Today's the Big Day!

We've had Thursday, February 18th marked on our calendar for months...the day our second son would be born.  Alas, we once again find ourselves with a baby with a mind of his own.  Hamilton didn't want to come out (so my first c-section), and Beckett didn't want to wait (thus my second unscheduled c-section).

I woke up last Friday feeling like my tummy was a little funny, but still went about my morning routine as usual: breakfast, a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, getting ready while simultaneously pulling Hamilton off the bathroom counter and attempting to keep him out of the drawers.  This last attempt was, as usual, unsuccessful, so I ended up putting ON mascara (for me) as well as taking it OFF (for him).  As the morning wore on, I began to think, "Hmmmm...am I having contractions?"  I timed them for about an hour, and they were 5 minutes apart.  I then called my OB's office: Um, I feel really stupid for calling, but I think I'm having contractions? Is that even possible? My due date's the 24th."  She told me it was very possible, and I should go to the hospital to get checked out.  At this point, I, for some reason (probably the standard "freak out"), I started crying.  Hamilton rushed over, "Are you okay Mama? Are you okay? No more crying? Okay?"  I half thought about taking Hamilton with me...I was pretty convinced this was a false alarm, but I decided I'd take advantage of having my brother in town and called him (still crying).  He picked up Hamilton, and they (and his cousins, Heidi, Kristen, and Cuba) went to Disneyland.  At some point, I thought I'd better call Alex (you think?).  Once again, I felt a little silly calling and actually tried to dissuade him from coming. "It's probably a false alarm. I don't want to mess up your work."  Luckily, Alex is the type of husband who isn't really willing to let his wife go to the hospital by herself, so he left the office to come with me. Note: Beckett was born about 3 hours after this phone call, so good thing Alex doesn't always listen to me :).

While I was waiting, I worked a little more on the kitchen (Operation: Kitchen Organization had been slated to be completed over the weekend), made the beds, and put together a bag (on the off chance it wasn't such a false alarm).  I continued the "false alarm" notion right up until a nurses peeked around our curtain (where I'd been monitored for 20-30 minutes) and said, "Okay, she wants to do the c-section in about an hour."  Ummmm....what?  Baby? Today? What?  Alex stepped out to call people and four nurses descended on me to get me prepped for surgery.  By the time Alex got back, a nurse handed him some scrubs and said, "Alright, go get changed."

Having a c-section without all the labor and hours of epidural meant I was much more aware of what was going on, which ended up meaning that I got pretty nervous.  Luckily, I still had the focus to tell the anaesthesiologist that whatever he played on his iPod would be fine EXCEPT country-western music.  Definitely not bringing a child into the world to THAT.  The songs from his playlist I remember: "Smooth Operator" and that Jay-Z New York song.  Not bad.  Beckett came into the world at 13:04 and went off with a nurse and his daddy while I stayed behind to get sewn up, listening to idle doctor chatter and the instrument count (all accounted for...whew!).

My recovery has been SO MUCH better than the first time...I credit a lot of this to superior doctors as well as the non-emergency nature of this one.  The hardest part of my recovery has been missing Hamilton. He wasn't allowed at the hospital (I did see him briefly though...ha!), and he's been in Fresno with his grandparents since Monday.  I came home from the hospital and saw him for about 10 minutes before he was wisked off, leaving me sobbing behind in the living room.  Alex and I have tried to take advantage of the non-toddler time (how else can we deal with missing him so much?), but we've been counting down to his return since he drove away.

So, today actually IS still a big day...it's the day my Hamilton comes back home.  

Beckett's pretty cool though, too...so check out some photos of our second little guy...