We're proud to announce...

...the newest addition to Team Awesome!  This is our little Jonah boy!

There are more pics to come, once I have a chance to deal with that.  For now, the birth story!

So as you might have read, at my 35w4d OB appointment, my amniotic fluid was found to be at the lower level of normal...a 6.5. Five is considered low and 4 is low enough to be hospitalized. My OB had asked if I thought I had been leaking fluid, and honestly I didn't. So he prescribed taking it easy, upping my fluid intake, and hydrotherapy to try to get my levels back up. I did all of the above (with the exception of maybe doing a bit too much on Saturday (but thank goodness it got done!!).

On Sunday, April 3, 2011 after church, I noticed that my undies were a bit wet, and I thought it smelled a bit sweet, which is indicative of amniotic fluid. I was worried, so I decided to call my OB...better to be safe than sorry, right? So I called the answering service, and luckily my regular OB was on call! So he called me back, asked me what was up, and said that I should go to L&D to have a test done to see if I was indeed leaking fluid.

We got to the hospital a little after 2pm (we had to wait for the lovely, wonderful, spectacular Aunt Jan to arrive to keep an eye on Oliver for us...THANK YOU AUNT JAN!! <3) so of course while we waited I did dishes and straightened up and packed a bag just in case. We called the Grandmas and a couple of friends and then headed on out. The ER waiting area was the calmest I've ever seen, and the admitting staff was super nice. I was met by a wheel chair and wheeled up to L&D on the third floor. We were taken to room 316 (on a Sunday! lol) and waited to start the whole rigmarole of being admitted to L&D...tons of questions, monitoring baby, and finally getting to the test to see if the fluid I was leaking (which was a slow trickle) was indeed amniotic fluid.

There are two tests...one is a strip test that turns a dark navy blue instantly when it hits amniotic fluid. This test came back negative for me. There's a second test called Amnio-sure, which is a swab test that takes about ten minutes to develop. While we were waiting on that, my OB came in and did and ultrasound to measure my fluid pockets. The way they measure is they split your belly into four quadrants and measure the largest pockets they can find with no loops of cord in it. I had two quadrants with pockets, one measuring 1.5cm and one measuring 3.5cm. However, the 3.5cm pocket had tons of cord loops in it, meaning it couldn't be counted...so my fluid level was 1.5.  So even though the Amnio-sure eventually came back negative as well, it was decided that we were having a baby!! The funniest part? 04/03/11 happens to be Stephanie...or "Aunt Sappy"... birthday. Divine appointment, I tell ya!

We had eaten lunch around 11am, so the anesthesiologist said we would have to wait until 5:30pm to be on the safe side to do the surgery. We called the Grandmas again and filled them in, texted a few folks, and by then, it was time to rock and roll!

For a repeat c/s, they perform a spinal block instead of an epidural. The spinal was SO much more effective than the epidural was! I could feel it almost immediately, and the entire process was far less traumatic than my epi had been (which was given to me while I was having one on top on another pitocin contractions last time...yikes!!). I was alert for both the c/s and the tubal after. Any time I had a complaint (woozy, groggy, etc.) the anesthesiologist adjusted and took care of me. I'm happy to report I didn't even vomit after the c/s! Hooray! The tubal didn't go quite as planned...because the blood vessels were enlarged, he removed a portion of the tubes instead of the whole things to avoid bleeding issues. However, things went smoothly, and I'm happy to report that we are done growing small humans in my body. Any other children we have will grow in our hearts through adoption.

Overall, I have to say my second c/s was even better than my first. We cracked jokes, laughed, and had a generally good time! My OB sang Jonah happy birthday as he pulled him out, and Levi got to take pics, cut the cord, and I even got to hold him after he was cleaned up! I didn't get to do that with Oliver, and it was really special. <3 My first thought when he cried was, "He sounds so tiny!!" Turns out he had a lot of mucus and such, and once that was cleaned out, he sounded more like a big boy. Jonah was born at 5:56pm, weighed 6lbs. 1oz., measured 19.5 inches long, and had a head circumference of 13.5! That's from my hubby's side.  =D

We are so blessed, and our family is complete for now!  God is so good.