Smitten

How can someone so small become such a huge part of your life so quickly? I absolutely can not get enough of Baby Ender. He is so precious! I'm amazed at what a wonderful baby he is. So far he doesn't seem to be a spitter (which is a big thing for us). He also has a great temperament. He only cries if he needs his diaper changed or wants to eat, and he mostly sleeps the rest of the time. I've always thought I wasn't much of a baby person, but I'm head over heals in love with Ender. Casey says Ender is trying to be extra good to make up for all the difficulties with his pregnancy and delivery. It's funny that you can have four babies and then the fifth comes and does EVERYTHING completely differently. Some of the differences I noticed with this pregnancy were Gestational Diabetes, Horribly itchy skin, Inability to stand on one leg (this happened with the last two also, but it seemed to start earlier with Ender), and he kept flipping into a breach position. He was breach at one check up and the doctor started talking about doing a C-Section so we all started praying he'd flip, and at the next appointment he had. Then at the next appointment he was breach again and the doctor said we could possissibley try flipping him and scheduled an induction date. I really wanted to have his birthday be April 2 (because Bennett and Miles both have birthdays on the 2nd), but the doctor didn't want to come in on a Saturday so she scheduled me for the 1st (April fools day, I wasn't too happy about that). We were really hopeful that she'd be able to flip him, but later that day she called and said she had talked with a fetal medicine specialist and he said due to my past history (gestational diabetes, history of recurrent pregnancy loss, and another blood test that came back a little off) he didn't recommend trying to manually flip him, so my only hope for a normal delivery was for Ender to flip on his own. My dad and Casey gave me a blessing and we all began praying for Ender again. The next day we went into the hospital around 10:00 and our C-section was scheduled for 12:00. The nurses brought in a ultrasound machine and checked, but he was still breach, so they started prepping me for surgery, then my ob came in and checked once more with the ultrasound machine and amazingly enough he had flipped. We were so happy and felt like our prayers had been answered. I was then taken to a labor room and we started on pitocin and the doctor broke my water. I had pretty regular contractions and finally got my epidural, but I still had pockets where I could feel the contractions. I felt like Enders head was pressing into my hip bone, and when the doctor came in to check me again she said his head was tilted so he was trying to come out face first. I hadn't progressed past a three and it was about 5:30 at this time so she said we were going to have to go ahead with the C-section. I started crying (I know it's lame, I blame it on lack of food, sleep, and an inability to cope with too much change). In a way I was excited to do the C-section. I had heard that they are easy, it's just the recovery that is difficult, but my experience was completely different. I was already hooked up with the epidural, so they used the same tube to dose me with medication, and the doc said that a lot of people throw up during the surgery I guess I was feeling arrogant because I quickly said "I won't throw up". Then they moved me into the surgery room and had me try to move to the operating table where I promptly threw up and continued to throw up through the entire thing (serves me right huh?). I don't think I do well with medication, and even with my epidurals I've had varying degrees of success, and I don't think my c-section med's worked that well, because I thought it was the most painful thing I've EVER done! It was miserable and I was seriously afraid I'd be resentful. Once he was out I told my mom "GO get pictures" so she was able to go over to the table where they were cleaning him up and she got some great pictures. Casey stayed with me while I kept saying things like "This kills, it's awful". Once they got Ender all cleaned up Casey brought him over and tried to show me, but I just started puking again (I know, I'm a good mom). After they got me all stitched up they unstrapped my arms and my nurse (who was so great) started pushing on my stomach and I smacked her arm away. I felt horrible and did apologize later (after two or three doses of morphine). They took me to a little recovery area and pumped me full of more pain killers and then I was feeling really good. Casey and my mom came back and I finally got to hold Ender for the first time. I was instantly in love. I was really sleepy and my arms were jittery (probably due to the meds) but I was so happy to have this new little guy in our family. The recovery was nothing compared to the actual surgery and now I'm getting around pretty well and feel more like myself. Before we left the hospital we had to meet with a heart specialist because Ender's blood pressure was high, but we've met with him every week since and he seems to think he'll be ok. His blood pressures are still high, but the doctor doesn't seem too concerned. We're all completely smitten with Ender and are enjoying every minute of this new little family member!