May the Fourth Be With You

Welcome to the world, James Turner Coats the Fourth!

The highlights:

-- The epidural DID NOT WORK. Not fully, anyway. I was ready to push before any numbness started. Labor just went that fast. Later, during recovery, my only real pain was from the epidural site in my back. Irony....

--I may not remember her name, but the amazing L&D nurse (a quiet and rather introverted young woman, who was not in the least bit obnoxious with her "push-push-push"es and counting [why the counting???]), wore a peacock feather on her headband, and the image of that will forever be imprinted in my brain.

--He was placed on my chest immediately after being born, which was something that I sorely missed with K. (She was born "stunned" and whisked away for oxygen.)

--He was 8 pounds 11 ounces, 21 inches.

--The epidural did. Not. Work.



--The pitocin was given at sunrise, 7:45 a.m. He was born 4 hours later at 12 noon on 3/12/12, the first day of the SXSW music festival.

--There was not a decent hotel room available in all of central TX for the grandparents and their dog, thanks to SXSW. (They left the next day anyway due to crazy, ill-timed illness....)

--The doctor who was on call for delivery was next door delivering another baby when he started crowning. And they asked me to wait and NOT PUSH. That is the last thing you want to hear at a time like that! That is like asking a swimmer coming up for air to just wait a minute and not breathe. Or something like that.... I'm sure the look I gave T read part, "WTF?!" and part, "Get ready to catch your son!"

--The first time K saw her little brother.



--His coming home hat and blankie that I made, which all the nurses commented on :)



--How his little face has changed in just a few short weeks.



--All the memories we are just beginning to make together.....



There is a lot I don't remember about K's birth, or her newborn phase, but I'm pretty sure these overwhelming feelings of gratitude and being "blessed" are new. There seemed to be a little more worry and risk associated with this pregnancy, either real or imagined. I was of "advanced maternal age" but I also had a 6.5 year old at home who understood what was going on and was so concerned mommy was going to have her belly cut open and go to heaven. Just a little guilt to add to my own paranoia.

Ironically, I would categorize everything about baby #2 and his arrival as "Easier." Luckily, everything went smoothly, and aside from being induced 6 days early due to his size, there were no medical issues to speak of. He's a strong, healthy boy who didn't even have jaundice -- one of the numerous, albeit minor, things we experienced with K.... I don't want to start comparing siblings, nor do I want jinx anything, but he is far less fussy than I remember his sister being, and breastfeeds like a champ. It was a rough start for K in that department. Some of this may be because we're more experienced parents, some of it may be his temperament (here's hoping!) Either way, we are so happy he's here. So thankful. So blessed....