Time to Meet Little Brother
Timeline to one of the most incredible days
5:00am – Alarm clock goes off
6:30am – Leave for the hospital
6:54am – Arrive to our hospital room – We were put up in the Post-care wing because all of the beds in labor and delivery were full. It was such a different experience. With Cooper we could hear a woman screaming in pain from labor and this time you could hear a pin drop in the quietness.
7:24am – IV in
8:05am – Walk to the operating room. Rob gets gowned up and Kelly sits on the operating table to get a spinal. With the spinal it takes effect so quickly that they have to lay you down within 5 minutes. There were a few tears by Kelly as the reality of what was about to happen set-in. Once she was laid down and had Rob on one side and the anesthesiologist on the other she was able to relax a little. They set up the curtain, placed the catheter, cleaned her belly and prepared the rest of the room. Looking for a focus point, Kelly settled on staring up at the surgery lights wondering why they were so dented, like someone had shot them with a bebe gun. The doctor laughed saying no one had ever mentioned that before. Unlike the first c-section Kelly did not have the uncontrollable shaking and was much more aware during the process. It was noted during the surgery that Little Brother had a “floating head” meaning he wasn’t already stuck in the birth canal.
8:38am – Little Brother is born! He peed and pooped the moment he was taken out of Kelly’s belly. His initial oxygen level was 40% so he was given oxygen for 2 minutes where his level was then back up to 99%. They called a NICU doctor to come check him out and said he might need to go there for an hour for monitoring. After her review of his status we were ecstatic to have him placed in Rob’s arms. No NICU time needed. Rob carried our baby boy back to our hospital room while Kelly was wheeled in the hospital bed by the doctor, nurses and anesthesiologist. To note about the trip back is that the hospital beds are now power driven instead of pushed manually.
9:00am – Back in our hospital room. Yes, that is right, in less than 60 minutes we walked to the operating room, delivered a baby, got stitched up and were back in our hospital room.
9:10am – First attempt to breastfeed, but our boy was not interested. Breakfast was then delivered for Rob. Kelly wasn’t supposed to try to eat or drink until the evening.
9:35am – First successful feeding, followed by a Vitamin K shot for baby
10:17am – Our baby boy’s first sneeze
11:17am – Our baby boy fell asleep in his Daddy’s arms
12:26pm – Footprints taken
12:32pm – First bath with nurse Jessy
1:15pm – Glucose test, low at 38. All babies over 9lbs get a glucose test after birth and they need 3 consecutive tests with results over 45 to pass.
1:20pm – Second feeding
1:35pm – We decide the name of our baby boy, Nicholas Robert Kochman
2:50pm – Rob changes the first diaper, pee and poop. Our boy only wore one newborn sized diaper. After the first diaper change he was moved up to size 1 diapers.
3:35pm – Second glucose test passed with a score of 60
The rest of the evening was filled with more bonding time with Mama and Daddy, feedings, diaper changes and one final passed (50) glucose test at 10:15. Daddy “enjoyed” three hospital meals and Mama was able to drink some water and eat some graham crackers with pudding by the end of the night ending nearly 24 hours of no eating or drinking.
11:15pm – Choking scare. Nicholas had been coughing and sneezing up a lot of liquid all day. This was the most concerning episode and the nurse reassured us that it was still tied to being a c-section baby and he was continuing to try to get the extra liquid out of his body since he didn’t go through the birth canal.
