Weekend Update

This "weekend update" may not be as funny as SNL's version but it will update you on our life. Exciting.

Well, we left the hospital late Friday afternoon but not before I had a good old fashioned emotional meltdown. Yes, that's right, I totally lost it around 10am and I cried until 11:30am. And when I say cry, I mean I sobbed. I feel like I remember this happening after I had Emerson too...maybe it's just a post having a baby thing or maybe I'm just weird. Either way, it happened. I sobbed to Garrett and I sobbed to our lactation consultant. I was in pain and I wanted to get to know my baby.

It all started when the day before they had finally let us hold Evan and the night nurse told us that she thought I would get a chance to try and nurse him on Friday night. So, while I had been bummed to leave him at the hospital I was excited to get to come back that night and get some good snuggle time with him (trust me, this is a baby you want to snuggle). So, you can imagine how disappointed I was when Garrett came back from running some breast milk to the nursery on Friday morning and told me, "Evan had a rough night. They think we pushed him too hard yesterday. You aren't going to be able to try and nurse him tonight or handle him much today." I finished drying my hair and then I layed down on the bed and cried.

All I wanted was to get to know the little person I had carried around for 9 months, and then had cut out of my body a few days earlier, and I couldn't even hold him. Enter the lactation consultant. I was already sobbing when she walked in so I just let it flow (keep in mind we kind of know her from Clemson and really love her...she wasn't a total stranger). Well maybe it was a divine appointment because after my sob session, our lactation consultant marched herself down to the NCU and convinced them to let us hold him again before we left that afternoon.

And hold him we did. And his numbers stayed great the whole time (heart rate, oxygen saturation levels, respiratory rate, etc). It was definitely the encouragement and time we needed with our little guy before we left him at the hospital.

On Saturday, Garrett's sister Courtney flew in from Colorado. We spent most of the day at the hospital with Garrett's family. When we walked into the NCU that morning, I walked over to Evan's bed and when I looked at him I noticed he looked really different....it took me a minute to realize NO OXYGEN! They had taken him off the oxygen! And he was breathing. And his saturation levels were at the target and his respiratory rate were where they should be! They let us know that they had just taken him off and that we would wait and see how he did. As we were leaving they asked if we wanted to come back at 3 and try to nurse him....um yes. Clearly we came back, and it went great! He latched on immediately....I'm not gonna lie, having something go smoothly was such a huge blessing. And holding that baby skin to skin might have been the greatest gift I could have ever been given.

To top it all, little Emerson might have done the sweetest thing I've ever seen her do (and she does a lot of sweet things). Em isn't allowed in the NCU but there is a window she can look through. So, before we left I held Evan up for her to see him. Well, she definitely did not enjoy seeing me hold a baby. But, as we were leaving Garrett was holding her up to the window and he said, "tell your baby brother bye bye." And Emerson said, "Bye bye baby," and then she leaned over and kissed the window. As soon as I think I couldn't love that little girl anymore she goes and does something like that. Luckily, we got it on video so I can relive it over and over again.

Whew. All that to say, it was a long but good weekend. Evan stayed off of his oxygen all weekend and we were able to spend most of the day with him today. We held him lots and got to nurse again twice. I am so thankful that he is doing well. I am so thankful for our amazing family and friends. And I am so thankful that Courtney got to spend time with both of our kiddos and us this weekend.

I still feel pretty awful physically but as my sweet mother-in-law reminded me, "today may not be a good day, but tomorrow will be better." I'm clinging to that. Family and friends, we love you so much. Thank you for everything. Sorry we have been so out of touch but please know how much we appreciate all of the sweet phone calls and messages. I promise to be better at keeping in touch very the near future.

Hopefully we will be reporting on Evan coming home soon! In the meantime, enjoy this little pic of my sweet husband that I found in the photo archives. Hopefully, Evan will be as cool as his daddy.

