The Allen Family

Our little family got to come home on Sunday at 5:00. Drew had just been circumcised so he was passed out and numb from pain killers and sugar water. I was beyond exhausted-who can sleep in a hospital? Not me. And the kids and John were very ready to have mommy home. It is such a strange feeling bringing a new human into your home to stay. Forever. He brought such a sweet spirit and we absolutely love him.

I wish Denise had taken a picture of the incredible meal she had made for us. Salmon, salad, potatoes, and watermelon. It was so delicious!

My mom stayed with us the next two weeks which was SO helpful. There are no pictures of those weeks but I will give you a mental picture instead. I spent the entire two weeks nursing my little piglet and Livy spent it bossing my mom around. Johnny was at school and had swim every night and John showed up for dinner, gave the kids some parental attention and took the baby till 12 so I could sleep. What a daze!

Wow, writing this two weeks later seems so strange. It feels like an eternity ago!

Drew Richard Allen was due for an induction at 9 AM on April 28th. I was mentally prepared for a lovely morning, a shower, breakfast, and a nice labor where I chose when to get my epidural and when to break my water while feeling nothing. Well....little guy had other plans!

I woke up at 3 AM on Saturday with a horrible contraction. I walked around for about 15 minutes until another one came and thought "oh good, they're nice and slow, maybe they will go away and I will get to the hospital at 9 with no problems". Well, 12 minutes later there was another, then 7 minutes, then 4, then 2, 2, 2. Crap. I woke John up. He was all chipper and excited which made me smile. I called Denise and started to cry, the contractions hurt really bad. She send Papa over to watch my babies and she rushed to the hospital. I hurried and put some make up on, brushed my teeth and brushed my hair. Put on the night before's dress and waited for Papa. He got there at about 4 ish. He and John gave me a lovely, quick blessing and we were on our way to Katy Memorial hospital. I had three horrible contractions on the 8 minute drive and I was getting worried that I would not get an epidural.

Cute Denise met us at the hospital with camera in hand and a wheel chair at the curb. The lady at the ER entrance said they weren't ready for me and the beds were mostly full in labor and delivery but they would call up there. I very calmly with tears in my eyes during a contraction that this was my third child, I was dilated to a 4+ as of Thursday and the contractions were coming hard and fast so they better work something out. Two contractions later a nurse came and wheeled me up to a L&D and stopped me at the waiting room. Um, I need to go in there! She said they had to clean up and set up a room, it was a busy night. So I paced the halls and cried some more. A grumpy little nurse came out and asked me if I had my strep b test result papers which of course I did not. That was not in my plan. And I was never told I needed to hold on to them. but they were negative so who cares? Well, since they didn't have the papers and the doctor's office was closed, they would have to set up a penicillin drip anyway and blah blah blah. I did not care at this point. I finally got into a room, in my robe, ugly socks on, asked a million questions, and hooked up to an IV. Then they told me I would have to go through an entire bag of fluid and the penacillin and get my blood work back before I got an epidural. I was in hell. The pain was more than I could handle. Denise was putting ice chips in my mouth, John was holding my hand, I would sit up and puke at every contraction, it was mind blowing. I finally told my nurse, Nefertiti, to call the lab and get my stupid blood work done or I was going to lose it and she did! She even got in a little trouble, all for me. Love Nefertiti. The anesthesiologist finally came in and hooked up the quickest epidural you've ever seen. I laid on my back for a few minutes and let it take over and could finally breathe again. The nurse checked me and said "Oh dear, you're a TEN! Let me call your doctor and try not to push". Wow, she hadn't even called my doctor. Luckily, I knew that my doc lived five minutes away and would rush over. She did and within 20 minutes of the epidural she was there putting her hair in a pony, getting her booties and scrubs on and putting me in the stirrups. The pain had subsided just enough to breath again but I could feel every ounce of that crazy pressure. Wow. That made pushing very real. I pushed the first time and thought "holy smokes, I don't think I can push that hard!" You don't really know how hard you're pushing when you can't feel anything at all. The second push was SO hard, I quit half way because I couldn't breath and Bethany, the doctor, said "Mckell, that pressure is not going to go away until you get his head out. You can do it. PUSH!" So I did. Just like the movies. With a red face and a big scream and that feeling was unreal. I pushed my baby right into her arms. He was so cute and chubby and had the cutest cry. I cried. Denise was smiling so big and John may have had a little tear too. They wiped him down and laid him right on my chest and he stopped crying. I love him so much.

I spent a couple hours in the delivery room feeding and cuddling with my fresh little baby boy. His temperature was down a few degrees so we cuddled and ate and enjoyed the peace and quiet. They moved me to my postpartum room and took Drew to the nursery to warm up some more and get a bath. I had some lunch, cleaned up, put on my hospital jammies and waited for my babies to get there. They came around 1:00 with Papa, Grams and Greg. Livy was not too sure about Mommy laying in a strange bed. She was glad I was not in hospital clothes and didn't have anymore "pine needles" in my arms. I made sure the nurse took them out before she got there. Liv told me days before that she did not like hospitals or pine needles. Does she remember her hospital stay when she was 1? They finally brought Drew to us and we all oohed and ahhhed over his cute lips and perfect fuzzy hair and cute nose and funny noises. We counted his toes and fingers and all agreed he looks like Johnny but with his only little look.

This diaper weighed at least 8 ounces, it was amazing.

She is one proud sister and wants to hold him all day long!

Mimi finally got to the hospital at around 2. A huge thanks to Kisha for going to the airport and picking her up!

I stayed the night at the hospital by myself for the first time and was fine. I slept, he ate, and then I would send him back to the nursery. I would have loved another day and night at the hospital but John and the kids were super anxious to get me home. What is their deal with hospitals? I love them! He is a good, sweet little baby. Nursing has gone surprisingly well and he sleeps great. Eats every 3 hours on the dot and sleeps for two hours at a time in between. Our one complaint is he does not love the pacifier and will only fall asleep while nursing. Once he is asleep, I can lay him down and he's out but only mommy can do it so it makes having daddy help really hard. Cant' complain too much though! I will take sleep any way I can get it!! Now I need to post pictures from the last two weeks because he has changed so much!