Our hospital 'honeymoon'

I've been meaning to finish blogging about Jack's arrival and first few days, and I figure hitting the four week post-baby mark is good motivation :). Because I had a c-section, I spent essentially four days (three nights) in the hospital and Chuck was with me the entire time. Now, this might just be the rosy perspective of hindsight or the fact that I was on heavy painkillers the entire time, but the more I think back on that stay, the more convinced I am that it was a great deal like a second honeymoon. A second honeymoon at a fancy resort even.

Disclaimer: I have never been to a fancy resort so a lot of this is speculatory.
Secondary disclaimer: Blogger seems to think I made up the word 'speculatory'. This is highly possible.

Now, there were obviously some glaring differences, (most notably our very separate sleeping quarters) BUT I think you'll agree there were also some striking similarities.

Similarities which I will now helpfully outline:

1. The fact that we were, for most intents and purposes, child-free. Yes, Jack was there, but I consider him more of a vacation souvenir :). My mom took excellent care of Clyde and Will and I appreciated the relaxing break from all-day diapering/feeding/entertaining/etc.

They did visit every day, but I prefer to liken them more to the funny guests staying in the hotel room next door that you get to know whilst eating your continental breakfast - you get to appreciate their quirkiness without dealing with any of the drama :). For instance, I loved when Will happily bounced into my room every time and proclaimed reassuringly, "I here, Mommy! I here!" Naturally this won over the hearts of every nurse within earshot. Of course, everyone in the same vicinity also got to hear his cries of distress when the visit was over and Chuck had to carry him back out to the car for my mom . . . but the main point is that *I* didn't have to carry him out!

2. Much like a vacationing couple, Chuck and I spent the majority of our time together just hanging out, which was super fun.

We spent our days cuddling with Jack, photographing Jack, talking uninterruptedly, playing Monopoly Deal, reading all of the sweet comments and congratulations on facebook and the ol' blog, eating (more on that next), welcoming visitors, etc. It was so, so nice to just be together the whole time and reconnect as we began the adjustment of having another child.

And what's a honeymoon without some long walks on the beach? In this case they were sloooow walks around the 8th floor with the baby in tow so I had something to brace myself, but same diff.

3. I make our time there sound pretty low-key and relaxed, but even the laziest of getaways requires some scheduled adventures and activities. In this case, instead of an itinerary comprised of snorkeling and parasailing, Chuck diligently outlined each day in terms of goals for my recovery:

(Sadly, I don't have a picture of Tuesday's. I'm pretty sure the main goal that day was to have a baby - check!)

Wednesday's white board. Can you tell I got my catheter out that morning? :) I was having some blood pressure issues so I remained a 'high fall risk' all day which was exciting, but I did manage a shower that night which was superbly uncomfortable but heavenly nonetheless. My favorite is 'be awesome'. I might start adding that to all of my to-do lists from here on out.

Thursday's list - each day we got more ambitious and adventurous! I like how taking two naps is marked 'important'. Chuck's a wise man :). And like any smart vacationers, we were flexible; at least two of those goals ended up going unmet for the day - for the sake of maintaining some of my dignity I will refrain from sharing which ones.

Here's Friday's list - doesn't it always seem like the last day of a vacation you're busily trying to squeeze a gazillion things in?? The sweet lactation consultant who came in to help us laughed pretty hard at the first goal (which, true to its high place on the list, was accomplished early in the day. I'm pretty sure I was a wetnurse in a previous life).

4. We were taken care of SO well by all of the hospital staff - and isn't having someone else change your sheets and bring you fresh ice water a staple of exotic trips?

This is Peggy - one of the MANY incredible people who took care of us. Peggy was definitely a standout though; she was so excited to meet the older boys and made sure to bring them in special coloring books. We were blessed to have her for two of our days there, and each day before she left for the night she would check on us 'one last time' even though she was already off the clock. Our other favorite hospital employees were Mari Lou, Marian, Katie, Sue, Jeanie, and Melissa. Mari Lou and Peggy were the only two who hugged Chuck though, which delighted me beyond all reason since Chuck is, in general, not a hugger.

