Home At Last!

It's the kind of post, Emily, that my computer shut down in the middle of :)

Anyhow, moving on...

So yes, we are home at last! We had decided to take advantage of the 3rd night insurance pays for when you have a c-section, thinking that we would be discharged in the morning, no later than noon. Well, Sunday night we came to the realization that that wasn't going to happen. Little Miss Marley's jaundice was a little to bad and she needed to be treated so we had to stay a little longer. Not much longer, and at least it wasn't another night, but we didn't get home last night till around 6.

Here's the story...

Things went great! I think that a lot of that has to do with the fact that this was all planned. Granted, it was a bit weird knowing, for certain, when she was going to arrive, but a planned c-section was, in the words of my doctor, "the right choice for a lot of reasons." Here I am right before going back. Not the most flattering picture but it's all in the name of detail right?I spoke at length with the anethesiologist about the spinal because of my previous back surgery. After checking out the scar and listening to the details of injury, yadda, yadda, yadda, she thought it would still work okay and...IT DID! YAY! This was something I was worried about because if it didn't take then they would have had to put me under general and Brett wouldn't have been able to be there. But, he was, and he seemed to thouroughly enjoy the experience! He stood up and watched the whole thing; what he could see anyway. I think his favorite part, except when they took her out of course, was when they used clamps and gauze to pull back the top of my stomach. I'll leave it at that...if you want further detail...call Brett. It took longer than I expected for them to actually pull her out but Brett said it wasn't really that long. They had to use the slightest bit of suction from the vaccuum to get a good hold on her head because she had so much hair she was really slippery, then, next thing you know, she was there. All 8lbs. 7 oz. and 21 inches of Marley, pretty much wailing from the start.

I was SHOCKED at how big she was but apparently I was the only one. I really had no idea that she would be that big. The doctor, as she was pulling her out, also said she had really big shoulders. Back surgery, big shoulders, big baby, first labor would have equaled LONG labor, which was exactly what we wanted to prevent so a good choice to go with the c-section. The doctor also marveled at how thick and long her umbilical cord was. She asked what I had been feeding her. I left out the pancakes and Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs that I couldn't get enough of the last couple of weeks. They did have to give her just a little bit of oxygen, which is perfectly normal for c-section babies and they had to suction her mouth and nose more than they would have if it was a "regular" delivery. That was when we first noticed the little 'tude that Little Miss has. As they were sticking the tube down her throat her hands came up with a quickness and tried to shove it away. Here we are after they got her all cleaned up.

Then it was off to recovery for mommy (which was weird, waiting for all the feeling to come back to my legs) and off to the nursery for daddy and Marley. She was with me in recovery for a little while and then they brought her right in to the room after I was transferred. Then we started our stay. Daddy stayed at the hospital every night while we were there. He was smitten with his little girl from the start! All the nurses joked that he hated it when they had to take her to the nursery. Here's a pic after her first bath. Notice the mowhawk and her "Misplaced Texan" hat that GrandNan had made specially for Marley and Daddy.

GrandNan and Aunt Sarah were at the hospital with us all day Friday and GrandDad stopped in for the afternoon and evening but I don't have those pictures. Aunt Sarah and GrandNan have those...once I get them I'll post them.

Marley also had a slew of visitors on Saturday. Momma Lock, Kristin and Erin and Justin Porter came to visit in the morning. Russ, Mandy and their daughter Hayley came to visit in the afternoon and Dave and Reka came to visit that night. They chatted with us a little bit but Marley was DEFINITELY the center of attention (as to be expected) :)So, Marley did have to be treated for her jaundice. They noticed, when they did the test on Sunday morning at 3 AM that her levels had started to climb so they decided to retest her before treatment. They retested her at 4 PM and sure enough they had continued to climb so they decided to treat her with phototherapy. This was hard for me, first because I was certain that she was going to have to get the therapy in the nursery (which she didn't) and because once we started to treat her we couldn't hold her anymore because she had to stay on the light bed in the papoose. I got over it though when her levels started to come back down on Monday morning. They decided to leave her on the lights anway and retested her again around 3 PM on Monday afternoon which was when they decided we could go home (as long as we were able to make an appointment with her pediatrician for the next day). Here she is on the light bed.So we were discharged on Monday evening. Here I am with Marley all dressed to go home. This is the same dress that I came home from the hospital in 28 years ago. We had to get her a sweater and some tights because March is a little cooler than August, but the sentiment was there. The beautiful hat was knit especially for Marley by Hilary.In the car seat...we're getting closer to home...Finally home and in the cradle that Great Grandpa Endicott made 28 years ago for Daddy. Every baby in Daddy's family, from Daddy on, has slept in this cradle and each one has a nameplate with thier birthday engraved on it! Very, very special. Thanks Granny and Pop, for sending it all the way from Texas!!

So things are going GREAT! I had to wake her up last night to feed her. I think if we let her she would sleep all day and all night! We went to the pediatrician today and they said all looks good. We do have to go back on Friday because prior to leaving the hospital she had lost over 8% of her weight and though she gained back an ounce between yesterday morning and today at the doctors, they want to see her again soon to make sure she continues to put on weight.

I know that I've left out a ton...but I'll continue to post once I remember more...I'm a little tired right now.

Oh, we also had her picture taken at the hospital on Sunday. Not many kids have pictures this nice from when they were 2 days old. Here's the link to take a look...

http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=23c423dd-04d9-4e1e-8ed5-3f0ec5cd13d9

ENJOY!