The Perspective of a "First Time" Mama... for a Second Time

So it has only taken me about two weeks to get this post up, but I guess I have a valid excuse. Yes, Baby Reagan Mark Asmussen is finally here and just as perfect as can be! He was born on Tuesday, February 10th at 12:48pm and weighed 5 pounds and 11 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. He is absolutely adorable and wonderful in every way! Here's a little update on how everything went:

Mark got back in from Midland on Monday night and we enjoyed the evening together. It was our last night with little Kolbe being the complete center of our attention! After Kolbe crashed, we enjoyed a big Blizzard from Dairy Queen since I knew I wouldn't be able to eat at all the next day. On Tuesday morning, we dropped Kolbe off at my cousin Mandi's house to play with her daughter, Shelby, and headed to the hospital.

From there, things went very quickly. We had several papers to sign, hospital bracelets to put on and various and sundry other unmentionable tasks to complete. The C-section was scheduled for noon and sure enough, right around noon they wheeled me down to the O.R. After sitting in the hall waiting for Dr. Owen for a little while, we were finally taken back to get started. My maternal-fetal specialist, Dr. Hales, also came and assisted with the surgery. Because all the doctors know that Mark is in P.A. School, they allowed him to be back in the room with me for the entire process...not just the actual delivery. In fact, the anesthesiologist walked Mark through the step by step process of completing a spinal block. I think he would have much rather been on the side of the bed that I was facing and holding my hand, but I think the doctor felt pretty cool being able to tell Mark how to do everything. As for the spinal, it really was not bad at all! Getting steroid injections in the wrist is actually much more painful.

Once the surgery started, I (of course) knew nothing of what was going on. I asked Mark if they had started to which he replied, "Uh, yeah. Some of your organs are sitting out on your belly." Lovely picture, huh. I was so excited the whole time and loved getting to hear everything that was going on and have Mark beside me. Within a few minutes I heard the amazingly beautiful sound of Little Reagan's first cry. I've cried many times in my life, but this was truly one of the first times that I've ever cried from complete joy. It was such a beautiful sound! The bed that they cleaned Reagan up on was just a few feet from my face. Mark was able to stand between Reagan and me and be with both of us. I could not take my eyes off of either of them! I knew it would only last a few minutes, so I wanted to take in every little face and expression from both of them. With Kolbe, I was unconscious and Mark was not even allowed in the room, so this was a completely new experience for me. It was beautiful and something I will never forget!

Within a few minutes, Mark brought Reagan over to me and held him close to my face. He was so beautiful! He looked just like Mark! Even though I couldn't hold him right then, it was the best feeling in the word to feel his soft skin up against mine. A few minutes later, I had to go to a recovery room for monitoring. While in surgery, my blood pressure continued to go up so they were watching me pretty closely. Once I was cleared to go to my room, they wheeled me back to postpartum and we got to stop at the nursery along the way so I could hold Reagan for the first time.

Of course, it wouldn't be an Asmussen delivery without a little complication! Once we were back in my room, the nurse continued to monitor my blood pressure every fifteen minutes. Although I was completely rested and not feeling any pain, my blood pressure continued to go up. It eventually got to the point where she would not tell me what it was because she thought it might make it go up even higher. When she told Mark and my mom not to leave me unattended in the room in case I had a seizure, I knew something was wrong. The nurse came back in and said that she spoke with Dr. Owen and that they were going to give me some type of medicine in my IV and that if it didn't take, they would have to take me back to labor and delivery and start me on a magnesium drip. Having remembered this from Kolbe's delivery, I began to get a little upset. I did NOT want to do that again, because I remembered how horrible it felt and knew that it would mean not being able to be with Reagan for a long while and not being able to nurse. Luckily, my body chickened out in its quest to be a little crazy and the medicine worked perfectly. Within 15 minutes, my blood pressure dropped from 186/107 to 128/86. Praise God! The nurse explained that even though I wasn't feeling pain, the trauma to my body probably forced it to go into shock, leading to the high blood pressure.

Shortly there after, they brought Reagan in to the room and he was able to nurse for the first time. Since then, he has truly been the perfect nurser! Most preemies have a hard time getting the hang of it, but Reagan has taken to eating like none other. It has been very rewarding for me since I spent 7 months pumping for Kolbe to eat from his special bottles.

The hospital standard is for C-section patients to stay for 3 days, so after a couple days of recovering and getting to know each other, Reagan and I were able to go home on Friday. Since being home, everything has gone great! Reagan was born the day after Kolbe turned 15 months old and so far Kolbe has taken to his new brother very well. Other than being a little jealous while I am nursing (that's of course when he wants me to get down on the floor and play) and a little "rough" when trying to hold Reagan, he has been the perfect big brother. He kisses Reagan on the head, pats his back when he's trying to burp, and loves to bring him toys. His (Kolbe's) sleep got a little off for a few days, but he's back on track and doing great. His favorite thing to do is throw away diapers!

Reagan is the kind of baby that any mom would dream of. He eats every 3 hours (not regulated by me...he literally is just like a little timer that goes off every 3 hours), he has only spit up maybe twice, he sleeps perfectly, and he just loves to look around and take everything in when he's awake. The only times he cries are when he's getting his diaper changed or to let me know he's getting hungry. When we left the hospital on the 13th, he weighed 5 pounds and 4 ounces. (It's normal for babies to lose a little weight in the week after they are born.) Yesterday he weighed 6 pounds and 5 ounces. That means he gained 1 pound and 1 ounce in just 10 days! Dr. Stripling said that most full term babies only gain a half of an ounce to an ounce per day and Reagan gained nearly two ounces per day. He said that was "remarkable" for a preemie! That's my boy! Guess the breastfeeding is working. It took poor little Kolbe two months to gain that much!

Hopefully you're not reading this and thinking Golly, all she's doing is going on and on about how Reagan is so much easier than Kolbe. While, yes, Reagan is certainly easier, I'm by no means saying that he's better. He's just completely different. Going in to Reagan's delivery, the only frame of reference that I had was raising a baby with clefts, reflux, hearing problems and prematurity issues, and the only delivery I had experienced was the extremely difficult and dangerous one I had with Kolbe. So, in other words, Reagan is probably pretty much just like any other new baby, it's just so different for Mark and me! And we couldn't be prouder of him! While our pride in Kolbe has so much to do with all he went through and the positive, happy attitude he has always had, we are proud of Reagan for being such an amazing, easy-going little fella! I think Aunt Abby had a pretty good perspective on it when she mentioned that God only gives us what we can handle, and she was sure that with raising a 15-month-old and a newborn, God probably knew I needed a perfect, easy little baby!!! Let's hope she's correct! Most of all, Mark and I just feel completely blessed to have Reagan home and healthy, a healthy delivery for me, and such a wonderful little family with TWO perfect little boys!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers! Here's a few pictures to enjoy!

"Hello, world!"

Daddy and Reagan Mark

Mama meets Reagan

So handsome for just a few hours old!

Mama gets to hold Reagan for the first time

First family picture as a family of four!

Reagan comes home and Kolbe is so excited!

Getting ready for Reagan's first sponge bath!

Probably the most beautiful picture in the world!

All I ever do is eat, sleep, and poop....