Our Baby Boy

I am finally home. 

I am home... I am sitting on my couch.. and I figure I should sit and write this story down before I get too distracted.

And it is quite the story.

Let's start with the good though.. 

Meet this beautiful baby of ours.. 

Ross Alton Brantingham

February 4th, 2011

8lbs. 12 oz, 20.5 inches long 

He is absolutely perfect. 

And such a perfect baby.. 

Alert, observes the world around him, makes little whines without the real cry, such a cuddlier...

Seriously the best baby.

Although I am sure our neighbors would not agree with how last night went. The poor guy has had an upset stomach, but I swear neighbors... He is the best baby when he doesn't have the poor tummy problems.

I will still purchase some ear plugs in bulk just in case.

But man does this little munchkin make loving him so super easy, and this love.. This feeling that we have is unbelievable. I honestly had no idea I could love someone this much.. And we are just in complete awe of it all.

It honestly feels like he has been in our family forever.

The wonderful Dr. Prince

The cutest baby alive - It's ok, you can admit it too. 

I guess now is the time to tell how this little man came into the world.  

I was set to go into the hospital Friday, February 4th at 7:30am to be induced.

We got everything together the night before and just to ensure that it was a peaceful night's rest, you know, because those would possibly be few and far between, we both took Tylenol PM. 

Our pills kicked in and we literally had our heads on the pillow for maybe 10 min. when my water decided to break. You can imagine how funny it was getting us out the door when we were as loopy as we were. It became known pretty fast among the hospital staff as well.. I would have loved to see us walk into that hospital too.

I got checked in and the wonderful waiting game started.

It wasn't until Friday Morning, just like originally planned, that they started the patosin. Contractions were pretty decent, in fact super decent, but they were not regular and there was certainly no consistency.. so the waiting just continued.

I was certainly not going to do the whole labor thing without drugs, but the anesthesiologist didn't get to me until about noon... By that point I wanted that epidural so badly that I almost kissed the man. I can now fully appreciate why that man is the most loved man in the whole building.

By the time the drugs kicked in, I was super happy.. Things were going really well in fact. He would kick every time I had a contraction so it became a fun game to see how hard they were getting based on little Ross's kicks.

The longer it went, and the more waiting that was happening, the more annoyed everyone was getting. It really wasn't that bad though just because I had the miracle drug, but wow were we bored. You pack activities for yourself, but you don't expect to have a 24 hour labor... so our activities were running thin.

Very thin.

And it was seriously the longest day ever. I was not really able to sleep with them coming in and out of the room checking my vitals, and they weren't letting me eat so my exhaustion was getting pretty bad.

By about 7pm Friday, I could tell that my epidural was wearing off. Not exactly what you want to happen when you know labor could be getting closer. They let me get more of the miracle drug, but I started to get panicked... No one wants to know that you will most likely feel everything.. Granted, it would've been an even longer day had it worn off sooner.. So I guess I should count my lucky stars that it was toward the end that it was happening.

Regardless - I was panicked. A nurse kept reassuring me that there was still some of the drug in me.. But wow, if that was birth with an epidural, I most certainly will never ever ever want natural labors.

Ever.

A little side note to that nurse: I could've easily been more numb, but I will try not to hold that against you.

By about 8pm they started to have me push and come 9pm the baby was still not there and I was so extremely drained by this point, with the whole day, that it was literally taking everything out of me.

I could hardly push and I just remember feeling so drained that I felt like I was looking at everything happening instead of actually being there. People started to spin a bit and my vision was starting to get really weak. My pushing wasn't doing that much either because I just didn't have it in me.

The Doctor came around 9:15pm and Ross came super soon after that.

Unfortunately the poor guy had to be vacuumed out, but thankfully.. because I was really not able to push that hard. He has a big goose egg on his head because of it and some times when he is having tiny bad dreams we feel like he is reliving his birthing experience.. I can only imagine how scary that would be for a little guy.

