Wow, so much has happened such I last had a blog entry!! We’ve welcomed a brand new child into our family… and not just ANY child, a BOY child!!! 🙂 Good thing too because this blog is called “threes a charm in GIRLville”! We can still keep the name! 😉 Three is a charm for the girls, but one is the biggest blessing of all for the boys! 🙂 I STILL cannot believe we had our little BOY!! 🙂
I went in on May 4, 2011 at 8am to have a scheduled Amniocentesis, which is a test done to check for lung maturity on the baby in utero. The test is done by my doctor who pokes a MASSIVE needle through the outside of my stomach, guided by ultrasound, into a pocket of amniotic fluid to draw a small amount out for testing. The needle really isn’t THAT huge, but it’s a VERY intimidating procedure when you are laying there 100% conscious and your doctor wants to poke into your very, VERY pregnant belly and you see your sweet baby in there wiggling around on that ultrasound screen! This was my second test like this, I had one with Chloe as well!! We then had to report to the Labor and Delivery department for monitoring of the baby since I had an invasive test. The amnio triggered my body to start contracting. I was having steady contractions every 2 minutes or so. They weren’t horribly painful, but I could definitely feel them. We thought we might be staying to have that baby whether the lungs were ready or not! 😉 The tests came back and the lungs were NOT mature. If we had the baby there was a big chance the baby would be admitted to the NICU, possibly with a breathing tube! 😦 My doctor ordered IV fluids for me to see if they could stop the contracting that way, and sure enough after about 10 minutes of fluid draining into my veins very quickly, the contracting stopped and we were released to wait 6 more days to meet our little guy or girl! I thought I might NEVER make it that far! 😉
May 10, 2011 rolls around… time to meet our sweet little blessing. We were scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 8am for a 10am c-section. The girls stayed with my parents the night before and skipped school for the day to come and meet their new sibling as soon as Mommy and baby were out of recovery and into a room. After all of the prep and paperwork was done… we were off to the OR. Let me tell you, even after 3 previous c-sections that walk into the OR is still an intimidating one!! Surgery is never nerve free! 🙂 As always, when you have a c-section your support person has to wait in the hallway while you are prepped for surgery and given your spinal block. Mike waited out in the hallway and I went in to the (always) FREEZING cold operating room. There was a regular anesthesiologist as well as his assistant or student or something… I am not sure what his title was, but he ended up being the one to give me my spinal… when you have someone putting a long needle into your back, the last thing you want to hear is his teacher or “over-seer dude” 😉 say is “I think you missed it”… YOU THINK HE MISSED WHAT EXACTLY???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was pretty uncomfortable!! I remember asking my nurse “he missed what?” And she didn’t answer me! 😉 Probably smart. Anyway, there apparently didn’t end up being a problem because I ended up completely numb from the chest down and all was well! 🙂
10:15am and we hear a sweet little baby cry!!! 🙂 WHAT DID WE HAVE??? My doctor, who is the best doctor on the planet, I must say… 🙂 had worked it out with Mike that she’d pull the baby out and Mike would tell me what we were having!! 🙂 That moment could NOT have been anymore exciting! I am SOOOOOOOOO thrilled we waited to find out!!! Well, I heard the baby cry and no one was saying what it was. Mike was in shock!! 🙂 He was trying to get a picture of our baby coming out, and trying to speak at the same time and it just wasn’t working! 😉 WE HAD A BOY!!! We have been in that delivery room 4 times now and never before had we seen those parts! 😉 LOL It was the greatest thing ever! 🙂 Of course we LOVE our girls and what Momma isn’t completely THRILLED she has a daughter, but this boy was something special! Lincoln Michael Cusano was born weighing 9lbs 2oz (HOLY COW!!) and was 21 inches long.