One quick story to illustrate how well cared for we were: Wednesday morning, Chuck and I were enjoying our breakfasts when Mari Lou and Peggy came in to check my vitals or something. We started talking about the food and I off-handedly mentioned how I tried to include a Danish on my breakfast order but the gal who took my order said that my tray would be too full and I'd have to order it separately at a later time.

(Now, although I will profess my love of the room service next in this post, I promise that my order was not that big - French toast, hot chocolate, bacon, and some fruit.)

Anyhow, I brought it up laughingly but Mari Lou and Peggy took it VERY seriously. They both immediately bristled and said how that should never happen and such, and I tried to backpedal by saying I really wasn't upset or worried about it but they were already quite fired up. . . and then a few minutes later Sue stuck her head in and asked exactly what kind of Danish I had wanted!! I blushed and mumbled something about cream cheese, and about seven minutes later a delicious Danish was brought up to me.

It was fairly embarrassing but at the same time so, so sweet that these three women took it upon themselves to be my advocates and ensure that I got my Danish. I'm hoping that my account wasn't redflagged downstairs after that - none of my subsequent meals looked like they had been spit on . . .

And I can't forget my dear, dear OB, Dr. Klomp. He's such a good guy.

5. Next: ahh yes, the food. Staying at the hotel, er, hospital and ordering off the room service menu is most definitely the closest I will ever get to my dream of having a personal chef.

Please excuse my lack of foresight and accept these google image finds in place of real photographs, but here's mainly what my diet consisted of for those four days: French toast, chicken caesar wraps, and (the afore-mentioned) Danishes. Yummmm. Oh, and plenty of sides: fresh fruit, hot chocolate, muffins, smoothies, Oreo milkshakes, etc. And since we ordered Chuck a separate 'guest plate' every meal, we were able to dine together - hello, romantic!

Alas, every honeymoon eventually ends and real life resumes.

Here we are getting all ready to take our sweet new baby home - I'm telling you, best souvenir ever!!

And as awesome as it was to have a fun little getaway, I'm mostly grateful that I have such a nice 'regular life' to return home to.

(Even if it means changing my own sheets, fewer uninterrupted long talks and card games with my cute husband, and a distinct lack of Danishes. . . )

Even MORE visitors!

Here is some more photographic evidence of Jack's already-quite-busy social life:

My beautiful aunt Iris and my beautiful cousin Andrea! I was excited that Andrea was still in town on her Christmas break from law school and also that I was able to meet her fiance Toby earlier in the week.

My uncle Larry stopped by not long after, just missing his wife and youngest daughter. Larry brought me a 'milkshake' comprised of M&M's and miniature candy bars, proving a second time in as many months that he is an excellent source of chocolate. It's no wonder that he's been happily married for 40 years and successfully raised four daughters!

My cute friend Star came to meet Jack and brought the sweetest gifts, including an adorable little pair of Boise State socks/booties. She and her family are hardcore BSU fans - they tailgate, travel to games, etc. so it was the perfect present from her!

The day after we came home from the hospital, we were able to have Chuck's sister Melissa and some of her family over for a quick visit. Here's Mallory and George holding their newest cousin and Kevin helping out with the logistics of Melissa's newborn photo shoot with Jack. Hopefully we get to see their other kiddos (and the rest of Chuck's family!) sometime in the coming months so Jack can get acquainted with all of his aunts and uncles and cousins :).

Jack met some of his second cousins about a week later when my cousin Ryan's wife Stephanie brought their sweet four kids over for a visit. Kara and Rachel took a break from playing light sabers with Clyde and Will to snuggle with baby Jack, while Aaron and Nathan wisely hung back and just took all of the excitement and craziness in :). Thanks for coming out to see us, Hunters!