I wish I could describe the pain at that point.. I knew something was not right because I had felt things pulling that shouldn't have been pulling.. And then with the epidural gone.. I just tried to focus on the relief of having Ross out of me. 

I was finally able to breathe.

However, my exhaustion was so extreme and I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours.. So I was starting to get extremely dizzy.. and I mean extreme. They put him on my stomach and I could barely even see straight, let alone be able to take that moment in. 

And that is what I wish I could take back, that feeling.

I remember right as the pushing was getting to be too much, Rob leaned over to comfort me to give me some confidence in continuing. He made mention to the feeling in the room with the coming of this precious Child of God. I remember trying to embrace the feeling.. and I did, but only for a small moment. The dizziness and exhaustion just completely took over. I wish I could take that moment back so I could really focus on the beauty that was happening in the midst of it all. 

After they put Ross on my stomach, all I remember at this point was Rob going to see him and the nurses swarmed around me. 

I looked down at the Doctor briefly and I have never seen that much blood in one place.

I had no idea what was happening because I was coming in and out .. all I wanted was for everyone to just go the heck away. I thought I was done. The baby was out, I heard him cry.. I could not understand why I was still hurting as bad as I was or why the Doctor was still poking and prodding me. 

The rest is a complete blur, and honestly.. My Mother and Husband should be writing this post because I was seriously not myself. 

The next hour or so went by pretty slowly.

From what I have been told about it all... 

There was some serious tearing that happened, and yes, I was not suprised based off what I was feeling during the birth.

So I got the baby out, then the Doctor was trying to find the root of the tear so that he could start stitching it all up.. But with all that blood it was taking forever - he was not my favorite person. 

For good reason though.

In the meantime my blood pressure was dropping... Drastically.

The lowest it got to was a 90 over 45, with a heart rate of 135... If I am reciting this correctly.

Not only that, I wasn't responding to any of the fluids they were trying to get into me and I was paler than pale.. Which is pretty hard seeing as I am naturally that way.

I was seeing stars, people were doubles, and if one more person touched me...

I just wanted to sleep and eat.

Thats it.

The poor Doctor was even worried.

He mentioned that to my Mom afterward, but also to me the next morning when he came to check on me..

It was just plain scary.

After he got me stitched up... Which I swear there are probably about 25 stitches down there.. They went to transport me to the "healing area" and they completely lost me. All I remember is a speeding wheelchair and I could not even focus. Closing my eyes seemed to make things even worse. People's mouths were moving, they were trying to talk to me and help me but nothing they were saying was sticking.

Absolutely nothing.

Thankfully I got some food in me about an hour later, and when I say food.. I mean we couldn't get it in my mouth fast enough.. Oranges seemed to be at the top of my list, which is ironic considering how low my iron is now.

By morning they decided that I didn't need the blood transfusion that they were originally planning on, and I seemed to just be shaky. Now my dizziness has subsided to only a few moments throughout the day and I am finally able to fully take in this beautiful baby boy.

But wow do things require so much more out of me. 

Tonight I gave him a bath and I was panting by the time I was done.

I guess the Doctor was not joking when he said that these blood cells that my body is recreating will be hard work.

All in all, it was a scary situation.. I am honestly glad that I was out of it for most of the event.

When we got settled afterward and I got all that food, Rob wouldn't stop kissing my cheeks and forehead.. He just kept saying that all the sudden the events of the night were catching up to him, and gosh were we so lucky that my Mom was there.

After Ross was born and things with me came rushing, they handed the baby off to my Mom because there was no one else to take him. The chances of her getting to Idaho in time was a miracle.

Not only that, but this whole thing is a complete miracle and looking at this Baby of ours just proves it.

I will most certainly never let myself go through labor again though, no matter how cute this little guy is.. C-Sections are looking extremely nice at the moment.. and I will have to have every Doctor from this point forward be aware of what happened this go around...

But the prize at the end, in many aspects, is worth it.

Does his cute face take away the memories? Certainly not..

But man will this cute face sure help me heal faster.