Baby Oren is Here- Part 4

Visitors, Going Home & Recovery

We are incredibly blessed... we were showered with so much love from friends and family at the hospital. Starting Tuesday morning, the day after Evangeline was born, we had a non-stop flood of visitors until the day we left. It was absolutely wonderful! The nurses commented on the crazy amount of visitors for one family. The excitement from our friends and family on our newest arrival was such an encouragement to us. We even had a very special friend (Brian Solomon) drive over 2 hours early Tuesday morning to meet Evie and pray for her. What a special time for us. It meant so much to see him walk through our door that morning. It spoke such volumes to us. Thanks Brian. You made our day!

Going Home!

Evie was born Monday, March 28th and we were discharged from the hospital on Thursday, March 31st. We were definitely ready to go get Mekonen and get settled in back at home. I just could not wait to see my boy and couldn't wait for us to reconnect. It took us all morning to get paperwork done and get all our stuff together. Our car was packed!!! All I could think was, "Wow. And we only have two kids!" Mekonen was extremely excited to climb into the backseat and be headed home. He got in, and peered over the side of Evie's carseat and said, "Baby Evie!!" It was so cute.

Evie in her going home outfit. She looks a little worried about joining our family. Haha. 

Mommy putting Evie in her carseat. Wow. I remember when we first put Mekonen in this carseat at the Indy airport. It was hard getting Evie in it because she is just so tiny. I was afraid I was going to break her arms. 

Awww....ready to go home!!! (And we think she looks like her Grandma Magz in this picture). 

Recovery

Recovery has been good and bad all at the same time. Well into the 2nd day at the hospital I found out you had to actually ASK for pain medication. What?? And why on earth didn't anyone tell me! Apparently, once the pain meds are not administered via IV, you have to ask for them. I didn't know this. It didn't don on anyone to tell me until they saw me bawling on the side of the bed while Jon literally picked me up out of it because I couldn't move. Argh. Moving to new positions was painful. Once I got in a position, the pain would be okay. But if I stood up, or sat back down after standing, it was quite painful. Trying to roll over in bed was the worst. After just a few days, the belly pain wasn't too bad and was manageable. But it was the incision that gave me the worst time. 

Before leaving the hospital, my doctor said it looked like my incision was getting infected so she gave me an antibiotic. Over the weekend, my incision became extremely red and was raised quite a bit (you could see it through my clothing). I called the maternity center Sunday and asked about it and they told me to call the on-call doctor right away. Since I was on an antibiotic she said I would be okay until the morning and then I needed to get to the doctor the next morning. So I went. My doctor ended up switching my antibiotic and wanted me to come back in a couple days. She said something at that appointment about draining it, but that we didn't need to (which I was glad for). But over the next two days it got worse, and I was back. My doctor took one look at it and said, "Please tell me you took pain meds before you came." Then, I was nervous! I told her yes and she said, "Ok. good because we couldn't do this without it." She proceeded to re-open my incision and drain it. No numbing medicine or anything. Um yeah. That weekend it still wasn't getting any better. Next appointment we found out that I had staph infection (which I guess can be extremely dangerous). Then they reopened the incision again and drained it again. Ugh. Twice? Seriously? And the second time I hadn't take my pain medication quite so close to appointment time.

All that to say, the incision has been difficult, but the rest of the c-section pain/recovery has been good. Every day it got better and better, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The hardest part is not being able to lift things and not being able to get back into working out yet. The doctor said pretty much anything heavier than Evie is too much. This was especially difficult for Mekonen who keeps wanting me to pick him up. Jon has been wonderful. Doing so much around the house and with the kids, all while taking care of me. What a great guy! Jon's mom came over everyday the first week I was home and was a tremendous help with Mekonen and driving me back and forth to the doctor's. Then the following week my parents came and my mom was able to stay for the next week. What a huge help and blessing! I was extremely sad to see her leave this past Sunday. Mekonen keeps asking, "Grandma come over???"  We also had a pretty consistent flow of visitors and offers for help from so many friends. So thanks to everyone!! 