And finally, I felt bad for not taking pictures when these sweet girls came to see us in the hospital, so here are some shots from last weekend. Nicole and Paulina treated Kara and me to milkshakes for our birthdays (thanks again!!) and Jack tagged along in one of his first forays into the real world. What we learned from this outing is that the 'pie in a milkshake' idea was clearly divinely inspired, burning calories via giggling is much preferable after a c-section than burning calories via roller skating (Nicole's idea), three kids in and I'm still incredibly uncoordinated at nursing in public, that Jack is the sweetest baby ever, and that not every girls' night out ends with us wandering the aisles of Winco :).

Jack's first visitors

Jack is so blessed to have so many people that love him and have been excited to meet him already. Here's a recap of his first round of visitors (to be followed by another post of even more visitors . . . at some point):

Naturally Grandma Pam was one of the first to meet baby Jack, because A) she brought Clyde and Will to meet him and B) hospital security probably couldn't have kept her away. My mom is one of those wonderful people who loves their kids but LOVES their grandkids. I'm pretty sure Sam and Quinn and I don't have to ever get her Christmas/birthday/Arbor Day gifts ever again since we took it upon ourselves to (within a period of five months) double the number of grandchildren she can be obsessed with.

Speaking of Grandma Pam, Chuck and I are so, so appreciative of her bravery in taking care of Clyde and Will that whole week - she had them from Monday afternoon until we picked them up on Friday evening on our way home from the hospital. I can't even handle my kids by myself for that length of time! And other than the day she put them in the wrong jeans (an honest mistake, the boys are only like two inches apart in height) she kept Clyde and Will clothed and fed and safe and happy and brought them to the hospital every day to see us. THANKS MAMA!!

Quinn and Eden were also able to see baby Jack for a couple of hours that morning before they had to drive back to Provo. This meant so much to me, especially since we chose Jack's middle name in honor of Quinn (Quinton, Quinn, same difference - I wanted two syllables). I am so, so grateful for my close relationship with Quinn. I think Heavenly Father knew He couldn't give me a sister so I got Quinn instead - and I mean that (mostly) in the best way possible :). Quinn has always been one of my best friends and I love that I can talk to him about absolutely anything. He is such a good person and I'm excited for Jack to be able to look up to him as he grows up. And seeing Quinn and Eden hold Jack made me even more excited for them to welcome their own sweet baby boy later this spring!

We were able to take advantage of the Internet connection at the hospital and have a video chat with Cody. Sadly the audio was pretty sketchy (we resorted to Cody writing on a piece of paper and holding it up!) but I was really glad he could see his newest nephew. Love you Coders!

My dad made a couple of visits to see us at the hospital and meet his newest grandson. It was really fun to sit and talk while we all adored the baby. And of course, Grandpa came with gifts! He brought a musical water globe and hat for baby Jack and a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me - along with a bag of Lindt Chocolate Truffles, which were soooo good. I treated myself to one every time the nurses brought Jack in to nurse at night; it's amazing how much easier it is to wake up at 3am when you know there's a sweet baby AND chocolate waiting for you! Thanks again Dad!!

BIG brothers

It turns out that when you bring a third child home, you end up with TWO older siblings for said third child. And watching those older siblings relish their roles as 'big brothers' to a wee little baby adds to the overload of adorableness that already comes with welcoming a new addition!

Clyde became a big brother the first time around when he was just shy of nineteen months. He loved baby Will but obviously had no real understanding of the whole situation. This time around, he is obsessed. He LOVES baby Jack. Here he is holding Jack right after their initial meeting at the hospital.

Will has actually understood more than I thought he would - we talked a LOT about baby Jack while I was pregnant, and Will quickly accepted that we now point to an actual baby instead of my stomach when we refer to 'baby Jack'. This is their first encounter - sooo sweet!

Of course, as with most things, baby Jack is only able to hold Will's attention for so long - here Will happened to glance at his hand and got distracted by his band-aid :).

Clyde asks to hold Jack constantly. My favorite is when he cuddles up with him and closes his eyes with that darling, goofy smile :).

Will prefers to hold the baby just every now and then. He'll randomly yell "Okay, I hold it!" as if he's giving in to our desperate pleas - it's the same way he says, "Okay, I try it!" when he spies some candy or a treat - usually that hasn't even been offered yet to him :).

