Discharge for mommy

I'm about to be discharged. I stayed an extra day in my "resort room" due to the spinal headache situation yesterday. This will be an odd way of being discharged-- with no baby in my arms & no husband by my side (he took the boys to a spring football scrimmage on campus). Not the normal picture for the baby book. oh well, I'll never get those complete anyway! :).

Ready to be over with the baby!

Meeting his Siblings

Caleb's oxygen levels were at a better rate today. The doctors were pleased. We tried good old Nuk pacifiers to comfort him and he seemed to like them. The kids came up to visit and played teddy bear clinic. The older 3 got to meet their new little brother! It was priceless to see their smiles of pride. Made me long for bringing him home from the hospital.
I started having a headache midday that went from bad to excruciating. I hardly remember part of the day. They called it a spinal headache which I had been cautioned about since they accidentally went too far when they put in the epidural and pulled out spinal fluid. Sure enough- it happened! Ugh! They did a blood patch which is basically another epidural and taking over 50 ccs of blood out of my arm & putting it in the hole in my back; creating a "bruise". The headache feels better; now just sore back. But I'll take it so I can get back to seeing my little man soon!

Nitrogen head tent

Day 2: Caleb is under a head tent to control the oxygen his body intakes. We normally intake about 21% oxygen when we breathe in regular air, but they turned his down to less than 16% to help his profusion (kind of like circulation) of his blood level to stabilize out. Prayers needed for this so they can hold off on his surgery for a couple of days.
We facetimed the kids so they could "meet" their new baby brother. They were thrilled and actually were more interested than if they were there in person-- the power of technology & kids is silly!! Bo was precious and kept giving kisses and asked if "mommy was almost done"!
Caleb went on his first "field trip" tonight as they decided to move him from the NICU to the Cardiac PICU to be in a more specialized unit.

Baby Caleb is born!

Precious baby, Caleb Bradshaw Daniel, was born this morning at 11:11. He was 7 pounds 14 1/2 ounces and 21 inches long. They had difficulty getting his lines in and had to whisk him away to the NICU after letting me give him a quick kiss. They continued attempting to get his lines in including IV s and lines through his umbilical cord; however, could only get one. They had to put in a pic line eventually. He was whimpering a good bit.
He's very cute and has a head full of dark, dark hair!

Pedicure Day

Kate and I snuck in some special Mommy/ Daughter time and had spa pedicures today!   She was home "recovering" from being sick the day before.  (Prayers that we all stay healthy from here out!)   She was completely fine today and it was actually nice to have her home to spend time together while all the boys were in school.  (Like I said in my last post, I do not like to be by myself!)  Although all the cleaning and sanitizing has become a full time job; Darci pointed out, we turned lemons into lemonade and thanked God for this extra time together before baby arrives and just had a great girls' day!  I haven't had a pedicure in years and this was her first experience.  It was so nice for us to get to have this special one on one time to feel so relaxed and girly.  She thought that they were just going to paint her toenails and was so surprised by the special massaging chair and all the extras.  She said that she could definitely get used to the pampering and can't wait to go back!  Well, back to the laundry, bleach, and lysol!

Bo Going to School

     Reality is starting to kick in.  It's been a bit of an emotional week as we get closer to the birth of our little one.  The doctor will induce me next Wednesday.  We started Bo at preschool where Cooper goes.  He was signed up to start next year; however, Zack and I decided it would be helpful to have two days a week where they would both be in school.  I know he is going to have a blast playing with his friends and has the most special teachers and staff loving on him all day; however, it was a super hard day for Mommy to leave him.  It was the first day in 9 years where I had all of them in school!  I didn't know what to do with myself and after my 2 hour doctor appointment, just went up and sat in Zack's (empty because he was in a meeting) office and cried!  Well, I prayed, too, and it was nice to have some quiet time; however, it just hit me that he isn't just going to school only for fun, but because of all of the change that is about to occur.  It just was hard to swallow.
     He had a great day and fit right in.  We do need to search our house for a boy backpack-- how can we not find one with all these boys??  The only extra one I could find was Kate's girly monogrammed one!  Luckily he didn't mind.  I guess that comes with being the fourth child!

Kids' tour day

Today was a long, well synced day. Kate got her braces off! Only 6 months of wearing them. She looks precious and can't wait to eat corn on the cob. They trained her on the importance of putting her retainer in a safe place and warned of pets that can mess with them. Kate replied that we don't have any animals, but 3 curious brothers may be even more challenging!
Then we were off to our appointment at Vanderbilt. Jake got anxious as he realized he has his annual cardiology appointment in a week and a half. The kids watched as they did a fetal echocardiogram on the baby. They asked at least 30 times throughout the appointment whether the baby was a boy or girl! Anytime someone asked if they had any questions, this was their reply. It was funny only the first few times!!! Cooper wanted to know whether it has any inny or outy belly button!
The baby was squirming all over. It was pushing out both sides of my stomach as the ultrasound paddle was pushing against it. The kids thought this was hilarious! The doctors were looking very closely for a long while trying to confirm the existence of an interatrial septum defect, which is very important in HLHS babies (this is opposite in typical babies & usually closes after birth; however, it will always be open in our little one. It is extremely hard to see due to the left ventricle being so small, but they did confirm and doppler the ASD.
After this we met with the doctor in her conference room. She was very kind to have a tray of snacks & drinks for the kids. Of course, they act as if we never feed them & devour it all in minutes (spilling a drink & leaving crumbs for Daddy to pick up). The child life specialist showed them pictures of what to expect on her iPad then took us all on a tour of the floors. (While walking, she let jake carry her iPad. Little did she know, he has a knack for breaking passwords, to which he managed to show off!). It was helpful for them to see the rooms. They asked good questions about the equipment and monitors. It was a bit hard for me of the realization of seeing the little babies.
After a full afternoon, we headed home to our "normal" nightly routine.