Garrett Reed, circa Summer of 2005 (pre-marriage), and yes, he took this picture of himself.

Holding Babies is My Favorite!

Today is the day that we both got to hold our son for the first time.....wooohoo!!!! We walked into the NCU for our routine morning visit and the nurse said, "Oh, go grab a gown, it's time for you to hold this baby." I cried. And then I held my baby. And loved every second of it. I loved it so much that I didn't even care that I was freakishly nauseated from the pain medication/coffee combo I had just consumed.

Anyway, I won't bore you with banter, I'll just let you enjoy the pics from our wonderful morning. Thank goodness we happened to bring the camera!

Evan Ramseur Reed

Evan

(Hebrew origin means: God is Gracious; Celtic origin means: Young Warrior)

Born October 19, 2010 9:42am

7lbs 7oz and 19.5 inches long

Well, if you haven't heard already, our little man was born yesterday morning at 9:42am. After delivering Emerson wreaked permanent havoc on my body, every doctor I have seen over the past year said a C-Section for this delivery was necessary. So, a C-Section it was.

Typically, I think I tend to believe I am more hard core than I actually am. My thoughts on having a c-section were no exception. So, I was genuinely surprised to discover that I was kind of a wimp when it came to the c-section. I started to panic after they made me drink this nasty stuff that is supposed to neutralize the acid in your stomach. Then when they began to pump me full of drugs after not eating for a while, I really started to come unglued. More than likely most of the people around me didn't notice that I was freaking out, but on the inside I definitely was. Most of my thoughts went something like, "I can't do this." "We can never have more children." "There has to be another way to get this kid out." "Why do I feel like I am dying?" Keep in mind these were my thoughts BEFORE I ever even got the epidural.

I pretty much stayed in quasi-panic mode throughout the surgery. Especially when I asked the nurse anesthetist why I was having sharp pains in my chest and she responded, "Oh it's probably just because your uterus is outside of your body right now. Once they put it back in you'll feel better." Very comforting. Anyway, she eventually gave me some drugs that helped me relax which turned out to be a good thing because from the second little Evan was born it was obvious everything was not ok.

There was a brief moment of joy when the doctor first saw Evan's head and said "He has a ton of black hair," and everyone cheered. A few seconds later when they pulled him out of my body there was silence, no baby crying, no cheering, just nurses and doctors whispering. Every now and then Evan would try to get a little cry out and the nurses would whisper more. There was no shouting of stats or cheers of "He looks great." All that was said was, "It seems he has some fluid in his lungs." Then they whisked him by my face, let me kiss his soft perfect cheeks, and then he was gone...off to the Neonatal Care Unit.

And he has not left the NCU since. Because I had a c-section, I was not able to get out of bed for 12 hours after surgery, so it was late last night before I was able to get to the NCU and really get good look at my baby. He is absolutely precious. He looks JUST like his daddy (which is good since Garrett is freakishly handsome). He has so much jet black hair, it's amazing. His hair and coloring make him look like a little baby Latino Garrett...I love it.

Apparently it is common for c-section babies to have a lot of fluid in their lungs since most babies have the chance to expel that fluid while they are in the birth canal. Most of the babies that experience this problem are able to get rid of the fluid within the first 4 hours of life. Evan had such a substantial amount of fluid in his lungs, that this has not been the case with him. The neonatologist says that Evan has made tremendous progress since yesterday but still has a ways to go. So, when we leave the hospital on Friday our little man will not be coming with us. Of course this makes us sad but at the end of the day, we just want him to breathe with ease. We are both dying to hold him and kiss him....if they can wean him off the oxygen we will get our chance. I'm also dying for Emerson to be able to meet him. I feel blessed to know that I will get to experience all of these things in due time.

Thanks so much for all of the prayers and support. I wish I could get in touch with everyone personally to say thank you. Hopefully once we get everyone home and healthy, I will be able to do just that.

