Wynn's Birth

Wynn is over a month old! I was looking back, and I had Sally's birth posted just two weeks after she was born. And I remember writing it all down even before that because I didn't want to forget even one little detail. This time around, well, I'm doing the best I can :). 

Oh, Wynn! It has been so great having her in our lives this past month. Her birth was so much different than Sally's because she came 9 days late, and even then I had to be induced! Crazy. My mom came into town the night before I was to be induced, which ended up working out perfectly because she was able to take care of Sally the entire time, and Johnny didn't have to stress about getting home or picking her up from someone's house. 

The morning of, Johnny and I woke up and got ready for the day and then called an Uber. It was so anticlimactic. I was just standing on a street corner, feeling totally normal, knowing I was about to go have a baby. Johnny wanted to take the subway to the hospital because he thought that'd be a good story to tell Wynn someday. But lucky for me, there was construction that made it impossible! 

We got to the hospital at around 9:00 a.m., and as we were getting checked in, my doctor (Dr. Eisinger) came and said hello. We let her know that we both kind of had colds, and that we weren't 100% sure that it wasn't RSV (since Sally had just had that a week earlier). She was none too thrilled to hear that, so they did a swab in my nose to double check. And it was negative! Thank goodness — I'd been stressing about that, so it was good to be totally certain our baby would be safe! 

I got checked into my room, and they started the induction at 10:30 a.m. by giving me pitocin and a saline drip. Every half hour, my nurse would come in and increase the dosage. She let me know that I probably wouldn't feel much for the first two hours. And she was right! For two hours I just sat there, totally chill, feeling super mild contractions. I asked my nurse a few nagging questions I'd had about pitocin, since being induced wasn't my first choice. I was worried the baby would be born too tired to nurse, etc., but she put my mind at ease completely. After two hours, they came and checked me, and I was 4 cm dilated, which is what I'd been before coming in. They broke my water at that point, and the contractions immediately started to get more intense. I was in legit labor at that point, and after about an hour, I was more than ready for an epidural.

After the epidural process, I felt some relief immediately, and then my contractions started to get more painful on one side. They came in and tried a different epidural medication on me, and this time the contractions were even more painful on both my left and right side. I was feeling worse than I had before I'd even got the epidural. The poor resident anesthesiologist who was working on me was so apologetic and baffled by what was going on. She finally said, "If your labor progresses super quickly, sometimes the epidural can't keep up." So she went and got Dr. Eisinger to check me. 

Dr. Eisinger came in, checked me, and said, "All right, let's have a baby." Apparently, I was totally ready to go! I immediately started semi-crying because the magnitude of meeting our baby and bringing her into the world finally hit me. And I think Johnny was looking watery-eyed as well. I was excited and overwhelmed at the same time. Dr. Eisinger and her team came in, and a stand-in nurse came in for my nurse because my nurse was on her lunch break (whoops!). I pushed for about 10 minutes with everyone coaching me the whole time. I could feel each contraction, so I knew exactly when to push, which was convenient, albeit painful. Johnny was right by my side giving me encouragement, and I felt totally at ease with Dr. Eisinger in charge. Funnily enough, she asked me what names we were considering in between pushing, and it was so weird and calming (which was probably the point) to have a conversation midst pushing a baby out. 

Wynn came out more gradually. I got to feel her head in between pushes, which was a little bit weird. I really loved that the process wasn't rushed at all. Once she was out, they did some suctioning on her nose and mouth and then placed her on my chest. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 21.5 inches long. I was crying, of course, just like when Sally was born, and immediately so in love with her. I just wanted that moment to last forever. Johnny and I felt so blissfully happy to get to meet and touch and hold our little lady. It's crazy how immediately I felt immense love for this new baby. I hadn't felt a great bond with her while I was pregnant because I was constantly thinking of Sally. I even worried I wouldn't love her as much, but all those fears were totally unnecessary. She's my girl, and that's that.

