About the pix...Matt is kissing Simon after Simon took a tumble from a chair onto the concrete floor. At that point we delayed our ride home to make sure Simon didn't show signs of a concussion. We figured a hospital was a good place to be in for the time. Besides, at our planned leaving time, Evie needed to be fed, Simon fell, and traffic would have been bad, so we just took it easy and waited until 7:30 to leave. Kind of funny to leave on Halloween night, and our route home from the hopital is downtown Elm street to I=35.
There's a couple of pix of Matt that make me laugh. We forgot to pack him socks, so he had to wear the pink slippers you can see by the hospital bed until one of our nurses offered to bring him socks as you can see his is wearing the slipper socks in the pic he is in with Scott.
You can see Simon in one picture readjusting the thermostat by the door. He would change it unbeknownst to us and then we would all be freezing fairly soon! It was a battle between him and Matt ! Matt picked up Simon downstairs at the hospital and took him to eat at Chickfila in the hospital cafeteria while my friend Debi (who brought/kept Simon) came up to visit Evie and I. Later, Matt brought Simon up and I met them at the door of our room and Matt videotaped Simon walking in. Evie was in her rolling bassinet (heard it was a good idea if the mom/dad weren't holding the new sibling at the first meeting.)
Actually, I was holding Simon I think and wow, is he heavy! I haven't picked him up in a couple of months and in addition to that, I think he grew and inch while away from us and he seems so much bigger. I know the hair has a lot to do with it. My friends think I cut his hair to make life easier for awhile but that's not the case. I trimmed his curls; they looked horrible; Matt cut it all off; I'm hoping it grows back curly! On the plus side, it is easier to maintain, Simon looks like more of a big brother, and I think I will find it easier to be consistent with discipline since he's lost the curls that made him look so innocent!
Overall this hospital stay was completely different than the one three years ago. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the best, this visit is a 10 and the one years past was a 5. I think several things made a difference:
1) Getting to the hospital at 6 a.m. to have the baby after a semi-full night's sleep vs. coming at 6 p.m. with little energy and mobility saved from the day.
2) Bringing LOTS of our own pillows made labor more comfortable and made sleeping there more comfy.
3) Not wearing the hospital gowns (except once for about 10 min. when I had an unexpected early visitor on Tues. a.m - the pediatrician and my midwife's assistant)
4) A longer hospital stay Mon. AM - Wed. PM made for less stress and more transition than Wed pm - Friday pm
5) Humor. Maybe since we were more comfortable since it is our second and less intimated by the whole process of the hospital, a new baby, etc. Here are some funny moments I remember:
* Matt videotaping as we drove I-35 to downtown Dallas and as we neared Baylor, I faked/overacted during a contraction.
* Well, this wasn't funny at the time, but I think they thought I really wasn't in labor and that would have been disappointing. They weren't sure my water had broken, and my contractions slowed down when I had to lay down for Evie to be monitored for 20 min. She wasn't moving much so I had to drink lots of juice and then she moved some but not enough for them, so then the nurse pulled out something and 'shocked' my belly. Evie surely moved then and I joked, "Did you just use a tazer on my baby?" Anyway, I was in labor - dialated 5 and besides, about 5 hours later Evie was here!
* It was funny as we left for the hospital that I had this VERY DETAILED checklist I was going over to make sure we had everything and going over details with Debi for Simon. Debi thought it was hilarious and impressive that I was so organized and together! At one point I even went back to curl my hair a bit and I tried to hide what I was doing discreetly to avoid more good-hearted teasing about how calm I was in labor!
* The last half hour or so of labor definitely wasn't funny and I surprised myself by not getting drugs of any kind. I think once I hit a certain point the epidural would have been pointless as to getting an anesthetist, etc, there in time, and it was easy to decide not to get narcotics b/c they affect the baby much more than an epi would, if it affects them at all. Thankfully, Matt didn't put the option out there and my midwife didn't either, and I would't go there (though I think I would have if Matt had asked me if I wanted something.) Anway, I'm proud of myself for doing something I honestly thought I wouldn't do, and I even asked for a 'heploc' at the hospital which is where they put a tube inside your vein in case you want an IV later it would take hardly anytime to get relief through that. So, I was there with the option for drugs as close as my arm but with Matt's amazing help and support, we did it! Would I do it that way again? NEVER! Anyway, so the humorous part is how much I sounded like a toddler the last 15 minutes or so. And I realized it at the time that I sounded like one and even said, "I'm sorry I am acting like a toddler, but I can't help it!" Susan might ask me to get on the bed and I would say/scream, "I don't want to get on the bed." Or, during the 9 minutes (but felt like forever) of pushing, "I want water" I might yell and the nurse would jump up to get it and I would reply/yell, "But I don't want to drink it!"
* When it was over, I said, "Is that the end of the third stage of labor?" Seriously. That quote is verbatim.
* When we were taken up to our postpartum room (ended up with biggest one on the floor somehow though we didn't bribe anyone or anything) I was in a wheelchair being wheeled by the nurse who attended the birth and we passed a restroom labeled STAFF RESTROOM and I joked that I wouldn't want to use anything in a hospital labeled Staff restroom (b/c of staff infections...)
* Oh, part of Matt's coaching was to remind me during labor that the contractions were just the muscles of the uterus 'opening the door' to let Evie out. Matt got quite the workout during labor physically. Good thing he's been working out at the gym most weekdays. He said that's why he's been going to be more help during labor; it takes a lot of strength for the coach as he had to keep holding me up, etc. Anyway, the funny part of this is that in the days following Evie's birth I would have fairly painful contractions while she nursed which was the uterus doing the opposite, shrinking, and Matt come up and joke, "Your uterus is not opening its door. Evie is not coming out."
* Our room was at the end of the hall making it really private and I don't mean this boastfully, but I think we were the favorites with nurses. I think we were so easy that they would request us again. One even said we were fun and that's why she liked us! I felt so much better than I had with Simon (I contribute that to several things: not recovering from drugs/epi, wearing my own clothes I think was the biggest help, the fact that we had been here/done that before, not being surprised by the sleep deprivation) FUNNY PART: Matt admitted he felt like we were at a hotel with room service that would knock and say, "Nutrition" when they brought me up a meal. Now Matt jokes when he brings me a snack here at home, "NUTRITION," he'll all out. And our room had two tvs, cable, wireless internet, a view of the city, Matt went for a jog on Tuesday downtown and when he came back our nurse was in the room with us and thought it was funny that he'd been jogging. She said, "Really?" And Matt had sushi with him that he's bought in the hospital cafeteria which I know sounds sketchy but that a.m. he'd seen a suchi chef making it fresh. We were frequenters of the Starbucks downstairs (decaf of course). So, I can see where it would feel like a hotel to Matt. Not so much to me, being woken up in the night to have my vitals checked or blood drawn or nursing a VERY SLEEPY infant. I can't imagine a hotel taking my blood.
* FUNNY STORY OF WHEN LABOR BEGAN. We were home in bed and around 4 contractions began that I couldn't ignore so I decided this might be it and I should take a shower. So, I woke Matt up and said, "I think I"m in labor, I'm going to go ahead and get a shower." Matt opened his eyes, looked at me, responded, "Really?" And then he turned over to go back to sleep. I thought it was funny at the time and said, "Is that what I get for the second child, you just rolling over?" And Matt mumbled, "I figured I'd get some more sleep."
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