First week of motherhood

Garrett is all smiles! :)

We had what seemed like a record stay in the hospital of 6 nights and 5 days! It was quite the week with a lot of waiting, pain, fear, sleepless nights, grumpiness (which is was a result of all those sleepness nights!), joy, excitement, and most of all happiness that our son was born and that he is healthy! Since Colin has done most of the bloggin' since our labor story began over a week ago, I thought I would take a turn! AGAIN, we apologize for not updating the blog more and leaving so many of you worried about us last Tuesday night! We appreciate your love, support and prayers! :)

We were glad that we had so many good people to take care of us! We had a lot of nice nurses (some not so nice), great doctors, and family and friends that came to visit us in the hospital. The one that took care of us (Garrett and I) the best was COLIN! He was the best nurse, doctor, labor support person, husband and father anyone could ask for! On our Lewis family team he definitely was our MVP! I recall on Friday night after another LONG day, in between tears, telling Colin that I didn't want anyone else to ask how I was doing, what my pain level was on, can I touch your belly etc. from all of the hospital staff! I just wanted Colin to take care of me! Let's just say I am really lucky to have such a great and supportive husband. He stuck by me through it all and despite how difficult I know it must of been to take care of a new mom like me, he only had a few moments where I thought he was going to lose it!!!

I could probably write a whole novel on everything that happened in the hospital, but I won't bore you with all the details! So, I have chosen a few "moments" to highlight some of our experience in the hospital.

• Most painful moment: Well, after almost 24 hours of labor I thought that there was an end in sight! We had just decided on the C-section being the best option and they stopped the potocin. They told me that the contractions would lessen and that soon they would come in to get me ready for my surgery. For the several hours before that I had been complaining that I could still feel my contractions slightly and asked for some relief. Well, at this point right before the C-section I thought that I should be "relatively pain-free!" Oh NO! I was feeling full contractions and asking the nurse what was wrong. The anesthesiologist came in to get me ready for the C-section with a spinal block and saw that my epidural WASN'T CONNECTED!!!! My doctor was there and commented that the BED was numb.....NOT FUNNY!!! SO, he did a new epidural, a booster shot of fentanyl, and a spinal block all at the same time. Let's just say that within about 5 seconds, my whole body was numb!!
• One of the hardest moments: I had been in labor for over 24 hours.....that means no drinking or eating....just ice chips! So, as I was having surgery it was a little hard to breath with major COTTON mouth. I felt major dehydrated and couldn't hardly swallow. Not to mention the misshapen oxygen mask that was squishing my mouth and my stuffy nose that I couldn't breathe out of because of my crying during the contractions I was feeling right before surgery! I had to keep reminding Colin to tell me to breathe because I knew that I couldn't do it very easily. Let's just say, as soon as I got back to the recovery room, I took my first GIANT swallow of water that had never felt so good in my life!
• Most touching moment: After the surgery, I went back to the recovery room. I still hadn't met my son and I hadn't seen Colin for almost an hour. He went with the nurses the the nursery to do all the testing on the baby right after he was born. So, I was very excited to see my two boys after all this time. I looked at Colin and his eyes were red and tears were streaming down his cheeks! He said that as soon as he saw our son and from spending the last hour with him, that is when his WATER broke! He was so overcome by the emotions of having our son finally there, and me making it through it all to bring him in to this world! It was a very special moment and I am getting teary eyed just thinking of it all right now!
• Cutest moment: I was almost done feeding Garrett and needed him to feed a little longer. He didn't seem interested and we seemed to try everything to get him to keep going. Finally I asked him if he was being naughty...so he latched right on, pulled off and gave me a big smile! He was being naughty!! Of course we laughed and he did it one more time as he pursed his lips as I tried to make him feed one last time. But, how could I be upset at a the cutest kid ever! He has done it several times since...he already likes to tease his mom!

• Funniest moment: Colin's favorite thing to do with his son is to burp him! He says this is their bonding time. This is a great way to get him involved in the feedings! Well, after my milk had come in, burping time got a whole lot more exciting. The burps were no longer dry and loud, but wet and loud. Colin got a good wet one out of Garrett and he turned to tell him, "good job buddy!" right when Garrett decided to sneeze and get the rest of it out all over Colin and his face!

So, after all of that, I can't believe that I have been a mom for one week! It seems like forever. It definitely has been the hardest week of my life and I know I have a lot more hard weeks ahead. I am also looking forward to all the other special moments that I will get to share with my "new" husband (now that he is a father) and the precious child that we have together. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a mother and the trust that Heavenly Father has in me to help raise one of his children. It is amazing how much love that a child can bring to one tiny family. Garrett is the greatest reward that we could ever ask for.