Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Oh Happy Day!

If I've learned one thing it's this... blog about it and all the plans will change!
Baby Zachary joined our family a little earlier than we were planning. Oh happy day... he's here!

* He arrived March 21st (3/21 at 3:21 p.m.). He weighed 5lbs. 1/2oz. and was 18" long. *
He was born at 34.4 weeks
My sweet boy spent 11 days in the nicu... I guess I had it in my head that all of the tough stuff would end when the pregnancy was finally over... I was wrong. Baby Zach was about 24 hours old when his left lung collapsed. He was one tough little guy through the whole thing. The doctors let him work through it for about 8 hours to see if the lung would repair on it's own, but it didn't and in went the chest tube. The toughest part was not being able to hold our little baby while the chest tube was in... six incredibly looooong days. To my surprise I showed up one morning and the chest tube was gone along with the oxygen. The nurse asked me if I wanted to hold him and I just started sobbing (happy, relieved tears of course). If there was one thing I learned; babies can get sick really fast, but they can also get better quickly too. We went from him possibly coming home around Easter to him coming home in a few days... April 1st to be exact.

Lessons learned:
  • I am so in love with this little guy.
  • My sweet husband has an amazingly strong side I hadn't witnessed before.
  • I NEVER want to have a c-section ever again.
  • 3 months in bed = achy, sore muscles that don't want to work like they should.
  • How quickly I forgot about the 3 previous months once I held little Zachary.
  • How grateful I was for the couples who brought me the sacrament in the hospital every week.
  • That you can make friends anywhere (even in a hospital).
  • That all the stuff I worried about before going into the hospital really didn't matter that much after all.
  • There is nothing like being at home with nowhere to go (and no desire to go anywhere).
  • I love feeling like my family is whole.
3/21
3/24
3/26
3/27
4/1
I'm goin' home....

3 comments:

Joanna said...

LOVE him! LOVE you. So glad he's home and you can all go on and move forward. I tried so hard to come to the shower, but hubby got home way too late. :( I'll be in touch...I want to come visit and see that sweet little man. He is so handsome!

Kathleen said...

Thank you for the pictures and the story behind them. What an adorable little fellow! He looks like he is on the way to becoming a healthy, chubby baby. Lots of love,

Cami said...

Congratulations!! He is so adorable! And I am glad after ALL that craziness that you are both home and healthy, finally!