About 13 months prior to our little Lincoln being born we suffered a miscarriage. We had NOT planned on getting pregnant so soon. We weren’t even sure we wanted to have another baby. Going through a loss is very hard, and we had been through it twice in our lives already. I didn’t think I could handle that again if it came to that point. I’m not sure why I still question what *I* can handle though really, because my God knows what I can handle, and he promised never to give me more than I can handle… he is always there with me helping me through whatever he sends my way. And in everything he “deals me” there is a lesson to learn, trust to be gained, faith to be built!! God was molding me through those times. I prayed to the Lord that if I were ever to be able to have another child that he might give us a little boy. I knew that I was only allowed four full term pregnancies, because of the fact that I have to have c-sections due to my medical history and circumstances. I love girls and really enjoy having three girls! They love each other and get along so well. But I really wanted to experience a boy as well, and just over a year later God answered that prayer. Not only were we NOT planning another pregnancy, that was definitely a surprise gift straight from God, he decided to REALLY show us himself and his love and grace by giving us a little baby boy. A direct answer to my prayers! 🙂 Our Lincoln is a gift from God. (As all children are, but this one was so specifically prayed for it makes it all the more exciting!!) 🙂
After Lincoln was born he had some breathing problems. I had had gestational diabetes and expected to hear that the baby would have sugar issues after birth. His sugars were completely fine! He was monitored for 24 hours for sugar levels and never had a problem! PTL!! 🙂 Lincoln ended up being sort of whisked off to the NICU very shortly after he was born. I got to give him a quick kiss and then he had to leave. He required 100% oxygen assistance via a nasal cannula. I was off to the recovery room while baby and daddy went to the NICU! 😦 My spinal block was a pretty good one, because it took me almost my entire two hours of recovery to be able to wiggle my toes and move my legs at all. They won’t let you leave recovery until you can move your legs around somewhat. I thought I may never get out of there! 😉 Finally I was able to move them and the nurse said we could “stop by” the NICU and see the baby on our way upstairs to the Mother/baby unit. We went into to see Lincoln and I thought I would only be able to touch him in his little bed. I hadn’t been able to hold him yet or really even see him much, since they were in such a hurry to get him the help he needed so quickly after birth. The nurse asked me if I wanted to hold him and OF COURSE I did!! 🙂 He was in only a diaper since they needed to see his chest and how he was breathing, so they had me hold him skin to skin. What an amazing time with a newborn baby! He was SO precious and warm and sweet and cuddly and WONDERFUL! 🙂 While I was holding him his little nasal cannula came out and he was without oxygen assistance for a minute or so. We called the nurse to put it back in and she noticed his stats were still doing just fine even with losing the oxygen for a short while. After our mommy/baby time Lincoln started being able to wean off of the oxygen and eventually not need it at all. That was such a great experience… he just needed his mommy and was able to start getting better!!! 🙂 I was able to hold him for an entire hour before my nurse made me leave to go up to my room. He ended up being released from the NICU around 5:30 or so and was able to come up to Momma’s room. We couldn’t have been happier!! 🙂
Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Lorrie brought the girls up to meet their new baby brother as soon as we were all together in the room and the rest is history! 🙂 They were the happiest new sisters in the world!! 🙂 They finally had a baby brother!! They are all the biggest helpers and love taking turns holding him. The newest thing is “can I stand up and hold him?” Don’t they know it’s SO much more comfortable to sit and hold a new little guy?? 😉 Not to mention SO much safer and easier on Mommy’s nerves! 🙂
I remember being so concerned about my life as I knew it completely changing, and it did in a lot of ways. But only in wonderful ways!! 🙂 The things I thought might never come back to me, mostly came flooding back without delay and life has only been more exciting!! I have the three biggest helpers ever! 🙂 Life is grand… 🙂 It’s a month later now and I am STILL smiling from this experience! I have said several times that motherhood the “second time around” is for sure the way to go! I had had one child, then another 2 1/2 years later, then another one only 13 months later. At that point, I needed a break. We all needed a break! We had been in “babyville” for quite a while and as much as I love babies, I needed some time and my babies needed some time to have Momma… not another baby vying for her attention constantly. Now with older children around to help, and a rested up and recovered Momma ready to be at the “top of her game” again… we are all able to enjoy this, our last baby, in a more quality way… a much more SPOILED way!! 😉
Here we are, 34 days later, counting our blessings… naming them one by one…. Ainsley…. Paige….Chloe… Lincoln! 🙂
Such an awesome story. I’m so glad you finally got a boy!
I do NOT remembering reading this story back when you wrote it!! How did I miss it?? (Not REALLY asking you to tell me how I missed it…) 🙂 I loved reading about it and remembering about your little BOY being born all over again! 🙂
It IS so fun to remember! 🙂 I have a BOY now, did you hear??? 😉 Oh, and you probably missed it because facebook is sometimes SUPER strange and hides stuff! 😦