On August 8, 2011 our modern family grew from 3 to 4! An amazing healthy boy, Rory Jolan Buhl was born at 9:53 a.m. by a repeat c-section; he weighed 8lbs 8oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. We chose his first name quite a while ago, not a family name or anything, just a name we both loved. The original plan was to keep it a secret, but it slipped one day and as a matter of fact, it felt so good to let it out because then we were able to share with our families and close friends. His middle name was originally going to be Alan (Justin's Dad's name and Justin's middle name), but this spring my mother was diagnosed with cancer and we both wanted to add "Joan" into the name so we made our own unique and special middle name: Joan + Alan = Jolan. And so, Rory Jolan Buhl is his name.
The c-section was scheduled at 9 a.m. and we arrived at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. to get admitted and all prepped for surgery. I was all dressed and ready to go and all we had to do was wait for the doctor to get there. Dr. Bakker came into my room at 8:50 a.m. and he chatted with me and Justin for a bit then he left to get changed and I left Justin to walk to the operating room. The room was so bright, so cold, and it was quiet with little conversations around me. The anesthesiologist had a tough time finding the right place for my spinal and it was a painful 20 minutes or so until they did. I was shivering and wondering how Justin was doing as he was waiting for them to bring him back with me to meet our son. Once the numbing kicked in, everything happened so fast. Dr. Bakker came in and started the surgery- next thing I knew, Justin was by my side. I was so glad to have him with me, finally I didnt have to be alone and at the same time it made the adrenaline kick in because I knew that Rory's time of birth was so close. They told Justin that he could stand up and watch as they did the last cut and pulled him out. I heard his first cries and my emotions ran wild. All I could do was cry tears of happiness and relief, Justin too. Things get foggy from there, I got a quick peek at Rory, but had to close my eyes after getting sick from the medicine and surgery. Justin and Rory sat next to me for a while and then they left for the recovery room while I stayed and the surgery was finished up. Gwenyth was already holding Rory when I came into recovery, it made me so happy to see my TWO children and my darling Justin. Grandma Jean was there too and it was so nice of her to watch Gwenyth and bring her to see her new baby brother. I don't remember much that happened in that room, in fact, there are two pictures of me holding Rory and I can't even remember it, thinking back. From there we went to the room where we stayed for 3 nights/4 days. I was foggy for most of the day and we had lots of visitors. Rory did a great job with nursing and I fell more and more in love with him. The hospital stay as a whole was great. The nurses were very nice and they did their jobs very well especially considering that there was an abnormally large number of babies born that day and week and they weren't staffed for so many babies. It's normal for newborns to lose weight before leaving the hospital, but Rory lost quite a few ounces in just one day (which also increased his risk of jaundice) so we worked really hard to get it back and what a great team we make, because we didn't only stop losing weight over the last day and a half, we gained some back and he's been gaining every since. He's a strong and healthy baby boy!
We have so many things to do in the next few weeks; Gwenyth's birthday party, back to school, start a new job, find a place to move to down in the cities, doctors appointments, and much much more!! All of this and we are on our 2nd full day of being at home and hormones are racing and I can't believe that I'm not pregnant anymore and I can't believe that Rory is here with us, finally!! Finally our family of 4.
