It started out like the other times, but this one was earlier and colder - WAY colder, the high on the day our last baby was born was negative six. We were the first baby scheduled for the day - this meant that we needed to be at the hospital at 5:00AM - in the morning. Early. Diana came over to watch the kids and take them to daycare - a nice surprise for the kids. We got to the hospital on time - unfortunately with how early, I was unable to keep my tradition of breakfast and just started the day with a small snack at the house. We checked in and a nurse took us to the labor and delivery floor - asking the standard questions (are you ready? how are you feeling? is this your first? do you know what you having?).
Once we got settled, things moved along fairly well. IV in, heart monitors on both, anesthesiologist check in and just waited for the team to take her down. I took this opportunity to grab some breakfast - afterall a tradition is a tradition. I had Burger King croissants.
The only thing left for me to do was put on my scrubs and soak in the final moments of being parents of two. At 6:50, we had a final briefing and at 7:10, they came for her to prep for her spinal. I had to wait until that was in place before I could join her.
(Amanda's insert: the room was fricken cold and I'd learned my lesson on looking around at the equipment and tools that were on the table - all that does is scare the hell out of you. This spinal was probably the easiest of the three as I knew how to do it and the staff was amazing)
The team was in place when I came in the room and after a timeout, Dr. Bury got started. We've had her with each baby so we all knew what to expect and after all the woman has delivered over a 1000 babies. Dr. Bury let me know when things had progressed and when I should peer over the drape to see the baby's arrival. She commented on her full head of hair, and at 7:39, I got to see for myself and I agreed - she had a lot and it was black. In the past, we would have all stayed in the same room - but due to staffing levels at the hospital, baby had to be taken to the NICU for initial care and observation - I went with baby while Amanda finished up. During the initial care, baby was measured and weighed; she came in 21" and 7 pounds, 13 ounces. I also cut the cord, which was squishy. The girl had a set of lungs on her... howled and howled, for sure our loudest baby. Overall, she was healthy, she was a little cold so we she stayed under the heater a little longer, but once she warmed up we went back into the room to see mom. This is when I introduced Ainsley Ruth to Amanda and the nurses and doctors in the room.
(Amanda's insert: it sucked to have them in another room, with the others I could hear them processing, I could hear Matt's updates, and I could hear the baby - this time I didn't get any of that. Dr. Bury did comment that we made the right decision with having a c-section as there was a knot in her cord, which could have caused distress in a natural labor.)Not long after, we returned to our room. I sent a couple of texts letting family know that mom and baby were doing well and we all took a quick nap. We spent much longer in the room than anticipated and we didn't get over to the nursery until about 11:30. At that point, I went and got Eleanor and Grady. Now, we had been prepping them for "Baby Sister's" arrival. We told them that we were going to the hospital and that doctors were going to help get baby sister out of mom's tummy. The kids didn't quite get understand but they seemed to understand right away when they saw Miss Ainsley for the first time. Eleanor was in awe and wanted to hug her. We had to remind her to be very gentle with Baby Sister. Grady was interested for a few minutes but was more focused on his new surroundings. After hugs and kisses, Grady and Eleanor went back to daycare.
I returned to the hospital after grabbing lunch and rested with Amanda and Ainsley. Diana and Perry came and visited that afternoon and Alaina came when she got off work. At 5, I went and picked up the kids, grabbed supper from McDonald's then went up to the hospital to eat as a family of five for the first time. Again, the kids were interested in their new sister but were getting easily distracted by their new surroundings. Shantelle came to visit that evening as well. The kids and I left Shantelle with Ainsley and Amanda to head home after a long day. I got the kids down and Aunt Alaina came over to watch them until Diana was able to make it in to stay overnight.
After getting back to the hospital, Amanda and I chatted a little bit about the day and how nice it was to finally meet Ainsley and how the kids just knew that we all belonged together. Amanda went to bed around 9am and i stayed up a little watching a movie, thinking we now have a party of five! EER holding ARR: Angry
MJR: Yes, Sister's name is Ainsley.
EER: Angry.
MJR: Yes, AINS-ley
EER: Yes, Angry.
MJR: Yes, Ainsley Ruth.
EER: Angry Roof.
MJR takes kids to daycare comes back.
MJR: I told daycare her name otherwise they'd think we gave her a horrid weird name.
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