Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Birth Story: The After

Eventually the nurses came back into the labor room to finish up the routine things that the baby needed, we gathered our things together, and were wheeled to our post-partum room.
Our first order of business was to introduce Grace to her new baby brother. We had been referring to the baby by his name when I was pregnant, and it was nice to finally prove to her that "Baby Christian" was an actual person and not just my huge belly
We had gotten gifts for the two kids to exchange, and Grace was excited to finally give Christian his. Can you see her putting his gift into the bassinet in the picture below. I have to admit, it was hard to keep it together when I saw how sweet she was with him.
We spent the afternoon together as a family of four and then Aaron headed home with Grace for the night.

The next day was July 4th, I had Aaron bring Christian's festive onesie so we could kick our holiday celebrations into high gear.

We had some festively dressed visitors come by to meet Chrisitan.

Our wonderful friends watched Grace that afternoon so Aaron and I could spend some time together and with the new babe. Aaron brought an apple pie and we ordered some vanilla ice cream. We didn't see any fireworks, but we figured apple pie was a pretty good second best to celebrate Independence Day.
Aaron took Grace home every night, so both nights in the hospital it was just me and Christian. At first I was nervous to have it just be me, but this ended up being one of my favorite experiences. It was just me and my boy together. I didn't worry about anyone or anything else. Time wasn't an issue. We snuggled and slept, or didn't sleep. The hospital was quiet and peaceful and I soaked in every quiet moment knowing that the two of us probably wouldn't have an opportunity to do this again.
Although on the second night I was pretty delirious and couldn't tell the difference between my dreams and reality. I started talking to people who I thought were in the room and my talking woke me up only for me to realize that the room was empty and I for sure was talking to no one.
Aaron and Grace joined us for our final morning at the hospital. Grace was a huge fan of my bed and the cartoons playing on the TV.
But she also had a soft spot for her brother and helped when he needed to be burped.
Christian had his first blow-out that morning in the hospital which completely ruined his 4th of July onesie.
We got visited by the therapy dogs which were making their rounds through the hospital.
We packed everything up, (much to Christian's chagrin apparently)
Said goodbye to the incredible nurses (and I really mean incredible).
And after the most epic temper tantrum on the planet thrown by Grace on the car ride, we were finally home with our little boy.

7 comments:

Diana said...

I've loved reading these, good job getting them all on there, I'm totally impressed. I love all the pictures, he looks less like Grace then I thought he would but he's still the cutest thing ever. Wish I could hold him, hope you're still doing good with Mema around!

Jamie Smith said...

Yes! That quiet time in the hospital after Bennett was born have been some of my favorite motherhood moments to date. Glad you had the same thing. Congrats!!

Amanda Lund said...

I went to school with Andrea! Small world. :) Congrats on the new edition! We're excited to meet Alicia's new addition in a few weeks--and I actually get to see this one while he's a newborn since she moved to Shepperd AFB for the year!

Bill said...

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and photos. I really miss being there with mom and you guys and especially now that S, C, & T are there too.
You are an amazing family and I hope you know how much you are loved.

Sincerely,
Dad aka P Pops Anon

Cheryl said...

I just LOVE how you tell stories, Kara! And they are NEVER too long for my taste. How amazing to have documented Christian's whole birth story! This will be a treasure to him and your beautiful fam of 4 forever! We're so happy for you guys. Christian is such a beautiful baby boy and Grace is quite the amazing, beautiful big sister! :)

Rachel said...

I love the idea of Grace and Christian exchanging gifts! Such a cute idea. And I'm pretty sure I will bawl when my future kid meets their new little bro or sis for the first time. I totally laughed out loud at your story of talking to people not in the room and waking yourself up. Love those crazy drugs. Love the 4th of July onesie (typical he had major firework blowout in it!), and that pic of Grace in the hospital bed is so cute. I can't wait to meet Christian someday! Maybe at Smashburger? Love you guys!

erika herman said...

He is such a darling boy. I am glad you had a smooth birth experience. What a blessing. Enjoy very moment!