After a few hours, we were transferred to the recovery room, which was tiny and shared. But to my relief, the room was totally unoccupied at the moment! I hadn't eaten all day, so they brought me some dinner, and our nurse was nice enough to bring Johnny a leftover tray, too. We ate and just enjoyed being together. Meanwhile, the baby was being bathed in the nursery. When she came back, we just had fun holding her and sending pictures to our families. Johnny got to stay late into the night because I had no roommate! It was magical. He left at around 1:00 a.m., and I tried to get some sleep. I should have written all of this down earlier because the details are a bit blurred at this point!

The next day, Johnny came to the hospital with Sally and my mom. Sally got up on my bed and said "hi" to me and Wynn, whom we had named Wynn Olivia Galbraith the night before. Then she got down and pretended neither of us existed for the rest of the visit. When it was time to leave, she happily left with my mom, and only then did she say, "Bye bye, Mommy! Bye bye, Wynnie!" My heart hurt for her (and still does) for the change she's had to go through. Johnny stayed with me for the rest of the day and late into the night because I still had no roommate! It was a simple time of just enjoying each other and Wynn. When Johnny would go grab food for himself, he'd bring back candy for us, and we'd just hold Wynn, or I'd sleep, or we'd talk. It was great. That night was rough for me because I got in a little spat with my night nurse (because she was psycho!), and poor Johnny got a 4:30 a.m. phone call from me crying because I was so upset. But that's another story for another time.

The next morning, Johnny came bright and early and brought the car seat to take Wynn and me home. Wynn had one final check with the pediatrician in the nursery. The nurse came into our room and told us the pediatrician wanted to speak with us. We assumed this was just part of normal protocol, and walked over to the nursery together. Instead, the pediatrician informed us that Wynn had failed her oxygen tests multiple times. He said this was oftentimes the sign of a congenital heart defect and that she would need an echocardiogram. We went from thinking we were about to be discharged to very unexpected and devastating news. Our tiny, perfect little girl might be very sick. We were both kind of stunned. I think the pediatrician asked if we had any questions. I just said "No." because I wanted to get out of that room as soon as possible. Johnny asked, "If it's not a heart defect, what else could it be?" And the doctor said, "Let's just do the exam first and then go from there."

When we got back to my room, I started crying uncontrollably. They'd ordered the exam, but Wynn had to wait for it to be ready, so they brought her back to our room for me to nurse and for us to spend some time with her. Holding her suddenly felt so precious. Johnny gave her a blessing, and then she was whisked away. The time she was gone felt endless. We were both on our phones, researching heart defects. Everything was out of our control, and we just had to be okay with that. Suffice it to say, it was a tough moment. A different pediatrician came back with Wynn, and she was great to speak with. She explained everything in detail, and told us that Wynn's heart looked healthy. It was a huge relief. But they still hadn't figured out her low oxygen levels, so they needed to do more tests. They did a culture for bacteria, an X-ray on her lungs, and a test for every respiratory infection possible (including RSV, of course!). The pediatrician and our nurse also decided to see if they could get any mucous out of her, and they said she had a lot in her chest, probably from the quick delivery. All of this took the majority of the day and night, and everything came back negative. But they didn't feel comfortable letting Wynn go home, so she had to stay overnight in the nursery while Johnny and I left.

Being wheeled away from the maternity ward without Wynnie was another very emotional moment. Tears were just streaming down my face. But the woman wheeling me was so sweet and talked about how she had to do the same thing because her baby was in the NICU for a little while. We took a car home, both totally emotionally and physically drained. I pumped every three hours that night while Wynn drank formula in the hospital. The next morning, we got up bright and early and went back to see our girl and to nurse her. It was so great to see her again. When we got in the nursery, the pediatricians told us her oxygen levels had been between 97% and 99% all night long (hallelujah!!) and that they felt totally comfortable discharging her. They said the mucous had likely caused the low levels. What a sweet relief to know all was well. We were so happy to bring our little girl home, even if it was a day late. We felt so fortunate that things turned out the way they did, and the experiences with Wynn and with Sally's hospital stay have reminded us to just be grateful. Having two healthy, perfect little girls is a huge blessing, and I hope to remember that every day and savor every moment of being their mom. It definitely made those first few super-sleep-deprived weeks easier to cope with! 

And now for some iPhone pictures for good measure: