Gibson at the Hospital

Gibson was born at 12:16 pm, so at lunch time. Our friend Sarah, who had been watching Liam, brought him to the hospital around 6:00 p.m. to meet his baby brother. Liam was excited to meet him and was pretty cute doing so. Of course, he kept trying to smother him with stuffed animals, but it was totally out of love and a two year old's lack of knowledge on how breathing works. What I loved was that I finally got to hold Liam again! I had not been allowed to pick him up in a long time, and he had backed off a good bit on showing affection to me since I couldn't really do anything with him. When Liam came to the hospital, we gave him a few gifts "from Gibson" including two new trains. We had told Liam that when Gibson was born, he would give him some trains, so maybe he was just excited to get the trains!

Since we do have Liam, Will had to go home with him and not spend the night with me at the hospital. I may have cried a little when they left, but I knew we didn't really have a choice. Gibson and I worked on breastfeeding that first night. He was sleepy for a long time that first day and was not interested in eating. I will say that Baylor has become much more proactive on breastfeeding since Liam was born. I told them how I had failed with Liam, and they wheeled a pump in basically right after I got to my room. So I started a routine of breastfeed, supplement with a  little formula, and then pump pretty quickly. I also need two hands to count the number of lactation consultants I saw in our two days there. They were great in getting us off to a good start, and things have gone much better this time around.

Around midnight the day Gibson was born, I realized that I had been awake for about 38 hours at that point. Since Will wasn't staying with me, I made the tough decision to send Gibson to the nursery for two hours between feedings so I could try and get some rest. He had already been to the nursery a couple of times because he was treated as a preemie since he technically was one by 12 hours. So they had extra tests and checks to do on him. We had also gone down there together for his first bath. Once again, since he was a preemie, they had to do the bath in the nursery so he could have it done under a heat lamp.  He was allowed to stay in my room, however, but I knew I would have a hard time sleeping with him in there alone with me. I think he stayed in the nursery for two two-hour stints that night so I was able to get a little sleep.

One thing they kept monitoring was his oxygen level since he made noise when he would breathe. But his levels always checked out great and he never had any signs of breathing difficulty. He just makes noise. He still does it occasionally while sleeping, and he always makes noises while eating. He's just a noisy kid.

On our second day there, Gibson had to take a car seat test, which is mandatory for preemies. He had to sit in his car seat for 90 minutes and maintain his oxygen level, heart rate, and temperature. I rested a little while he was down in the nursery doing that, but I went down for the last 30 minutes. He got excited when I talked to him and his heart rate went up, so then I laid low and let him keep snoozing in there the rest of the time. He passed easily, and while we were there he had his hearing test done, which he also passed easily. Preemie protocol calls for the baby to be swaddled in two blankets and wear two hats. The yellow hat is for preemies. It didn't fit him very well!

Our second night alone at the hospital, I also sent him to the nursery once so I could sleep a couple of hours. In the early morning hours, he was checked out by the pediatrician who declared him perfect and able to go home that day. We had to stay the full 48 hours after birth because of his preemie status. Around lunch, my friend Kelli came all the way from Louisiana to visit, meet Gibson, and she ended up being super useful in getting us packed up and on our way home. She also brought the really cute baby blanket, burp cloths, and stuffed dinosaur she made for Gibson. Will and Liam showed up after lunch, and we took our time getting all of our stuff together. I rented a breast pump to take home with me. We finally got all loaded up around 3:00 p.m. and we headed home with our two boys. It was 70 degrees the day he was born, but in the 30s the day we went home.