Clyde likes to get reeeal close to Jack . . .

Will was excited to help give some order to Jack's hair during a visit to the hospital; he then sweetly moved on to Chuck.

Clyde holding Jack? Check. Will climbing on the couch? Check.

One night Clyde proudly showed me how he put a (rather large) blanket on baby Jack. A few minutes later I came back to check on them and found Clyde fast asleep. Apparently he's taking to heart the advice to 'sleep when the baby sleeps' :).

I sure love watching these three boys interact!

Thirteen days

On the eve of Jack's two week birthday, I am happy to report that we are all alive and doing well, hooray!

Jack had his first doctor's appointment today and we were delighted to learn that he has gained over a pound since birth and now tips the scales at 8lbs 2oz. This does make sense when you factor in his eating schedule: every one to two hours during the day - and (praise the heavens) only every three to three and a half hours at night. But seriously, during the day he loves him some milk. Luckily I don't have a lot else going on since Chuck is amazing and paternity leave is amazing and not having to do the dishes or prepare meals is amazing. I can definitely handle keeping one kid fed if Chuck can handle keeping the rest of us fed!


The weekend that Jack came home from the hospital we were excited to enjoy a visit from Chuck's sister Melissa, her husband Kevin, and two of their kids. Their elderly neighbor from Boise passed away and so they came up for the funeral and were able to come and meet Jack and Melissa was sweet enough to do a quick photoshoot! Here are a couple of my favorites:

He's such a mellow, contemplative fellow so far. Aside from a couple (understandably) fussy moments the day his plasti-bell and cord fell off, Jack is incredibly even-tempered - only crying when he's hungry. Bless him.

He was very awake when Melissa pulled out the camera and stayed that way for most of the shoot, funny boy :).

He finally fell asleep towards the end. Isn't he soooo precious? Thanks again Melissa!!


We're still in the process of determining resemblances and how much he looks like the other boys.

Here they all are, side-by-side: Clyde (2 days old), Will (3 days old), and Jack (3 days old). Personally, I think that Will is the link between Clyde and Jack - Will looks a bit like Clyde, and Jack looks a lot like Will, but Clyde and Jack don't look as much alike - minus the dark hair of course :).

Here's another grouping, again it's Clyde, Will, Jack and all within the first couple of weeks of their cute little baby lives. I think Clyde's head is more round as opposed to the oval shape that Will and Jack both have . . . or maybe I've been staring at baby pictures too long tonight!


And finally, here are a couple more random shots of Jack from around the house the last couple weeks:

So happily asleep in his little Star Wars onesie :)!

Not so happily awake in a regular light blue onesie :(. He does have the furrowed brow down pretty well, which I remember being true of Clyde as well.

Enjoying a post-lunch nap . . .

My sweet friend Paulina gave Jack this cute little outfit, which he's worn several times now since it's one of the few 'newborn' size items we have. We love this silly monkey!

Jack's birth story

Spoiler alert: he was born via scheduled c-section, so this isn't really a 'labor' story . . . but it's still a birth story, so I figured I'd share it. Also, here's the obligatory disclaimer - feel free to skip this post if words such as 'uterus' or 'dilated' make you uncomfortable. Also click away if seeing a picture of a baby emerging from my stomach might make your stomach turn a bit :).

I had a pretty hard time sleeping Monday night, which is sad since it was my last night of 'freedom' before having a newborn. It was so weird knowing for sure that Jack was coming in a few hours; it gave me a lot of time to worry and anticipate and wonder and think. And not sleep.

Chuck and I were up and ready to go nice and early Tuesday morning. I couldn't eat before the surgery, so poor Chuck's breakfast was pretty light. We checked and doubled checked that we had everything we needed, made sure the house was ready for my mom and the little boys for three days, and then Chuck gave me a very sweet and very comforting blessing - and then we left for the hospital!

