Sawyer's Birth-Week

Okay, I hope you have time to sit down and read all of this...I'm warning you...this will be lengthy!
So, Wednesday morning, the 30th, we head to Baptist. I'm feeling great! A little nervous, but good. We have to wait about an hour in the waiting room, which wasn't fun, but we found out that there were a million babies being born that week, so it seemed as though everything was booked.
The c-section went great. Dr. Adkins is the man! He did a great job. I'm convinced he's the best OB in Nashville. We discovered that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Sawyer's neck not once, but twice. Thank the Lord for c-sections! Who knows what could've happened if I would've had to deliver him myself with that cord wrapped around his neck two times. It took a second for Dr. Adkins to get the cord unwrapped, get his mouth suctioned, and for us to hear him cry. What a sweet sound! Praise the Lord! All was well. He was in my arms within minutes. I didn't get to hold Sadie in the OR, so it was so sweet to get to hold Sawyer for a few minutes before they had to take him to the nursery. It was love at first sight all over again. I got sick again during the c-section. I guess it was to be expected. But, the nurses were on top of it this time, because I had warned them, so it wasn't bad at all.
I was in the recovery room for over 4 hours! They had no rooms available upstairs, so I just had to hang out in recovery, which was pretty miserable. But, I had lots of visitors, so that kept me company. And, Dennis surprised me and brought the big man down to hang out with me for a while, so that was a special treat.
We finally got in our room and the rest of our stay at Baptist went very well. I had really good nurses this time, so that was a huge answered prayer! And, the rooms are all new on the 7th floor, so everything just seemed a little nicer than last time. Plus, our room was directly across from the nursery, so it was easy to get Sawyer in and out.
My dad and Cathy brought Sadie up to see us on Thursday. She was a little angel. We had bought her a dollhouse to surprise her with and told her it was from Sawyer. So, she seemed most interested in that while she was there. I hated to see her go. I felt like I had been away from her for weeks! Sawyer and I were both discharged fairly early on Friday morning. So, we spent less than 48 hours in the hospital, which I think is unusual for having a c-section, but I was ready to get home to my little girl, so there were no complaints from me. Dennis and I were both ready to get Sadie used to everything and to start our lives with our new family!
When my mom brought Sadie home, I ran (well, wobbled) to the door and pretty much burst into tears, b/c I hadn't thought about the fact that I couldn't hold her! I wanted to grab her up and squeeze her to death, and it was so hard to not be able to do that right away. I'm sure my horomones played a part in this breakdown, but it still broke my heart. I think I was so excited to see her at the same time, so it was a combination of tears of joy and sadness.
Our first night at home as the new Phillips clan went absolutely perfect. We were able to lay Sawyer down while we did our normal bedtime routine with Sadie. She slept great all night long. And, I had to wake Sawyer up every 3 to 4 hours to eat, because he was snoozing away. VERY unlike our first night home with Sadie Jane. As Saturday approached, we began to notice Sawyer's color changing to yellow. We noticed it a little in the hospital, but we tried to tell all of the nurses about Sadie's jaundice when she was born, and nobody seemed concerned with his, so we figured all was well when they let us go home. Anyways, as Saturday went on, we noticed Sawyer being very lethargic, not eating well, and not pooping AT ALL. We knew from our experience with Sadie that those were the major signs of jaundice beginning to worsen and take its toll. So, we called the pediatrician, and he sent us to Vanderbilt ER. I was a basketcase. I felt as though I was literally going to have a heart attack the whole ride there and the rest of the night. It was very strange. Deb came straight over to keep Sadie and was here in about 15 minutes. Thank the Lord for close family! They took us straight back to a room in the ER and began asking lots of questions, doing tests, taking blood, putting in an IV, etc. It was all too much. Then, they made us hold oxygen over his mouth because they couldn't find a good pulse/blood pressure. We thought they'd put him under the phototherapy lights for a few hours and we'd be on our way. Suddenly, a young girl walked in and began talking to us about getting "our room" ready upstairs, and that she was from admissions, etc. We just looked at each other. We were so confused. We didn't know what was going on and we had no idea that they were admitting Sawyer into the Children's hospital! We both broke down and prayed over him. Well, Dennis tried to pray. It was all just a little overwhelming to see your 3 day old laying on a hospital bed with an IV in, etc. Dennis ran home to get our stuff to spend the night and to give Sadie her bath and put her to bed. We wanted her to know we hadn't left again for another few days. Deb spent the night here with her and Dennis came back to the hospital and began our miserable night in Vanderbilt. Everyone was super nice to us, but it was way too emotional to have to get Sawyer in and out of the isolate by ourselves to feed him, make sure his eye protection was on correctly before we put him back in every time, etc. At one point, he basically rolled off of the bed in the isolate and had the glass not been there to protect him, he would've just fell on the floor. It was a miserable night with NO sleep at all. But, as the next day came and went, he had gotten better and we were released to come home around 6:00 the next evening. Praise the Lord!!!
So, thus began our first week as a foursome. This week has been unbelievable. Sawyer has not woken up one time crying to eat. I have had to wake him up every single time in the middle of the night. He has been a perfect angel. Sadie is doing better every single day with him. I think she's just getting used to him being around, so she's becoming less interested.
One morning though, we went and got her out of bed, and as we walked down the stairs, I saw her cut her eyes over to the swing almost as if to say "aw man! He's still here!!" I thought it was hilarious. She mostly just points at him and laughs.
I've had Dennis here for 10 days! What will I do when he goes back to work tomorrow? The thought brings immediate tears to my eyes. Okay, the thought brings tears rolling down my cheeks. Okay, the thought brings me bursting into tears. I will miss him so much. He's been my hero all week long. We've been through so much together in just this short amount of time, and I love doing it all together as a team. I will miss my teammate. We have laughed our heads off all week long, and we have shared tears. It has all been so special. He begins his new job tomorrow at Biscan Construction as a Project Manager. I'm so proud of him. I'm afraid poor Sadie is going to have major withdraw when she wakes up tomorrow and he's not there to get her out of bed. They have become tight buddies this past week. She carries around the "dada" from her dollhouse all of the time.
Anyways, enough of the sappy stuff. I need to stop crying now. My mom will be here tomorrow to help me out and then Deb will be here on Tuesday and Wednesday. After Wednesday, I'm on my own! I can finally drive again and lift Sadie by myself, etc. It will be an adventure, I'm sure, so stay tuned!