You are all familiar by now with my little princess, ST. Well, I am delayed in welcoming to the world my little prince, Thomas Finley. He has totally captured my heart just as his sister has. He's the calmest, most laid back, cuddliest, and most precious little human ever. I'm just completely in love. Here are a few pictures of my latest love and the story of his birth.
Cort and Trey arrived at the hospital at 6:00 am the morning of November 5 to be induced. Mom and I had Sarah Taylor, so the plan was to keep in touch with them, see how quickly she was progressing, and plan our time of arrival accordingly. We wanted to be there in plenty of time for the birth, but didn't want to have too much spare time on our hands because we knew a certain two-almost-three year old would get bored really quickly. The first word we got from Trey was that they were in the room and had tried unsuccessfully to break her water due to her cervix not having thinned out enough (sorry if that's TMI for some of you). They tried again, still without luck. The next time, the doctor noticed it looked as if Finn might have flipped and wasn't in position to be delivered. She ordered an ultrasound machine "stat" to check. As it turns out, she was right. Within about 20 or 30 minutes, Trey came to get ST to visit Cort before she was whisked away and taken downstairs to be prepped for a C-section. No one else got to see her before the surgery. We were all worried how she was handling the news, if she was scared, etc. Not getting to see her before the baby came was hard. I just worried about her and wanted to see for myself if she was okay. It all happened so fast! I knew that C-sections were extremely common, but because it happened so very fast, I was just worried there was something someone wasn't telling us.
We waited and waited for word that our sweet baby was here. I was pacing the hallway and watching the door for Trey. I stopped a nurse and asked if someone would come and notify us when Finn was born, but she said no. We were informed it was illegal and the only person allowed to give us any news at all was Trey. Well let's face it, men and their communication......???? Add that to a daddy who was understandably not a fan of being on his phone after the birth of his baby and you have basically no information. Finally, we got a text that said, "here and good." I felt better and was relieved things went well. But then, it seemed like forever that we heard anything else. My mind was wandering.... has something happened with Finn? Has something happened to Cort? Were there complications since he told us things were good? You name it, I thought it. After what seemed like forever, we receive a text saying we could come and meet our sweet baby. News couldn't have come soon enough. From the moment I saw him, I was in love immediately. He's perfect and precious, and I'm completely obsessed with him just as I am his sister. Cort did well through the surgery. She was very nauseous the remainder of the day and didn't feel well at all. We held Finn and visited a while, then left with ST so everyone could try and get some rest.
The second day was great. Cort felt much better, Finn was showing sure signs of being a CALM baby (if you remember ST, you know why this is such a big deal), and I felt much better. I could finally breathe knowing both mommy and baby were well. We went to visit, stayed a few hours, left and let ST nap, got up the next day, and did it again.
The third day wasn't so great. Cort developed a headache and when texting me to explain, she said "They think it could be a spinal headache. If it doesn't go away, they will resort to using other measures to help." Excuse me? You don't tell this chronic worrier that and then allow your phone to die!!! What in the world is a spinal headache anyway? Other measures? What does that mean? Is she okay?? It was nuts, but that's what happened. I was left in limbo until she had a second to charge her phone and get back to me. Apparently, she developed a headache from the spinal anesthesia they gave her during the C-section. They asked her to drink lots of caffeine to see if it would go away. It got better, but continued to return upon any sort of movement. On the morning of November 8 (Friday), they had to do a blood patch to repair the spinal headache. They took blood from her arm and placed it in her back at exactly the spot she had the spinal the first time. She slept for an hour after, sit up little by little, and it was gone. In the midst of diagnosing and treating the headache, Finn seemed to have developed a little bit of jaundice. Cort was told she had no choice but to begin supplementing with formula until his bilirubin levels went down. Thankfully, they were both dismissed later on Friday. Sweet little Finn is still fighting a little bit of jaundice, but is perfect in every way. They go back Thursday to check his levels again, so please pray they will be lower and no further treatment will be needed. Cort is tired, but great. We are super super thankful for a healthy baby that is as laid back as you've ever seen. I certainly prayed he would be!
Looking back, I most definitely over-reacted and worried for nothing. But in the moment, I was so concerned for the well-being of people I love so very much. PRAISE GOD that he answered our prayers and we have a perfect baby and healthy mommy at home now. He turns three months old tomorrow, and he is just the greatest little blessing!
