Backtracking

I said before that I would put up a post about Tomas' birth, and I am finally getting around to it. It was warm and a bit rainy that Thursday as we headed off for the hospital, me to spend the night without my fellas and to get ready for the morning's activities. I was due to be down in the operating room (called a theatre here) at 8:30 am. James had to get up REALLY early that Friday morning to be at the hospital on time. I couldn't sleep that morning and was up around 6. Plus they're constantly poking and prodding you for blood pressure, temperature, etc., to make sure that all systems are go that it was fairly impossible to sleep anyway! They came and got us around 8:15, at which point I had donned my lovely open in the back gown and was ready to walk down. All of the nurses and midwives were extraordinarily nice and helpful, though I did have a bit of a snip session with a judgmental anaesthetist. That was over rather quickly though when the nice people stepped back in again. Once the spinal took effect, James came in and we just waited for that magical moment. It wasn't long, but longer than with Eamonn (I'll explain) when our "little" Tomas was brought around the corner of the drape for us to see, in all his lavender coloured screaming at the top of his blessedly strong lungs glory. The nurse gave him the quickest of clean-ups so that he could lie on my skin and have that first contact. He got to stay there a good while, which was really nice. Like I said, things seemed to go in slower motion than with Eamonn, and here's why - I had to have another C-section because I was placenta previa. In lay terms, the placenta was blocking the entrance to the birth canal, cutting off all access for the baby. And when the placenta is first, it is too dangerous to attempt normal delivery. Because the placenta was so low, the doctor had advised us that he would have to cut through it to get the baby out, which frightened me a bit I must admit (sorry I didn't tell you, mom, I didn't want you to worry). But when the doc got things opened up, he found the smallest window of opportunity to get the little guy out without having to cut through. It meant using forceps, but in the end there was a lot less bleeding and risk.
Back to the baby - he got to stay with us a good while as the doc and nurses did their closing thing, and then he was taken for assessment and a proper clean-up. James had to go with the baby so I could go into recovery, where it seemed like I sat for an eternity. I finally got released and escorted upstairs to my husband and new baby. The little one was sucking his fingers in anticipation, and went to feeding immediately (and hasn't stopped since!). So that's pretty much how Tomas made his debut, weighing in at 9 pounds 14 and a half ounces. And here's a pic of me on our way to the hospital after dropping Eamonn with James' parents: