I'm not as consistent with blogging my life as I want to be. In fact, I write something and take snapshots every day for this blog...
in my head! Somehow it just rarely makes it to the screen.
One event that absolutely needs some attention is the birth story of our third boy, Isaiah Hawkins Hannum. Born January 17th at 8:59 a.m., Isaiah was our middle-weight measuring in at 8 lbs, 9 oz, and 22 inches long. He was also in the cooker the longest at 39 weeks and 2 days.
Since Jace and Samuel were both born via cesarian, we knew from the beginning that Isaiah would arrive in the same way. In a way it was nice knowing the time/day for planning purposes, though I admit that secretly I hoped for spontaneous labor and delivery to avoid all the post-delivery yuckiness. And frankly, I wanted to have a child the way that God intended.
But alas, like his brothers before, Isaiah had zero intentions of wanting to leave his warm little cocoon and off to the hospital Brian and I dutifully drove that warm Tuesday morning.
Now, even though this was my third c-section, all of them have been in different hospitals and all of them have come with their own unique treatment and challenges. With Jace, I was induced and actually did labor mildly for a few hours before the decision was made to do the c-section. It was all unfamiliar to me and I had no idea what to expect, and during the actual procedure I remember the large, chrome light above me reflecting what was happening on the other side of the curtain. Like a sick drug I had to look at the reflection even though it made me nauseous. Eventually the anesthesiologist held some papers over my head so thwart my gaze. Jace came out SCREAMING this forceful, loud cry as if to say, "PUT. ME. BACK. IN!" The recovery was easier than I expected, and I even stopped taking any pain killers the second day after he was born (wow - how did I do that?!).
Samuel's birth was my easiest, although the actual surgery was the scariest for me. I remember laying in the operating room just minutes before they started and thinking to myself, "I am NEVER going to do this again!" Glad I was wrong on that :) It took some doing to get the little sucker out too, and once they did, it took about 30 veeeeeeerrrrry looooooooong seconds before he cried, this little tiny whimper, like a little kitten meowing. He rarely cried at all during the rest of our stay. The only hiccup I had was that after the surgery for about four hours I couldn't stop shaking. They told me it was just the numbing drugs, but gosh it was super annoying!
Now my current little piglet was the jokester. I was somewhat apprehensive this trip, just knowing what to expect during the recovery - and let's face it, I'm older this time around too - but was able to keep pretty calm during the morning. ---
I have to interrupt here for a quick side story... the morning we got to the hospital to check in the nurses told me to go to the bathroom one last time before being admitted. Since I wasn't in a room yet I stepped out to use the main bathroom on the labor/delivery floor and pushed open the UNLOCKED door to find a MAN PEEING!! I was of course, horrified, but he just haphazardly flung over his shoulder, "Oops, guess I should have locked that." YOU THINK!?!?!! We got a good chuckle out of it, the poor guy was either a brand new dad with no sleep, or almost a brand new dad with no sleep :)
Now back to the story. ---- Brian and I were led to the recovery room (one big room with curtained off areas) where I changed into the latest in hospital fashion, which barely covered the ginormous belly, lol. Daisy was my nurse and even though she had the job of doing the evil things to me - iv, catheter, make me drink the nasty stuff so I don't throw up during surgery - she was the sweetest lady you could ever meet, constantly checking on us to make sure we had no questions, getting me warm blankets. We also got to chat with a young anesthesiologist (which I later found out was the older Dr's intern) as well as Dr. Patel (the BEST baby doctor ever :) and before we knew it 8:30 had rolled around and Daisy and I walked into the OR (where I nearly upset the table of tools with the ginormous belly - oops!).
Brian had to wait outside until I got the big, nasty needle in my back, so Daisy held my hand and prayed for me while Dr. Intern did the job - and he did a good job too, I'll admit I was nervous about an intern shooting into my spine! After the shot things always happen fast. I was laid out on the table like a fish about to be gutted and Brian was fetched so he could sit by my head. Eventually my legs started getting warm and heavy and I heard Dr. Patel and several others come in the room. Everyone was in such high spirits, I guess they do that to help put their patients at ease, which worked and was appreciated. There were three people who were responsible for me, Brian, Dr. Anesthesiologist, and his Dr. Intern. I loved one and liked the other two alot. They all made me smile.
Being my third time around, I knew a couple of the key words to indicate that things were happening, like "sharp." Sharp means the show in on the road and the scalpel was being used. I didn't really worry EXCEPT when I started to smell something burning. Of course I had pregnancy nose and I had the senses of a bloodhound, so I asked Dr. Anesthesiologist about it and was fairly terrorized when - after he hesitated - told me that they were using electrodes to essentially burn through the scar tissue from the previous surgeries. YIKES. And GROSS.
No matter what happens before, during, or after, every little thing is worth it when you hear your child cry for the very first time. Isaiah had a strong little cry, not overwhelmingly loud, but strong. He also cried for a very long time. In fact, he cried almost the entire time as they cleaned him, bundled him and took him to recovery to wait for me - we heard him through the walls as the doctors stitched me up (chuckling about it too)! He did stop crying briefly when we meet face-to-face in the moments after he was born. It took a few minutes to clean him, I kept saying I want to see him, and finally there he was. He had the sweetest little scrunched-up, swollen face with dark eyes. We just looked at each other as I smiled and cried silent tears and he just stared at me. It is funny how they know who their Mama is. It was for only a moment before he was whisked away to recovery with Brian as a chaperone (crying again - we heard him through the walls!).
Now, I did mention that Isaiah was the little jokester. Well, that is because in the 20 seconds it took for him to be taken from my belly and placed on the baby warmer, he peed. He peed with such force that he nearly took out Dr. Anesthesiologist who had come over to peek at the little bundle. Dr. Patel laughed right out loud at the sight and the nurses exclaimed that they had never seen a baby aim so far! It made us proud :)
Back in recovery I was able to simply stare at God's precious little miracle gift. Thankfully, we didn't have to stay there long and soon were on our way to our "home" for the remaining three days. Recovery with Isaiah was the hardest, longest, and most painful for sure, but I had some incredible help from Brian who really is the wind in my sail. I love that man! Lenora was also such a blessing both during the stay in the hospital (she got to see waaay too much of me!!!) and as we transitioned home. I don't know what Brian and I would have done had we not had her and Guy to watch over our Jace and Samuel and make sure they were being showered in love too.
So here we are now, nearly four months after Isaiah's birth and he has definitely captured all our hearts. The older boys simply adore him and Brian and I couldn't be happier with the little creatures we've created. We are so thankful to God for these three amazing boys.
