Number three is here!

HE CAME INTO THIS WORLD SAFE AND SOUND!

Our beautiful little Trey has finally come to join our little family.  It was quite an exciting event and for details look to the end of this post.  Don't worry, there really isn't anything to gory.  Here are some pics of Trey's first day with us.  He's such an amazing little guy. :)

He was wide awake and very expressive only a few short hours after birth.

Ian and Kenya were so very excited to come and meet their little brother.   

So here are the details of our little guys birth:

About 5 weeks before his due date, I was having so pretty intense contractions.  The doctor was happy with this and told me that if I went into labor they wouldn't stop it and I could go VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean).  This was exactly what we wanted, so Brian, the kids and I spent much of our time taking long walks, bowling, playing at the Splash Pad and pool in order to further progress myself into labor.  

Around this time, my doctor had done another ultrasound to see how big he was getting and his positioning.  At the time, Trey was around 5 lbs 5 oz, which was great, but the down part was that he was OP or facing up rather than back.  Basically, he was not in proper position for birth, but at least he was small enough to roll over and that was what we were hoping for. 

Three weeks before his due date I was checked and 2 cm dilated.  Things were looking good.  Brian, the kids and I kept up our crazy fun and I continued to have contractions for about a solid week.  Nothing that would send us to the hospital, but enough to hopefully move things in the right direction. 

Then it stopped!  WHAT!!!  I was so upset.  The last 3 weeks of my pregnancy were stagnant.  Nothing!  Trey was quite the mover inside, but there was no contractions to speak of.  You'd think that with this little guy playing soccer inside me that things would continue to make progress, but NO!  Absolutely nothing! 

The last 2 visits to my doctor became less and less positive with the possibility of a VBAC.  My previous C-section scar was beginning to really bug me and hurt and Trey wasn't at all cooperative. He decided he like being OP and would get himself into birthing position. 

One week before I was due the doctor told me that she was not comfortable with Trey's size and him being OP for me to labor naturally.  She was worried about rupturing my uterus.  I felt frustrated at this because I had been looking forward to laboring naturally for the entire pregnancy, but I also knew/felt that my doctor was right and that it wouldn't be safe for Trey or Myself.  (Thankfully I had a WONDERFUL doctor and I felt very confident in her advice.) So off we were, scheduling a C-section for the little guy to be brought into this world.

On Monday, July 18th, Brian and I headed to the hospital.  It was the weirdest feeling, to be going in to give birth and have no signs of labor.  We took our time with paperwork, IV's and whatnot when we got there, settled into a room to wait for Dr. Gerow to come in and prep me and then then walked me down to the Surgical room.  It was quite weird to walk into the surgical room, lie down on the bed and wait as they spent about 15 minutes or so prepping me for surgery.  I will admit, I was nervous about the whole thing, mostly because it's surgery, but I had gotten a blessing from Brian and my dad before going in and I knew all would be fine.

It's and understatement to say that the whole event was surreal.  Brian was there by my head as I lay there on the table.  There were two female anesthesiologists by my head talking to me and making sure that the Spinal Block was working properly.  There were 3 female pediatric nurses awaiting Trey's arrival, 3-4 assisting nurses, my doctor and another doctor assisting my doctor.  It was an insanely full room! 

After I was numbed up and ready to go they started the surgery.  I could feel the pressure of what they were doing but no pain and I couldn't see anything but Brian's face and a few of the nurses who were at my head.  The nurses just kept talking to me, mostly random stuff not related to anything going on.  I think they were just trying to keep me calm. 

As Dr. Gerow was doing the surgery she mentioned a few things to me.  She said that the Uterine wall where my previous scar was placed was extremely thin and that she was glad that we had chosen to do the c-section because she felt very confident that if I had labored I would have ruptured.  She also said the Trey was no where near where he needed to be for natural birth because he was still OP. 

When she pulled him out he was screaming.  He must have been very comfortable and happy inside because he was quite willing to express his unhappiness about being pulled from his little world.  He screamed the whole time the nurses were cleaning him up and all up until he was wheeled out to the nursery.  I was able to catch a glimpse of him, but that was it.  Brian's first words were, "He looks nothing like the other two.  He's got his own look."  From what I could see, I agreed.  Brian headed off with Trey as they went to clean him up and I was being stitched up. 

The whole thing seemed like an out of body experience because I couldn't really feel what was going on and then all of a sudden I heard him cry out. It was really surreal.

Trey was born a perfect 7 lbs 14 oz, 20 inches long.  He was very healthy and quite wide awake when he was finally brought to me.  The first night was rough, but we are slowly getting the hang of things.  He's taking to nursing better than either of my other children which makes me really happy.  All in all he is adapting to life really well. 

He's a little yellow skinned right now, but hopefully that will go away soon.  He's lost 14 oz since birth, which is a little bit concerning to his doctor, so we will be going back to the doctor for a weight check tomorrow. 

As far as my recovery goes, it's rough but coming along.  The doctor stated multiple times that they are amazed with the quick healing of my skin and how quickly I was able to move around.  They removed the staples today and the skin looks good.  So outwardly I'm doing great, but as far as the pain goes from the incision, it's practially unbearable sometimes.  You'd think that it would be more of a sharp shooting type of pain, but it's actually a searing, buring feeling.  Quite uncomforable.  But I'll be back to normal soon, I hope.  :)