Loving Life with Our Boys: Introducing...

Cal Jeffrey

Cal was born on November 1st at 8:14 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and measured 21 inches long. He was a big big baby! Jeff and I left for the hospital early that morning. We had to be there at 5:30 AM!! I didn't sleep much the night before with all the anticipation of what was to come, not only meeting our sweet baby but the impending surgery for me.

The morning felt like it went so slow. I was so anxious to find out if this baby was a girl or boy, and with each passing minute I became more and more excited. At 6:10 I was all hooked up to IVs and ironically I started having contractions. I had been contracting for weeks prior to Cal being born, but it was kind of ironic that once we got to the hospital they became very regular (every 3-5 minutes) and started becoming quite intense too! Like the kind where you have to stop talking and breath. By 7:45 my nurse (whom I loved!! she was so sweet!) walked me down to the OR to get prepped. Everything went well with the c-section, and Cal was born at 8:14 AM. The first thing the doctors said was, "What a big baby!" I was waiting to hear, "it's a boy," or "it's a girl," but instead the first thing was how big he was. I had been predicting all along that he would be a large baby. In fact, our family took a poll to see who could come the closest on gender, weight, and length, and I WON! I had guessed he would be a boy, 9 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long...I was only off by 4 oz, otherwise I was spot on! A momma knows!

At 8:45 AM I was wheeled into recovery and felt exhausted! I don't remember feeling that tired with the twins. I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep. At 9:00 Jeff and a nurse came into the recovery room with Cal to explain to me that his blood sugar was lower than it should be. His blood sugar was 34 and they wanted it above 40. He needed to eat and they wanted to give him a bottle. But I asked if we could try nursing instead and the nurse agreed. So imagine, here I am just out of surgery laying on my back unable to move and trying to nurse a brand new baby. I thought for sure it wouldn't work, but wouldn't you know he latched right on and began eating. How amazing! Thirty minutes later they checked his blood sugar again and it was up to 42! Praise God! They monitored him for the next 24 hours and his levels continued to rise so he was in the clear.

By 10:15 AM we were all back to our regular room and by noon the grandparents were there to see Cal for the first time. At 6:00 that night the nurses had me get up out of bed for the first time and ouch, did that hurt?!!! But by midnight I could tell I was doing a little better and by the next day it was noticeably easier to get up and walk.

Jackson, Grant, and Cooper were able to come and meet their new baby brother the next day. It was so fun to see the excitement in their eyes. They loved Cal from minute one! It has been amazing to watch the instant affection and love they have for him. They just can't get enough of him!

Cal and I were discharged on Tuesday 11/5 but just before we were about to leave I started seeing auras. I have never experienced that before and it was really scary. It got worse and worse until finally Jeff went to get the nurse. My blood pressure was elevated and they said I was showing signs of preeclampsia so I couldn't leave and we had to stay until dinner time to be monitored. I was so ready to get home at this point I just broke down! Thank goodness my vision got better and by 5:00 we got to leave to head home! It was so great to finally be home and start settling in.

Here are some pictures from those first few days.