Birth

Back in March I wrote about how I never wanted to give birth again and now, having given birth again, I can reaffirm that yes, giving birth is terrible and I was right to never want to do it again. 

Don't get me wrong: this particular birth was far, far superior to the first one. Mostly because I entered the hospital at 8:30 on Monday morning and I had the baby out of me by 11:04am. Waaaay better than the 60+ hours I spent trying to get the baby out before the extremely painful surgery last time. 

And this c-section was not painful at all! I had a very frank conversation with the anesthesiologist before I went into surgery, where I basically told him that if I felt any pain I was going to put a hex on him and his entire family.  And god bless him because he understood the assignment, and I felt absolutely no pain at all. If anything he may have taken me a little too seriously, because I was so sleepy during the operation I could barely keep my eyes open. But I am not complaining! 

The baby apparently had no intentions of coming out the regular way, either. They checked me for contractions for weeks before delivery and up until a couple hours before I went into surgery – nothing, nada. Not even a little braxton hicks! It's so strange to have had two full term pregnancies and never experienced a single contraction. It's hard not to wonder what would have happened to me before modern obstetrics. Maybe I just have 43 week babies? Seems like a bad strategy! 

The c-section recovery has been about the same as last time, except for one hiccup: when I went into the hospital, I had a slight head cold. I didn't think too much of it, which in retrospect was really, really dumb. Turns out, coughing or blowing your nose while you have an abdominal wound is exceptionally unpleasant. 

Long story short: the cold festered while I was lying in a hospital bed for several days, and now I have a double ear infection. And while I don't think I've pulled any stitches from coughing, I'm sure it hasn't helped my recovery much. I'm on antibiotics and already feel better, thankfully. But going to urgent care for amoxicillin 7 days after giving birth was not ideal. 

My conclusion: I sincerely hope that I do not have to be back in the hospital for at least 40 years. 

In baby news: the little one is pretty good, as far as infants go! He's already sleeping for fairly long stretches at night, which actually I find somewhat disconcerting. I keep thinking that the other shoe is about to drop. Honestly, I find newborns very boring: cry, eat, pee, poop, repeat. But he's cute, and he appears to have dark hair like me, which makes me happy. His big brother is very excited about him, which also makes me happy. He calls him "Grabriel."

While Josh and I were in the hospital, my parents came to stay and take care of Jonah. When they arrived on Monday morning they took him out for pancakes so he wouldn't be upset as we were leaving. My mom wished me luck and gave me a hug. And Jonah, who is in a phase where he mimics people, turns to me and says in his little almost-three-year-old voice: "Good luck, Julia!" Cool as a cucumber. What a kid.