Baby Eve

So, tonight is our last night as a family of 3! Weird. Just as weird as it was on our last night as a family of 2 was, exactly 17 months ago. That is right, little E will be exactly 17 months old tomorrow AND our son will enter the world. Unbelievable. So, in light of that, G and I are leaving Em with my parents tonight and we are heading out on a much needed date. No worries though, we have spent some quality time with our little cupcake over the past few days. I am gonna miss this little girl so much while we are in the hospital. It is amazing how much we love this girl.

So, Em, this is a little tribute to you. Your brother entering our family will never change the way we adore you. We can't wait to see they way you love him (and the way he will love you). Although the past 17 months have brought many challenges for our family, the Lord has blessed us beyond imagination with you. We can't wait to see you with your brother for the first time tomorrow!

Here is a snap shot of our last days as a family of 3.

Celebrating GiGi's birthday at Mary's Restaurant (holy smoke that place is yummy)

At the park looking sad....weird because we actually had fun. Where are the smiles people??

Emerson being her joyful self...makes my heart melt.

We couldn't not love this little girl any more.

How on earth did she get this big??

Stay tuned for baby updates!!!!! I will try to get them up ASAP.

Appy Appy Appy (that's for your Em)

I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since I posted anything to this little blog. Between work, doctors appointments, trying to keep up with Nana (my almost 94 year old grandmother who lives with us), and trying to spend time with friends before #2 comes...I have been busy. One day when I have time I will write an entire post or 2 on what life with a 94 year old woman is like. We have been trying to get little Nana into an assisted living place but she has been more than resistant. But the reality is, she needs more care than any of us can give her. The sociologist/counselor in me has found watching my mom (and her siblings) deal with her aging mother extremely interesting. Like I said one day, I will give it a post or two. Until then, just know that life with your 16 month old and 94 year old grandmother all while being 9 months pregnant is exhausting but fascinating.

Since I have been able to be in Greenville more over the past few months, I have been so thankful to get to spend time with some of my favorite people. Among these people are two of my best friends from growing up, Lindsay and Kellan. Little E and I had the pleasure of dining with them last night. I could spend hours talking about these girls........because they rock. I love that when I am with them I have just as much fun as I did in the 7th grade.

To give you an idea of how close these girls and I are, right before this pic was taken Linds informed me (and the high school kid taking the picture)that it was ok that I was this fat because I have been pregnant for 2 years now.

It's ok though because I know they love me. Otherwise they wouldn't get on the ground in a parking lot to play with my kid.

Or maybe they just really love Emmy.

Speaking of Emerson, Garrett and I took her to Sky Top Orchard when he was here visiting a few weeks ago. It was cold and rainy but we didn't care....when you only have one day together as a family, you take advantage of it. Good thing we did because Emerson LOVED it. In fact, all she talks about since then is "appy's"...which is funny because she can actually say the word apple but she prefers to call them "appy's."

Em running around the orchard saying, "Appy appy appy appy appy." She loved playing with the rotten mushy ones that were on the ground. Yes we let her do that. :)

We also let her ride in the apple cart, which apparently is a big "no no." We discovered this when we returned the cart to the same place we got it from (under a giant sign that said, "do not let children ride in carts"). As I was reading a sign, one of the orchard workers proceeded to tell me why this wasn't allowed and continued to proceed for like 15 minutes.

I'm not gonna lie, Em had so much fun that it was worth the lecture (he was very nice while he lectured). Anyway if you have never been to Sky Top you are for sure missing out. No fall would be complete without a trip there (and a dozen freshly made apple doughnuts.....yum)!

Anyway, baby #2 is scheduled to be born a week from today. My dad gets back in to town tonight and Garrett gets back late Saturday night. So, once we get them both here, I will be ready. I mean as ready as you can ever be to have 2 kids and be living with your parents and 94 year old Nana, all while your husband works 8 hours away. Wish us luck and pray....a lot.