Baby Oren is Here- Part 3

Mekonen Meets His Baby Sister
(Click here for Part 1)
(Click here for Part 2)

As soon as I got back from the recovery room, Jon's mom and dad came and brought Mekonen to meet his sister. (I might cry even typing this). It was a very sweet time for us and we chose not to have anyone else in the room, but the four of us, and no cameras or videos. We wanted him to meet her in the most comfortable, non-threatening way possible. It was perfect. I was in the bed with Evie and Jon went out to get Mekonen and came back in. Jon had tears running down his face, something I can say I have seen only a small handful of times. Mekonen was very quiet, but in a peaceful observant way. He reached out and touched her head. We all sat together on the bed and told Mekonen about his baby sister. I think he was the first person we told her name and the first person she was introduced to. These first few moments as a family together were incredibly special to us. I didn't know it was possible to love these two kids so much. We are extremely blessed. 

Mekonen, Grandpa ("Boppy") and Grandma Magz with Evie on her birthday!

After introducing Evie to her Grandpa Oren and Grandma Magz, Mekonen started warming up a bit to the room and all the activity going on, except for me! After the initial meeting Evie and seeing Mommy those few moments, Mekonen got very weird about me. He wouldn't come near me or the hospital bed. It broke my heart. It had nothing to do with Evie I don't think, because he was fine with her and would talk to her, touch her, etc. But if she was near me, he kept his distance. Jon took Evie from me and we tried to get Mekonen to come sit with me, give me a hug, etc. and he said in a scared, quiet, voice, "no, no." I reached out to touch his head and he backed away. That's when we realized what it was. My IV and hospital bracelets. Mekonen had blood taken several times this past year and had an IV. It was a traumatic experience for him and ever since he has been totally weirded out by hospitals and people in scrubs. He saw the IV in my hand, which is where his was, and he got freaked out. I also think he sensed that Mommy wasn't feeling well and had a "boo-boo." He left that night with his Grandma and Grandpa and I just cried (as I did most nights when he left). For our whole hospital stay he wouldn't come near me, or the bed. We eventually coerced him to sit on the bed when Barney was on. :) As soon as they took my IV out a day later we thought he would be fine, but then he got freaked out by my hospital bracelets. 

We got Mekonen a special gift from his baby sister to her big brother- two stuffed dinosaurs! It was so cute. We sat them next to each other and told Mekonen that Evie got him a special present for being her big brother. He was very excited at the matchbox cars gift bag and absolutely loved the "dinos" inside. 

The dinos giving "Baby Ebie" kisses! 

Mekonen's special treats at the hospital were watching Barney and drinking chocolate milk (and of course entertaining our visitors and the nursing staff).

Once we got home, Mekonen was a little leary of me for a few hours, but then realized the IV wasn't coming back and the bracelets were gone, and he was doing much better. It took all evening for me to get him to come close and a couple days for him to pursue me, like sitting with me, etc. But now he is doing perfectly fine and showing all his usual affection towards me, which is good for this Mama's heart. I'm not sure I could've taken it any longer. But through it all, he has been great with Evie! 

Baby Oren is Here- Part 2

(Click here for Part 1)
"It's a...

BOY!!!

No wait....

Girl...It's a Girl!"

Confused? Yep! We were too! Those were the words we heard as the doctor pulled our baby girl from my belly! As you all know, we waited until delivery to find out the sex of our baby. But we never thought it would be a really big surprise! 

After almost 24 hours of labor and much discussion with our doctor about the need for a c-section, I was emotionally drained and exhausted from all that happened in the previous long hours. So there I sat, crying, as the doctor said I was too small, the baby was too big, she was sideways, and not coming out on her own. My doctor is awesome and was so encouraging and supportive. As she was talking to my emotional self she said, "Girlfriend, we have known all along from the ultrasound that this is a big boy you have." I was stunned! All I could think was, "Did she seriously just give the sex of the baby away? After all this I don't even get a surprise at the end?" A few minutes later the doctor left the room and Jon said, "So I guess we're having a boy!" I laughed and said, "I guess so!" We knew the end was in sight and were feeling relieved... we talked and chatted about having a boy and his name, and were now excited to meet him. 

