Our first night with Joey was a pretty good night, from what I can remember. My pain was still an issue, and it was pure torture when the nurses would have to come in and press on my abdomen. I was blessed, however, to have some pretty fantastic nurses. I was told that first night that my PCA would be shut off the next morning, and I was so nervous! My pain was barely under control, and I couldn't imagine dealing with worse. Or maybe I could, and that was why I was so nervous! When shift change came about I talked with my new nurse and told her how I was feeling about removing the PCA. We decided she'd tell the doctor to go ahead and prescribe the IV meds for the day and we'd turn the PCA off, but not disconnect me yet. I was good with that, and as it turned out, the IV meds worked WAY better than the PCA. This nurse was also the 3rd nurse to tell me that they weren't surprised in the least that I was having so much more pain than with my previous surgeries. Apparently adding the tubal to the c-section does make for a more difficult recovery. Who knew?! Definitely not Dr. Davis, who told me I wouldn't notice a difference at all. :) This nurse was also the saint who brought me an abdominal brace, which was amazing!!! I couldn't believe I never got one during my previous four recoveries. I wish I could remember her name, cause she was awesome!
So one thing that we did with Joey that we didn't do with the others was to delay his first bath. He was obviously wiped down after birth, so he wasn't gross or anything. :) I had done some research, and found that delaying the first bath helped with breastfeeding, body temperature control, blood sugar levels...tons of stuff! This was new to the staff, but they went long with it for the first day. But once he was 24 hours old they started to really want him to have a bath. We decided we were fine to do it then, and they brought in this big warming table so that Joey wouldn't get cold. Joey loved the warmth, and just spread right out! He looked huge on that table! My big boy. :) The tech proceeded to get him all washed up, and especially loved being able to wash his massive amounts of hair.
After school was out, Grandma Candy brought the kids back to the hospital to see Joey. She even took them the store to pick out flowers and treats for Joey and I. We all loved that. :) This was the last time we'd all be together until after Joey and I would be discharged, since Claire and Sophie were heading with Grandma Candy the next morning for Megan's wedding in Denver. We were sure to take our new family picture before they left, and were definitely sure in include our Lukey. Here we are, as complete as our family will get in mortality! Danny, me, and our FIVE kids!!
Once the girls left with Grandma Candy, it was just me and the boys. Johnny had decided not to go to Denver because he wanted to be the one to hold Joey all the time. This boy was born to be a big brother! He loved helping to take care of Joey. Later, Papa came up to spend some time with us and take Johnny back to spend the night with them.
By our second morning there, I had officially run out of colostrum, and Joey was getting hungry. We had given him a bottle here and there, but we were trying to walk a delicate balance between keeping him nursing to encourage my milk to come in and keeping him from screaming in hunger. It made for some longer nights. Good thing Danny's job was to snuggle with the baby, so it didn't require too much sleep. :)
Danny has always brought be roses after our babies are born. It's the only time he buys me roses, and they are always so beautiful. This dozen might just be my favorite!
Johnny spent as much time as he could at the hospital with us, taking good care of me and Joey. My pain was getting better by the day, which was good. But I was having a hard time with my oxygen saturation. I would often need some oxygen while I was awake, and definitely while I was asleep. It worried me, so we decided on one more day in the hospital after they said I could go home.
Finally, after four days in the hospital (including the day of delivery), we were ready to go home! My favorite part of going home is getting the baby in their "going home" outfit, which I have always picked especially for them. Believe it or not, neither Johnny or Luke wore BYU home from the hospital! So that had to be Joey's outfit. :) In fact, this onesie was one of the gifts that the kids opened for the gender reveal all those months ago. So cool. I wasn't strong enough to do much of the dressing, so Danny handled most of it...like he has for all our babies. It was crazy to think that this will be the last time we did this! Joey wasn't so much a fan of this whole "getting dressed" business. :) I stepped in for the putting on of the pants (which were the same pants Johnny wore home from the hospital), because out of principle I wanted to be involved! And I wanted a picture with my newest little man. :)
And then we were ready to go home! It was so strange to think that this was it...the last time we'd have a baby. We feel like we made the right decision to go ahead and remove my tubes with this delivery, but I can't help but be sad. It's the end of an era! I looked forward my whole life to having my babies, and each one has been more beautiful and incredible than I could have ever hoped for! It's hard to think that I won't do it again.
Anyway...we got Joey all buckled up and made our way home to an almost empty house for a few days. Danny and I were both very much looking forward to sleeping in our own bed! We were going to miss the girls like crazy, but we looked forward to some quiet time with Johnny and Joey.
Welcome to the family, Joseph Perry! You are the perfect caboose for our family, and we love you to pieces!!
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