Welcoming New Baby

We get to see the new baby...finally... what a long wait!

Still on the operating table but awake enough to snuggle!

First night spent in NICU...

Released to the nursery...

And into our loving Daddy's arms...

And into our proud Biggest Brother's arms...

And into our Big Sister's happy arms...

And into Fireball's excited arms....

And into new Big Sister's hopeful arms...

And in the surgeon's arms for the second time...

First hand squeeze from Daddy while a few minutes old...

Onto Mama's lap for some fresh air and sunshine at home...

We are so glad to be home and healthy and recovering from C-section and baby from a spontaneous pneumothorax.  He had an x-ray that revealed a small pocket of air in his chest cavity.  He spent the first night under a hood of oxygen with lots of other monitoring wires and an I.V. in his arm.  I couldn't hold him or feed him for the next 12 hours.  At least for the first day we got to spend time with him in our room, but we all soon realized he really did have a breathing problem and wasn't to interested in eating.  It was the longest night ever and Daddy spent most of it down at the NICU with his hand on our new Baby's chest.  He'd come back every so often with red rimmed eyes and blowing his nose and when I saw our little one the next morning completely hooked up to everything I cried as well.  Even though we knew at the time he would most likely be OK and not have to have a needle puncturing his side to drain the excess air, it was still difficult to be separated from him in this way. 

Finally sometime in the morning they let us hold him and eventually begin to nurse him.  He had to remain in NICU until Sunday, but they were so good about allowing us to come down and nurse him even with all the wires.  Then, they released him into our room Sunday at noon and he had a nurse check on him every hour until Monday.  His second x-ray showed almost no air left, treatment had worked, praise God for his mercies!

We were so grateful for all the hospital staff that helped to care for him and me during the entire stay.  It was the best C-section I've ever experienced and the quickest recovery ever!  Thank-you to all who were praying, it can only be explained as the grace of God.  The staff couldn't believe I didn't have to take narcotics for pain killers, I could hardly believe it myself.  This time they used super glue to seal the outside incision instead of staples or sutures.  Not even stereo strips!  The pain was and continues to be so much less day to day.  It's just amazing to see the grace of God in healing and recovery this time around.

We're all enjoying our new little baby boy, weighing in at 7lbs. 10 oz but lost almost a pound by the time we left the hospital.  It is within normal limits but always a concern for us until he shows steady weight gaining. 

Do you know what I like about bringing home a new baby?  All of life just stands still for awhile.  Nothing else seems important but eating, snuggling and sleeping.  Life gets wonderfully simple and outside pressures and stresses cease to exist.  Only if we could capture this peace every day!  Perhaps this is so much of the joy we experience with bringing home each of these precious little lives that God gifts to us?  Yes, there are late nights and household mess but somehow it just doesn't seem that important to have everything in it's place when a new one enters your household.  It's time for joy and wonder at the miracle of birth once again!