The process before the c-section was quite lengthy - something I wasn't used to. My previous two c-sections weren't quite 'emergency' but the circumstances certainly weren't as relaxed as this one. Chuck and I each changed into our OR attire and then I got the most painful IV of my life, hence my less than joyful expression above. Luckily I really liked the nurse, Kathleen, so I was able to forgive her. The nurse-anesthesiologist, Clint, came in and met us and talked me through how the spinal would work, which I appreciated since I only remember bits and pieces from the spinal with Will (with Clyde I had an epidural that they converted to a spinal).

It looked for a while like we might be bumped for an emergency delivery, but we ended up heading into the OR right on time. This is when I started to get pretty nervous, partially because Chuck wasn't allowed in quite yet and partially because I knew I was about to be cut open. Both pretty good reasons I think! Luckily I was blessed with the best OR staff in the world. Kathleen continued to be sweet and comforting, Judy (the surgical assistant) was funny and distracting, and Clint made the experience of taking a needle to the spine as pleasant as it could be :).

Seriously, though, Clint was amazing throughout the surgery. I compare the role of anesthesiologists during a c-section to doulas or labor coaches during a vaginal birth - Clint constantly reassured me from a medical standpoint that everything was fine and asked how I was and checked my comfort levels and answered my questions.

The spinal definitely its job, after a few minutes I was numb from the top of my ribcage down. Dr. Klomp and the assisting OB came in and got all set up and Chuck was able to come in as well. Everyone got introduced and acquainted and chatted about the two exciting bowl games the previous night and then it was time to have a baby!

I couldn't feel any pain during the c-section, but I could definitely feel pressure and movement - it's soooo weird to feel the tugging sensation as your body is pulled apart. I'm pretty sure my grimace is exaggerated for the camera, though.

It took a few minutes, but finally they got down to the uterus and pulled baby Jack out. The first thing they said when his head came into view was how much dark hair he had :). Apparently he kind of popped himself out - they push on the stomach to help ease the baby out and Jack took the initiative to help free himself!

I was so, so happy to hear his cute little squeak of a cry and hear everyone say how darling he was :).

He came as a much smaller model than what we're used to - Clyde was 8lbs 5oz a day before his due date and Will was 7lbs 13oz nine days early, so I guessed that Jack would fall somewhere in between the two. Instead he weighed in at 6lbs 14oz.

After getting his impressive APGAR scores (9's, although don't ask me what that actually means), he was bundled up and brought over to me, yay! Then Jack and Chuck went out to recovery. This is where things got a little rough for me. With each c-section it takes longer to put everything back together and staple me up, which gave me more time to start feeling woozy and no bueno. Luckily Clint was there with a cool washcloth for my forehead and encouraging words. I started to get really tired so I closed my eyes and let Dr. Klomp do his work.

After I was all reassembled I got to go out to recovery as well. Kathleen draped this blanket over me rather stylishly I think! This is when the itchiness started - I could NOT stop rubbing my nose and eyes. I remember feeling itchy after Will's c-section (it's a fairly common side effect from the spinal) but having it concentrated in my face was new. It continued off and on throughout the day, although to a lesser degree thanks to Nubain and Benadryl.

And then Jack was all done being checked out and I finally got to hold my sweet, sweet baby - which is an experience that words cannot describe.

I was nice enough to share him with Chuck :). We spent a few wonderful minutes with just the three of us, and then brought the boys back to meet their baby brother - which will be detailed in another post.

I'm so, so grateful that the delivery went as well as it did - I am in constant amazement at the wonders of modern medicine and medical knowledge that allows me and my narrow pelvic bones to safely have babies :). And I am thankful for doctors and hospital staff that made it such a great experience. And I'm also very appreciative of such a patient husband who spend the whole drive to St. Luke's answering my random questions about what was about to happen (my last c-section was almost four years ago!) and was such a rock all morning and calmed my anxiety and is such an incredible person to have a baby with - at every step of the process :).

And our family is so grateful and happy to have baby Jack here safe and sound! He is (thus far, knock on wood!) a perfect baby and we love, love, love him!!