They wheeled me into the operating room and one of the nurses who was getting me all set up said, "So, does HE have a name?" And now I was thinking, "Okay, we are definitely having a boy." I said to the nurse, "Yes we do. But we'll wait to announce it until we see him." A few minutes later they started the c-section. It was much faster than I thought and before I knew it, my doctor was suctioning her nose and mouth and pulling her out. While doing this she was saying things like, "You've got a good size boy here!" "Wait until you see his head, he was not coming out on his own." She then pulls Evie all the way out and announces, "It's a boy!" (Now remember, Jon is standing next to her videoing the birth). As soon as she announced "it's a boy" Jon got the funniest look on his face. As Jon was getting that look on his face the doctor realized she made a mistake and said, "No wait. Girl. It's a Girl!" Then you hear me say, "IT'S A GIRL?!?!?!" It was absolutely hilarious. I just started bawling because she started crying right as they announced her and it made my heart leap! A baby girl. We had a girl. I just couldn't believe it!

"Hey!!! I'm not a boy! I'm a girl!!"

As the nurses cleaned her up under the warmer, I kept staring over at her saying, "It's a girl? Really? It's really a girl?" I was just so shocked! For the majority of the pregnancy, I was convinced we were having a boy, and I was pretty much 100% convinced going into the surgery due to the doctor and nurse's  comments. 

Crazy! So, in the end, we really did get a good surprise and we couldn't be happier! She is perfect! :) 

Baby Oren is Here- Part 1

It's PINK! PINK! and more PINK!

We are excited to announce the arrival of

Evie

Evangeline Rae Oren

Born @ 3:53pm on March 28th

7 lbs. 19 1/4 inches

Wow! What an experience! I will say in addition to the first time I met my son, this was one of the most joyful and emotional days... stocked full of the expected and the unexpected. In the end, after 24 hours of labor, God blessed us with another little one, and to our great surprise... a baby girl! 

How It All Began

• Sunday morning in church I was joking with friends about this baby staying inside until at least 41 weeks. My due date was the next day (March 28th). During church, my stomach was feeling "funny" kind of pain, but not really. It wasn't any kind of pain I could time or count. I didn't think anything of it. 
• I was nauseous and threw up Saturday morning (surprise, surprise) and felt sick to my stomach eating a piece of pizza at lunch on Sunday. (Apparently nausea and vomiting can be a sign of labor starting soon).
• At 4pm, Jon and I laid down to take a nap. Within minutes, Jon was fast asleep and I heard a soft "pop!" I laid there, frozen for a second, wondering what was going on. I ran to the bathroom and sure enough my water broke (although I wasn't quite sure and didn't want to jump the gun). I went back to the bedroom and told Jon, "Hey! I think my water just broke!"
• All of your water doesn't come out right away in most people, and the second time I noticed it was a greenish color (which is an indication that the baby pooped in utero). 
• I called the doctor who said I needed to come in within an hour and a half so the baby can be monitored due to the green water, etc. I was hoping if I wasn't far along (like my consistent 1 cm) , that they would let us go home and come back a little later. Our original plan was to labor the majority of hours at home to be most comfortable, able to move around, etc. She said it all depended on whether the water really was green, which they would find out when we got there. 
• I took an incredibly fast shower, and we raced around our house like crazy, putting my bag together, and Mekonen's. I thought I would have much more time to do this. Oops!! :) 
• We dropped Mekonen off with some good friends and headed to the hospital! On the way there, contractions were starting to get somewhat painful. 

"Cheese!!" It's Baby Day!!! 

Of course...texting! Letting family and friends know Baby O. was on its way! 

Baby on the Way!

• We arrived at the hospital at 6:30pm and got all checked in. As soon as I walked into the room I was feeling quite nervous, anxious, excited, and everything else you can imagine. 
• It was confirmed that the baby did poop in utero so I would have to stay at the hospital instead of going back home. They checked me and I was only 1cm! Of course. haha. I knew it would be a long night! :) 
• I cannot say enough in praise of my husband. He was amazing...right there through the highs and lows of a very long night and day. I COULD NOT have gone through all of this without him. Wow. I love this guy. 

