing him to be jaundice. I know a lot of babies are jaundice so I'm not really concerned about it yet. I just hope it gets better quick so that we get to take him home soon. So far our 1st day with our new baby has gone well. Ronan is a good baby. He rarely cries, loves to be swaddled and loves skin on skin time with Mommy which they have us doing as much of as we can.