I was scheduled for 5:15 in the morning. Five-fifteen in the morning. Of course I couldn't sleep. I mean, we were about to add another cute little girly to our family. I woke up at 3:30 for one of my usual bathroom trips and decided I might as well start getting ready. I knew once I had my c-section hygiene won't be my first priority.
Once we got to the hospital they took us to a room and had me get in a gown. Before I knew it they were walking me down to the operating room. Once I was given the spinal block and it kicked in it was baby time. It always amazes me how quickly it goes - you walk in and an hour or two later you have a baby.
Our little girl was born with what the doctor called "sticky lung". Her lungs had fluid in them so they wouldn't inflate on their own. Once she was taken into the nursery they put a CPAP mask on her to inflate her lungs so they could dry out. Even after that she still had a hard time breathing on her own, so they had to hook her up to oxygen. She also had low blood sugar, so with that and the breathing she had to stay in the NICU. I wasn't allowed to nurse her until she figured out her breathing which meant that she also had to have an IV.
We were lucky enough to be in the hospital at the same time that Mister's brother and his wife were also in the hospital with their new little girl. They were down just a few rooms from us. We really wanted to get a picture of our two girls together, so one of the nurses broke the rules and snuck our little one down to us before she was put in the level two nursery.
Mister and I wanted to give baby sister a blessing before she was taken away again, but that also meant that we needed to decide on a name. Up to this point, I was leaning towards the names Quin or Paige, and Mister was leaning towards the names Lynn and Avery. As soon as Mister asked what her name should be I instantly felt like Avery Lynn was the name for her. That was that, our little girl now had her name, and Mister and his brother were able to give her a blessing before she was wheeled away.
I had no doubt in my mind that Avery wouldn't be okay even after we had many visits from different people talking to us about taking oxygen tanks home, or her not coming home at all. Her not coming home didn't even phase me. I knew she was ours and that Ellie was going to be able to meet her baby sister. Avery was going to be fine and she was coming home with us. That first day in the hospital I saw little Avery for a total of about ten minutes. It almost didn't feel like we had a baby at all. It didn't help that I was super drugged up and really tired from lack of sleep. The next day went much better.
After a C-section you have nurses checking on you constantly for the first 24 hours, even during the middle of the night. It was nice this time around though because I was given constant updates on our little girl. I found out at one o'clock in the morning Avery was taken off oxygen because she was breathing on her own. That was such good news. She needed to stay in the NICU for blood sugar monitoring, but I was able to nurse her. My mom brought Ellie the next day to meet Avery. It was such a great experience. Ellie thought she was so cute, but was a little concerned about the "stickers" on her face. Even when we got home Ellie remembered them and asked where they went.
It was fun visiting with my mom and getting to see my big girl. It still hadn't registered that I was a mom to both of these sweet little girls. That didn't hit until we got home, and then it hit hard. The rest of our stay at the hospital was pretty uneventful. I would slowly meander down to the level two nursery with Mister to feed Avery every couple of hours. Other than that we just sat around and watched the winter Olympics.
The evening of our second day at the hospital we were surprised with the good news that Avery was out of the NICU and able to stay with us in our room. It was so nice to be able to cuddle with her all night, and to have her tubeless. Avery's blood sugar was still being checked every couple of hours. That poor girl had to get her foot poked every two hours until they were satisfied with her levels. She was such a champ.
That night my dad was in town and was able to stop by to visit. I have a feeling that baby Avery and he are going to be good friends. The following morning we got the okay from Avery's doctor for her to go home with us. We were so excited! After lunch we made sure we had all of our paperwork done so we could be discharged, and before we knew it we were on our way home.
I remember when we got home I sat on the couch and started crying. Our life in this house had always just been Ellie, and our life at the hospital had just been Avery. Our worlds were colliding. I was overjoyed, terrified, excited, and overwhelmed. Luckily I have a rockstar husband on my side.