• After a tiring night, I was ten centimeters by 7am. When she finally announced ten, I got this huge surge of excitement! Surely, I'd be meeting Baby O. soon!!! (But I guess "soon" is a relative term). 
• I started pushing at 9:22am. After 3 exhausting hours of pushing, we weren't seeing much progress and my pain was getting considerably worse and I was scared. The pain shifted from contractions in my stomach to severe back pain and pain in my right hip. It was uncontrollable. Likes knives and electric wires shooting through my bones and down my legs. Holy moly I didn't think I would survive! 
• The mix of this incredible surge of pain and no progress after 3 hours of what the nurse called excellent pushing, they went to get my doctor to see what was going on. Turns out that three major factors were colliding all at the same time.
  1. I was simply too small.
  2. Baby was simply too big.
  3. Evie was not in the birth canal face down (most natural way), or face up (happens a lot, but very painful). She was in the more uncommon and painful position of sideways (transverse). She was already sideways IN the birth canal hence the excruciating pain when I started pushing (the actual pushing didn't hurt. It actually felt better to push, but between the pushing was horrific). 

• I continued to labor for another 1 1/2 hours or so and tried laying in different positions to get her to turn. But she wouldn't budge. 
• My doctor came back in and said there are only two options:
  1. A forceps delivery- which the doctor said would be dangerous for me and the baby given where she was positioned and could cause significant damage for both of us.
  2. A c-section. Most people don't "want" a c-section, and I was no different. But afte more discussion with the doctor it was determined that the c-section was the only option, and there was no way the baby would be coming out otherwise. 

• Somewhere around 2:30pm the decision was made and Baby O. would be arriving via the knife (c-section). They would be back in a half hour to get us so we could go meet our babe. Time to get "dressed up"!!! Doesn't Jonny look so cute in his scrubs! :) 

Me and my sexy marshmallow head! We couldn't wait to meet this babe! 

It's GO TIME!!!! They wheeled me in at 3:30pm. I think I went through every emotion possible in the previous 24 hours. I also hadn't slept since Saturday night (it's now Monday afternoon), and I was relieved that the end was in sight. Evie was born just 23 minutes later at 3:53pm. 

Eeeeeeeek!!!!! Pink???? Blue????

By my face this might have been one of two times: when someone said, "oh no. I dropped a needle" or when someone said "start counting." I yelled from behind my curtain..."This is getting creepy!" And my doctor said, "Don't worry.Just counting to make sure we left no instruments inside." Yikes!!

At 3:53pm we got a huge surprise!! A Baby Girl!!! (It was even more of a surprise at this point in the process than just the fact that we waited to find out the gender until birth). That story will be in "Part Two" coming next post!

My doctor is amazing by the way. She let Jon stand right next to her during the surgery and take video and pictures. So, so cool! Most doctors (from what I hear, and friends' experiences) make the dad sit on a stool behind the curtain next to the wife's head and won't let him stand up and watch nevermind video. Jon was up there asking questions about what was what, etc. It was so fun to watch the video of her arrival after. So cool. 

Remember how I pushed for three hours with her head sideways??? Here's the proof!! Just look at that conehead! Poor Evie Rae! What a trooper she is! :) One day she will hate me for posting this. 

6 lbs. 15.7 oz. which they declared an even 7 lbs. And yep, the doctor said a seven pound baby was too big for me. Seriously? Oh my!

Evie meeting Mommy for the first time. I think she is mad I squished her head into a point. I tried to make amends telling her I would put a cute bow on the top of it. 

 An almost complete first family picture! Jon looks adorable, my marshmallow head??? not so adorable, and where is Evie???

In recovery holding Evie which was difficult due to the crazy shakes I had from the medication. I was so scared I was going to drop her. I kept looking at her thinking, "I cannot believe we have a girl!!!" Perfect. Absolutely perfect!! 

We are overjoyed...