a baby story

It is hard to believe that our little boy was born 4 days ago already!  In some ways it seems a lot longer, as he's growing and changing every day, but I still can't really believe that we actually have a baby of our own.  And here's the story of how he made his grand entrance!

We had planned c-section at 9am on Wednesday, April 20th because the baby was breech.  By Tuesday, I'd completed all of the pre-admission testing and paperwork to be ready to go in the next day.  My mom and I spent the day getting last-minute things for the baby's room and saying things like, "By this time tomorrow, the baby will be four hours old!"  After lunch I started to feel a little off . . . but we went to look at sample baby announcements to get ideas.  While we were there, I started to feel a bit crampy . . . but we needed to go to Michaels and get some craft supplies for Easter.  And that was next door to Babies R Us so of course we had to stop in there and get one or two more things.  By then, I had pinpointed the cramps as contractions and would peek at the clock every so often to see if they were coming regularly or intermittently. 

The answer: regularly.  We got home and finished packing up our bags for the hospital and started timing my contractions in earnest.  They went from every ten minutes to every seven minutes and after talking to the on-call doctor, I stopped eating and drinking to make sure I'd be cleared for the c-section if we needed to go in early.  I hoped they would stop, so I could stay home and sleep and be well-rested to start becoming a mom in the morning!  We went to bed around 9:45, hoping they would disappear . . . but at 11:45 I woke up and started timing them at around 5 minutes apart, and thought, forget it, I'm not going to sit here and go into full-blown labor just to have a c-section anyway!  I took a shower,  called the doctor, and we headed into the hospital!  

Classic middle-of-the-night packing of the bag.  Got the important things - hair dryer and flat iron!  

Even though I wanted to wait for 9am so that our doctor could do the surgery, I was still glad that I went into labor.  We got the whole 'experience' of heading to the hospital in the middle of the night and the benefit of whatever hormones and processes were set into motion.  I felt so relieved that he was ready to come and that we weren't rushing him into this world.  It was like he knew it was his birthday and was ready to celebrate!  It was also a reminder that God was in control of the whole thing and had been since the beginning.    

2 am and checked into triage:

They put me through my paces and verified that the baby was still breech, that I was 3-4 centimeters dilated, and that we should get this show on the road.  

Lovely hospital-issue socks. 

 Proof of labor.  

And then . . . we went into operating room to deliver the baby.  That was wild, and I'll spare you the details.  I couldn't really see anything but Matt split his time between encouraging me and peeking over the curtain.  Since Matt works in the hospital, he knew the anesthesia resident and attending.  That was really comforting to me and the attending took lots of pictures for us, which we appreciate!

The baby catcher, ready to grab our little guy. 

I tried not to listen to what was going down on the other side of the drape, but I could tell when the baby was out and of course hear his sweet little wails as they wiped him down.  

 Matt's first glimpse! 3:29AM

Matt wisely did not give me a play-by-play of what was happening, but when I asked him if he was going to cut the cord, he told me that the cord had been around his neck so they cut it pretty quickly.  But I'd already heard him crying, so I wasn't worried.  Maybe it was the drugs they were pushing into my IV, but I felt fairly calm as soon as they got our baby out.  

There he is!  Matt spent the rest of our time in the OR darting back and forth between the baby and me.  He couldn't tear himself away.  I kept hearing, "He's so big!" but they waited a while to weigh him.  

Warning: the next picture is a little alarming.  Because our baby was frank breech, he'd been bent in half for a few weeks without much room to move.  Consequently his feet and legs looked a little wonky from being so tightly wedged in the womb.  Thankfully the attending anesthesiologist told Matt to get over there and take a picture of those breech legs, they won't last for long!  So we knew then, and our pediatrician and my orthopedic surgeon father-in-law have assured us that things will straighten out on their own (and they have).  But take a look: 

The next picture makes me laugh, because we think he looks like Moose here. :)  We saw those jowls in our last sonogram!  They're gone already, too.

Finally it was time for me to see our son!

*pooly* and so thrilled.  

And he weighed 8 lb 11 oz.  Proud of his size! 

The entire surgery took about 25 minutes.  That was another benefit of our early morning trip to the hospital - the on-call doctor is know for his speed and clean incisions.  Soon I was heave-ho'd onto a bed and wheeled into recovery, where Matt poked at my dead legs and we laughed at how I couldn't wiggle my toes.  

Waiting for baby. 

First time holding our little guy!  

Since it was so quiet at 3:30 in the morning, the nurses kindly allowed my parents into the recovery room.  They were so pumped, and I was so ready to tell them his name that I immediately started crying and look really hilariously red-nosed in all the pictures. :)  

Robert "Bo" Alain Yezerski meets the Grandersons.  

Bo's glucose levels were low so he went a couple rounds with some formula and glucose solution during the first few hours of his life, but those climbed right up during the course of the day and we were good to go.  

We see God's hand so clearly in the circumstances surrounding Bo's birth.  We are so glad we didn't attempt any procedures to turn the baby since the cord was wrapped twice around his head and shoulders.  God had a perfect story for us and was gracious in even the smallest details.  We are so thankful for Bo's healthy arrival and for the blessing of being his parents!