Eve of Christmas Eve, we got a wonderful surprise! Coach Danny Neville and his wife my dear friend Erin welcomed their little bundle of joy Emma! Jordy looooooooooves baby Emma so much! And so do we. Here is the proud little man holding Emma and my big ol' pregnant belly in the background.
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| Baking Cookies with Daddy on Christmas Eve |
Christmas Day the weather was beautiful so after a visit to the Nevilles, we headed to Aberdeen to spend the day with the Sathers (Basketball families are wonderful, aren't they?!) Before we left we took this picture which is one of my favorite pictures of all time... I always carried Jordy like this while pregnant and had been feeling rather emotional about flipping his world upside down!
Luckily Abby and Brent were here visiting the day after Christmas. Otherwise our tree would still be up! They also cooked and froze some delicious suppers for us!!!! And entertained Jordy so I could collect my thoughts! We had 38/39ish week (whatever!) appointment on Friday December 27. Coach Wieck was scheduled to leave for Sioux City, IA on the bus for a 2 game tournament, arriving home the day before our scheduled C-section. Well Little Miss said I don't think so! Our wonderful doctor told us that Baby was head down, had dropped, and I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. [Sure, get this on the SECOND one when I all ready HAVE to HAVE surgery...grrr]. I then proceeded to bribe the doctor with money, beer and pizza if she would just go ahead and make baby come that day so I didn't have to worry if she would arrive when Daddy was gone. With all that information at hand, Coach Wieck told the team the next day at practice he wouldn't be going to Iowa to coach them because he just couldn't risk missing the birth of his daughter (and probably because I've threatened several times this is the last hurrah!;)
We spent the next several days enjoying Jordy, making ridiculous amounts of trips to Wal-Mart (realizing, hmmmmm.... yes ... might need a couple pairs of jammies for baby... maybe a Paci??), and cleaning and scrubbing (why do pregnant people do that? So weird).
I did shed a few tears putting little man to bed the night before we were headed to the hospital. Justin's parents were staying with him, so we knew he was in great hands and have an amazing time being spoiled! We planned to have him spend the day at daycare and meet little sister that evening. We checked in about 5:00 AM and when I was all hooked up my contractions were about 4 1/2 minutes apart. She was bound and determined that today was going to be her birthday! The nurse told us she likely would have been delivered before 5:00 PM that day regardless!
On January 2nd, 2014, 7:52 AM, Anya Lynne Wieck arrived via an uncomplicated C-section. She and I were both doing so well I even got to see her down in recovery! She latched on like a champ while I took a little snooze and they put those vibrating things on my legs. I was soooooo drug induced and cuckoo I actually said to Justin "That was great! Maybe she isn't our last!" (There are no witnesses to confirm nor deny this claim). An hour later we are lounging in our room when the phone rings (Yep, there's landlines in hospital rooms apparently.) It was the Jamestown Sun! Apparently, Anya arrived in style as the FIRST baby of 2014. So the nurse hustled me into a beautiful more stylish PINK hospital gown (I imagine cleaner as well...) so we could get our picture taken for the paper. Yep, 3 hours after surgery it's time to be in the newspaper. Here's the link if you missed it!
http://www.jamestownsun.com/content/couple-celebrates-new-year-new-baby
Grandma Karna and Grandpa Jeff came to meet Anya and bring Justin lunch and then evening it was time for the big reveal to big brother! I had read a million blogs and posts and books about preparing your toddler for a new sibling and maybe I need to write one because none of them seemed to mention hiding every single button and cord in your hospital room from your curious toddler :) I did make sure that the baby was in her crib and Justin and I greeted him first and talked to him about his day before introducing baby sister. It couldn't have gone better.... he was thrilled to see us and her!!!! He kept saying, "I see Baby Anya! I wanna snuggle her!" (And occasionally called her Baby Emma... so confusing!)
After holding her briefly, he was over it and wanted to pull some more cords, push some more buttons, and play with the balloon we'd gotten as a gift! It was a sweet moment that I'll never forget!
After Jordy left, I cried. Cried, cried, cried! Justin thought there was something wrong with me, but I just missed him soooooo much and all the "newness" was kind of overwhelming. Other than the Mission Trip I took to Peru, [where I also cried a lot from being away from him], I had not been away from him overnight this long and he has never spent a night away from either one of his parents.
Luckily, I had received a pep talk from my friend Sissa who had just had her 2nd baby, too. She told me that right now it was Anya who needed me, Jordy would be fine, and to remember that I was her mommy, too!!! So I snuggled my newborn, and took my own advice and sent her to the nursery for the night. Justin and I slept amazing in the hospital! Anya was a sleepy little thing and we didn't see her again til about 4 AM. She was nursing beautifully and barely ever made a peep. Turns out she was a little jaundice so we did some waking to feed and supplementing. She'd still rather sleep than eat (gets that from her mommy!).
Day after giving birth was not so peachy... Unfortunately I cried again the next morning. WHY! Well because they brought my breakfast and it was a PIECE. OF. TOAST. That's it!!!!! Not even buttered! Now I know why they withhold food as a form a torture for prisoners of war. Luckily(?) I had a headache the day before so the nice nurse gave me a Coke... but I was told after 24 hours I could eat. Well, breakfast was served about 7 minutes before the 24 hours was up. Which meant... Toast. I was like, What is this!!! A concentration camp!!!!
It went downhill from there as I was also required to get up and walk. Somewhere along the way the nurse and I miscued and one of us [her] didn't pick up the cath.... OUCHIEEEEEEEEEE. That thing was uncomfortable from there on out. The Nurse Call Button and I became good friends until that thing came out and from then on it was up to Husband to help me in and out of bed.
On Day After, the good drugs they stuck up my back wore off and it was just by-mouth pain pills. I was extremely sore, way over tired, missed my naps, Justin was at practice, and oh yeah-- now I remember how much breastfeeding hurts! It also seemed like I was lucky enough to meet everyone except the hospital administrator. My hemoglobin was low, so I had my blood taken at 6:00 AM. Anya came in shortly after. The loudest most cheerful breakfast delivery person arrived at 8:00 AM. Then my nurse. Then the surgeon to check the incision. Then the nutrition lady. Then the nurse person that works with the aspirator thing I was supposed to blow in every hour. Then 2 people came to clean my room. Then check up with my doctor.... so. much. busy-ness.
Misfires most of the day and I was trying to store up my energy to see my boy again that evening. At least they finally did feed me:) It did cheer me up to see Jordy again, but for sure mommy, daddy, and Anya were ready for bed that night. Luckily we had another day to rest and recover in the hospital. On Sunday, my blood pressure and hemoglobin levels were luckily to a point and Anya's jaundice and weight had improved that we were both ready to go home on schedule.
It was soooooo blistering and unbelievably cold that not only did we have the jumpstart the Jeep, but they had Justin pull it into the ambulance garage because we couldn't even take her out to walk her from door to door. I think it was -40 degrees!
As we pulled into our garage, Justin said, "Okay! Are we ready for our new normal?!" :)
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| The four of us the moment we brought baby Anya home ~ January 5, 2014. Jordy is saying "I wanna snuggle herrrr!" |
Oh.... and this could be me :)
Never be too busy to count all your blessings!
