After Evi was born and everyone left our room, Beth, Devin, and I had a chance to catch our breath! Devin and I sent out a few texts about Evi's arrival... it was still so early which was crazy since we had been up so long!
Beth and Devin were starving. I had been so hungry until after labor and then I felt a bit nauseous. I threw up during my labors with Finley and Jude and my nurse, Sarah, picked up on me saying that and gave me some anti-nausea medicine. I was so thankful because I can't imagine throwing up on top of the natural childbirth!
Devin was so tired that he decided to get breakfast downstairs... the hospital food is actually pretty good at our hospital. I crave their grilled cheeses and had two while I was there! While Devin went to get food, Beth and I had a chance to just talk and it was so nice! With my other two kids, Beth was so sweet to give us time as a family and leave fairly quickly after the birth, but the way it worked out with Evi, we had some quality girl time together before she left.
I will be forever grateful for Beth's amazing gift to us... we absolutely have loved having her in the delivery room to take pictures and video so that Devin and I could be in the moment and not worrying about capturing certain things! I can't imagine it any other way and am always blown away when I see the pictures she was able to get!
Once Devin was back, Beth went to help Jan get the kids dressed and bring them up to the hospital. This enabled Devin and I to have some time together and enjoy our newest little girl! It was absolutely perfect how that worked out!
We set the video camera to record Finley and Jude coming in, but unfortunately, the button didn't get pushed correctly and we missed it. I will remember it forever though! It was the most amazing thing to see Finley meet her little sister! She came in and said/yelled "Mommy, Sweetie Pie is here!!!!!" and then once she actually got where she could see her, she said "I'm Finley! I'm your big sister!" and we told her that Sweetie Pie's real name is Evi so she was like "Evi, it is sooo nice to meet you. I love you so much!" Finley was so sweet and gentle.... She was enthralled with her! It was the most precious thing in the world!
Jude on the other hand was a mess! A hospital room is better than a playground to a 14.5 month old with a curious mind! He was everywhere. I so wanted to hold him because I was so excited to see both Finley and Jude, but he was too wiggly and I was too sore so I wasn't able to really hug and cuddle him the way I wanted to.
After we had a chance to bond as a family, Jan and Beth came back in and Beth continued to take amazing pictures for us. I absolutely love the ones she got of us as a family which says a lot since I'm super-picky and trying to take a decent picture of five people is nearly impossible! (She actually got more than one that I liked!!!!)
Soon after the pictures, they moved us out of labor and delivery and into our postpartum room. Jan took the kids back to her house and Beth headed home. I loved it because Finley told Beth that she couldn't take Evi... that she was ours and that we were getting to take her home! I loved that little bit of possessiveness... much like she was with Jude. I love that she wants and knows that Evi is OURS.
Devin and I then had a chance to get lunch and rest a little bit. We had nurses in and out and lots of friends and family stopping by. We love visitors at the hospital because sleeping is pretty difficult to come by with all the blood pressure checks, medicine doses, etc. With Jude, we didn't get any of this downtime so I couldn't have asked for a better experience. I literally held Evi from the time she was born until late that night... only giving her up when visitors came to see her. It was such wonderful bonding time!
By that evening, we were exhausted. When all the visitors were gone and it was time for bed, I was so in need of sleep. Unfortunately, Evi was pretty fussy (She reminds me so much of Finley because Finley was fussy the first night as well and was pretty alert all day.) and I couldn't get the bed set up where I could easily lean over into her isolet to comfort her. I knew that as exhausted as I was that if I pulled her into my bed that I would fall asleep with her on me and that scared me too much so every half hour or so, she'd fuss and wake us up. When my night nurse came in for the millioneth time, she could tell we were all struggling. I had been up 48 hours straight and was starting to feel a bit delusional. The night nurse was sooooo amazing. She just looked at me and said "I need to chart a few things, but I would be happy to take Evi and rock her in the rocking chair while I do it. I can easily do both and that way you can get some sleep and she can still be held." For me, it was the ideal solution because I just couldn't send Evi to the nursery not knowing if anyone would be comforting her!
I still didn't get much sleep, but was able to get about an hour before it was time for Evi to eat. Evi was calm after that and we all were finally able to sleep. I was sleeping so soundly when a random nurse came in. It was so frustrating. I can't even remember what she came in for, but it was something that wasn't necessary. After that, we were pretty much up. It was about 6 or so in the morning.
After that, Evi had her hearing test and everything looked great! Then we spent all day Wednesday much the way we did on Tuesday... friends in and out and time with just Evi. Devin went to pick Finley up from school and brought her up to the hospital. It was fun to get some time with just Finley.
Right before we were released the photographer came in... we actually had to ask about him coming and he hurriedly came in. The pictures he took were absolutely AWFUL. We were so tired and he was in such a hurry. It was so disappointing because the pictures of Jude last year were actually really good.
After we were discharged officially, we took Finley back to Jan and Johnny's. It was so fun to see Jude. I missed him! We decided to let Finley and Jude stay another night at their house so that we could hopefully catch up on more sleep.
Once home, we all fell asleep on the couch. We had planned to eat an early dinner and then go to bed by 8, but we ended up waking up at 8:30 p.m. and then Devin ran to get us some food. We ended up not getting to bed until around 10, but we slept sooooo much better than in the hospital! Thank goodness!
1 comment:
I love you. That's all. :)
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