Holly's Side Of The Story

Hello from the hospital! So I am now the proud mother of 2 beautiful boys! We are so thankful to all of you for praying for us and for our little one, God truly surrounded us and and we are eternally grateful.

Ok, this is a pretty lengthy story, just giving you fair warning! J We were scheduled to go into the hospital Tuesday evening (June 3rd) to be admitted and monitored and everything, then to have the c-section on Wednesday. So on Monday, I was trying to get everything ready and put in a good place and just do those last minute nesting things. Our ritual is that when Gideon gets home from school, we have lunch then both he and I would take a nap. Well, after my nap, I went downstairs and Luk told me we got a call and things had changed. So he told me that the hospital called and asked if we could come in on Tuesday morning and then have the c-section in the afternoon? Something came up for the doctor (we found out later that the doctors and some of the nurses were going on strike all day Wednesday). Luk told her that would be fine. So I sat down and tried to wrap my brain around the fact that I would see our son the next day! So fun! So we contacted our parents and Luk tried to finish some projects he was working on on the house. We played with Gideon lots when he got up and just relaxed in the evening as a family. Then Tuesday morning, we got up and Luk had breakfast, I had to fast after midnight, and we left for the hospital at 6:55am. I gave Gideon lots of kisses and picked him up (for the last time for a while) and gave him lots of hugs. We went straight up to the labor and delivery ward and checked in. I was put in a recovery room and put on the monitor and given an IV. We had some fun "small world" moments while there. There were 2 nurses that were attending me. One had spent a year in Akron, Ohio and did her senior year at a school in the Cuyahoga Falls area (very close to where Luk's family is now) at the same time that Luk was in his senior year in Tallmadge, a town very close to Cuyahoga Falls. So crazy!! The other nurse turned out to be a friend of our good friend Pieter Good. They both are a part of the University of Ghent's Campus Crusade for Christ type program. So those were some fun conversations while we were waiting around. They told us we would be in surgery either at 1pm or 2:30pm. At around 11am or so, another nurse came and moved us to the maternity ward to our room for after the birth. She also told me that we were now scheduled for surgery at 3pm. They brought me a lovely hospital gown and told me to put it on and then just to be ready. So I got all ready and then waited…and waited…and waited. So I just crocheted and Luk and I had some really random conversations. Then at 3:30pm, I was wondering if they forgot me, but a nurse came in and asked if I was ready. So 10 minutes later, they came and got me and wheeled me in my bed down to the operating room area. There is this long hall that they have you wait for your operating room to open up. They hook up your iv and ask about your allergies to any meds and stuff like that. Then it is just waiting until your room is ready. While I was waiting in this hallway, Luk was getting scrubs on in a changing room. The poor guy ended up having to wait in there a long time. It wasn't until about 5pm that I was finally wheeled into my operating room. The anesthesiologist was telling me about giving me my epidural when this huge fly flew into the room with a nurse chasing it with a big can of Raid! So they told me I needed to wait outside the waiting room while they tried to kill this massive fly. They were successful, but then they had to air the room out, since it reaked of Raid. So weird! They also had to clean some things up, since they didn't need Raid on the stuff I was to be laying on and everything! So funny!! So then I went back in and had the epidural put in, which was different from the last time. With Gideon, I was having hard contractions and had to lay on my side in the fetal position and Luk had to watch. This time it was just me and a nurse and the anesthesiologist and I was sitting on the operating table and I had to round my back like a big "C". It was painful, but fairly quick. Then I layed down on the table and they strapped my arms down and the anesthesiologist gave me the meds and my legs got all warm and tingly. My doctor came in and started preping me with the help of the nurses. They called and got Luk (poor guy had to wait forever in that changing room). So he came in all dressed like a doctor or nurse. So fun! It was great to see him. Then we just had to wait for the pediatrician to get there, which took 5-10 more min. Then they began. I had a sheet in front of me, blocking my view, but Luk got to see the whole thing. So he would periodically tell me what was happening. So I don't think I had enough of the numbing meds, because I felt a lot of what was happening. From my incision and below it, I didn't feel anything, but above my incision, I felt everything. Well, it was a very weird combination of feelings. One was like when you electricute yourself on an outlet or something, like all your nerves are saying"WOW"at the same time. The other feeling was intense pulling and stretching. So I was squirming a bit on the table, and the anesthesiologist had to keep coming over to me and telling me to try to relax and he gave me more meds, but it was still just a feeling like, "just get this over with"!! And the anesthesiologist was really sweet, he kept coming over and rubbing my head and trying to sooth me and tell me what was going on and telling how far they were. Luk got to tell me when she broke my water, saying, "congrats your water just broke!". And then lots more pulling and tugging and Luk told me they had his feet out and then lots of pushing on my tummy and pulling and his hips were out, then lots of pulling and an arm was out and more pushing and pulling and his other arm was out then lots and lots of pushing and pulling and finally his little head was out. He coughed then screamed right away! So great to hear, and boy was it high pitched and LOUD!! They held him over the little sheet so I could see him and say hi then they took him off to check him out. I looked at the clock and it said 5:37pm. Welcome to the world, Isaak Ahrens Brazle, 3.6kg and 49cm long! Luk followed and took lots of pics. Then they came back and layed him on my chest and shoulder while they were stitching me up. It was such a great feeling, getting to see him and feel him and look into his eyes and feel him sucking on my chin! What a blessing! We were able to stay like that for 10 min then they took him up to our room and Luk got to hold him on his bare chest (kangarooing) while they waited for me to be brought back up to the room. They kept working on sewing up my uterus and then the other layers they cut through. This took quite a while, at least another 30-45min. Then they wheeled me off to the recovery area. There were tons of people in there, so it took a while for a nurse to come over to me and check out my charts. She hooked me up to a blood pressure, heartrate and oxygen monitor. They monitored me for another 45 min or so and then finally they came and got me and wheeled me up to my room! It was around 7:30 or 8pm. I got to let him nurse and hold him. So wonderful!! Then the nurses came and put him in his bed. Luk left to go put Gideon in his bed, so we said bye. I was also told that I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything until I passed gas (the only time in my life that I've prayed to have gas!!). They gave me more pain medication through my iv and got me all situated in my bed and put compression socks on my legs. It was a very busy evening and night, he was only happy when he was either nursing or laying on me, until 3:30am. Which is super sweet, but I was really tired, but loving every second of it! And I wasn't allowed to really do much, so I had to call the nurses like every 15 min or so to help in some way or another! But after he finished nursing at 3:30am he and I slept until the nurses came in to wash us up at 7:30am.

The first full day was pretty rough. My stomach hurt quite a bit and I was really tired and Isaak was pretty whiny. But thankfully Luk was here most of the time and the nurses are really wonderful and definitely made me very comfortable asking them for help. Nursing Isaak was pretty uncomfortable, laying him on my belly hurt and laying on my side hurt, so it was just trying to get comfortable while making sure he was still trying to eat. He is a great eater, he latches on pretty quickly and will drink for a very long time. He really doesn't like to have his diaper changed or to have a sponge bath. Both include lots of screaming! J I got to talk to family yesterday, so that really made my day! Gideon finally got to meet Isaak yesterday, and was super cute! He is very concerned when Isaak cries, but we try and tell him that he is just hungery or tired or cold. So he does pretty well. He loves it when Luk holds Isaak, how sweet is that! He also loves to touch his head and stroke his hair. So cute! Last night was another long one, lots of screaming, but he finally dozed off at 4am until they came and washed us again at 7:30am. And I still had no gas, so no eating!!