Jasper's birth story
(Kevin playing cars on my belly one last time)
(Our last picture as a family of 3)
The night before my scheduled C-section we let Kevin stay up a little bit past his normal bed time. I wanted to absorb every last minute with him as my only child. After he went to bed Ken and I finished packing our bags other last minute things. Then we played Monopoly with my sister Bre and my Mom. We went to bed around midnight. We woke the next morning at around 4:30. Brought the monitor out to Bre so she could wake up with Kevin. I debated the night before on whether I would want to go in and kiss Kevin but knowing this would be the first time I was leaving him for longer than a few hours would make it way to hard. I knew if I went in his room I wouldn't want to leave. I was excited to welcome Jasper but in a way I felt like I was saying goodbye to the family we had. It would never be the same again. My scheduled C-Section time was 6:30 and we actually arrived at the hospital at 5:45. We filled out paperwork and they took us right back to a triage room. They hooked my belly up to a monitor so they could track the baby for at least an hour.
(Vain mommy memo: scheduled C-sections don't allow for contacts or fake nails or nail polish)
(This man makes me laugh)
Once we were in the triage room and they finally had the baby monitored for at least an hour (he kept moving so they had to readjust it to start the time over) we had the Doctors, the anesthesiologist and a few nurses come in to talk to us about what would be happening. I was worried about the spinal block. I had an epidural with Kevin but it kept wearing off. I also had a spinal headache back in 2006 when I had to receive a spinal tap so I wanted to know what the chances were of getting another one (they are HORRIBLE). After going over all the Q & A's things actually happened really fast. They had me walk back to the operating room and helped me up onto the table. The anesthesiologist talked me through the steps of my spinal block. It took about 15 minutes for the spinal block and they had to numb three times because twice I could feel the needle going into my spine, not a nice feeling. After they successfully got it in they hurried and laid me down and started doing the cold and prick test. Basically poking me with a cold rod, starting at my feet and going up, measuring how much I could feel. My feet went numb almost immediately and compared to the epidural it was a much deeper numb. The Doctor who would be doing the surgery came in and had them turn the radio on and I will never forget that the song playing was Sheryl Crow's The first cut is the deepest. I wanted to laugh but was worried I would mess them up. A few minutes went by and they brought Ken in. He gave me a kiss and asked if I was o.k because I was shaking like crazy and I remember doing that with Kevin also. After just a couple of minutes I felt a lot of pressure in my rib cage and I thought they must be reaching in to get him, and sure enough as soon as I felt the pressure move down my abdomen we immediately heard suction and the beautiful, indescribable sound of Jasper's first cry. I lost it. I started bawling. I don't usually lose it in the moment; I'm more of a before and after crier but I could not hold it in. Ken went over and saw the baby. The Doctors started talking to me about stitching me up and then I heard the nurses talking to Ken about something with the baby and while trying to listen to both I ended up not really hearing anyone. They came and showed me Jasper before taking him to the NICU (where they take all C-section babies at this hospital until the mom is in her room).
Ken cut the cord again.
Another big boy
Our beautiful Jasper De'Allan is finally here
April 30th 8:07 a.m
8 lbs 11 oz
Ken went with the baby and the rest of the time in the OR passed by really fast. I remember talking to the anesthesiologist about the Doctor and she heard everything and answered. I remember saying she had super human hearing because I could hardly hear myself. She also removed a mole on my stomach I didn't even know I had (weird?). After I was all stitched up they wheeled me to recovery where I would have to wait for most of the numbness to wear off before I could go to my room. I tried sleeping but I was to excited to see Jasper. Ken came into recovery and started telling me about Jasper. I didn't want to see any pictures because I wanted to wait to see him in person. Ken told me that one of the things the pediatrician would want to talk to us about was that Jasper was tongue tied. You know that little piece of tissue that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth, it actually has a name. It's called your frenulum and Jasper's went all the way to the tip of his tongue. I spent about 2 1/2 hours in recovery before I finally had enough feeling to go back to my room. Spinal blocks are amazing.
First time holding Jasper
Jasper's blood sugar was low while he was in the NICU so they gave him a little bit of sugar water to try to bring it up. I was nervous because I really wanted nursing to go better this time around. With his tongue being tied (it inhibits suckling because they can't move their tongue) and the sugar water offered I felt like the odds were stacked against it but I was still determined to try to make it work. It was about an hour after I got in my room to when they brought Jasper in. We immediately tried to nurse and once we were all settled in Ken went home to get everyone. Jasper and I had some awesome one on one time while we waited for everyone and I noticed how he has Ken's eyes and chin, my nose and hair and although he looks like his own person I couldn't help but notice how much he looked like Kevin when he was a baby. I remember hearing Kevin coming down the hall and I had to really try hard at not crying because I didn't want to scare him. I was so excited to see him and have him meet his brother. My mom and Bre dressed him in his new big brother shirt and I had Jasper in his little brother shirt, needless to say they looked adorable. Kevin immediately wanted up with me and was so excited to see me. He calls Jasper "Nay nay", which is his way of saying baby. He was really gentle and patted him. He even offered Jasper his blanket and we all just snuggled. It was surreal to have both of my boys in my arms and thinking that just a year ago we were celebrating Kevin's first birthday and now we have 2 beautiful boys who are 2 years apart.
