The Story of John David

John David's birth story
John David, 3 days old, in Mommy’s arms, in the comfort of his own room.
  So today is the 22nd, and he was born on the 19th.  Does that make him three days old or 4?  I’m thinking it hasn’t been 4 full days, so we will go with 3.  That makes me feel better about how much I still hurt too.  Hey, it’s only been 3 days.  I will be feeling better before you know it!
  Let me tell you about this baby!
brand new.  That’s Dr. Wittich on the left and the lady helping him (don’t know her) on the right.  That’s literally right when they pulled him out of my belly.
  J.D. was a planned c-section.  Ya’ll, I have never been so nervous in my life.  I apologize to Alan as well as my parents for having to deal with me THAT MORNING, as I was leaving for the surgery!  I’d say the anxiety attack was starting already.
  One of the midwives last Friday (day of the high blood pressure) commented that it was no wonder I was spiking high blood pressures, considering I’ve had such rough deliveries, and the time was drawing close again.  This has just never gone well for me, so I was terrified.  Getting pregnant, pregnancy, and newborns I can handle, but nature always sticks you on some point of it, and for me that is delivery!

 They always have the father excused from the room to do the epidural or spinal block.  This was their first mistake.  There is only one person that can calm April during a terrified-of -medical-procedures-panic attack, and that person is Alan.
First spinal block:  failed.  She put it in some kind of bony protrusion in my back, so it did nothing.
Second spinal block:  already reached my full level of pain tolerance from having the first spinal block with the also failed local anesthesia that keeps you from feeling the spinal…..leaving them with….
crazy April.
I survived.  They survived.  They laid me down on the table, I suddenly (psychologically) felt like I couldn’t breathe at all, and the panic hit full on.
The smart anesthesiologist said, “Okay, I did not do a good job of handling your anxiety.  Someone get her husband in here now.”  “I know.  Bring him in early–right away.”

“Hi, I’m Super Dad.  All you have to do is rub Crazy April’s head, just like this, and promise her everything will be okay and she’s doing great.”  : )  Thank God for Alan!

How come the women with scheduled-c-sections on t.v. are always so calm?  Actually, I was calm for my first c-section (Daniel).  Oh well.   Let’s get back to what you really want to see:  baby pictures!

 Beautiful!  And ready to breast-feed already.  Someone get this boy to the mama!
 Daddy looks so nice in white.
 By the time we left the hospital, he was down to 7 lb 10 oz.  We actually had to go to the store and buy him some long sleeved newborn sleepers.  (We keep the house nice and cool).
 Daniel is SO EXCITED about J.D.  He wants to hold him all the time, as does Caleb.  Joshua is also seriously excited, but a lot more cautious with the baby than his brothers.  Another sign of the maturity gap there!
Rooming In
   The rooming in policy wasn’t all bad for us.  I fed the baby way more often this way, as he didn’t disappear for hours to the nursery.  It was always obvious that if Alan couldn’t calm J.D. down, and his mouth was rooting, it was time to feed.  This has been great for my milk supply and has kept engorgement from being painful b/c my breasts have been emptied out more frequently by my greedy little eater.  : )
  Not everyone has an experienced Daddy like Alan though!  I’m not sure if this would’ve worked so good for us 7 years ago!
 Joshua, our little photographer
 We have a picture of Alan holding Joshua and Caleb at that age that looks so much like this!

Recovery:
Recovery from a c-section is never fun.  This hospital was really great at staying on top of pain medication though.  We still couldn’t wait to get home.  Hospitals do not let you sleep!  Someone was constantly coming in, even waking up the baby, to check temperatures, give meds, paperwork, pictures, etc.
Right now I’m only supposed to use the stairs a couple times/day and need to be assisted, in case of losing consciousness.

Having done both types of birth, regular and c-section, I now say with full confidence that one should do their best to avoid a c-section.  This baby turned out to be fairly average sized, so maybe I could have delivered him without a problem, but there was no way for us to know that.  All docs/ midwives I talked to recommended this route for me b/c of my scary natural deliveries.
There is no easy way out of having a baby, but natural is definitely easier, even if you do get a 3rd degree or have a hot spot from your epidural.
So we are calling our family complete.  All present and accounted for.  If I weren’t a c-section patient, I’d have a dozen babies.  I really do love babies so much, but it’s not good to have too many c-sections.
We are just going to super-enjoy the babies that we have.

**3 days Old**

John David has been a perfect gentleman of a baby, so far.  He likes swaddling, but hates having his arms swaddled, so I just leave those out.  He has yet to see a pacifier.  In the beginning, he wanted to nurse 30 minutes on each side, and I was a bit concerned for our future….but now that my milk is in, he is done after 7-15 minutes on each side.  Phew!
He sleeps pretty much 24 hours/day.  I figure I might as well enjoy that now, as that will be over pretty quickly!
So far he has been very easy going, which we SO appreciate!!!!

My parents leave with the three oldest boys tomorrow, so next week would be a great time for any of you to visit if you’d like and get to hold little John David.
Right now Alan is squeezing in a little quality time with the big bros.  He took them to a baseball game, and I’m sure they’re having a great time.
What would I do without Alan, Dad, and Mom this week???
I’d like to thank all three of them for being so wonderful and getting us through this exciting but crazy time!!!

6 comments

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  • McMom

    As I read the comments, I am aware that apparently I HAVE read these before. Oh well, I enjoyed them all over again! 🙂 Great job – on the posts and the babies – ha!

  • Anonymous

    Great post, April! The pictures are great and Alan really does look like “super dad”! John David's hair looks like Amy's and he looks much older than he is in every picture! I just want to hold him… Thanks for the pictures. The rosebud for him will be at church in the morning. We got home from family reunion about 12:30 am but will be at church in the morning for that! A gigantic thanks goes out to Terry and Lisa and prayers with them as they bring the boys south. Love to ALL! Nonna and DaddyO

  • Anonymous

    Okay, so the c/s didn't go “great” but I'm glad it's over and recovery can begin! You had me rolling with the “hi I'm super dad” and picture. Thanks for all the pictures! And for making time to post!!! Inquiringly relatives want to know… Amy

  • Anonymous

    He looks way older than 3 days! So glad the c/s went well. Wesley stared at his picture a long time. We're all excited to meet him!!! Amy

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