Our Birth Story: Round 2!

Well, he has arrived! If you are a fan on Facebook or follow on Twitter you will already know this news, but here is the full story.
Baby Quentin arrived at 11:48am on February 27th, 2013. He weighed a healthy 9 lbs 6 oz. 

We had been waiting to see if he would make an early arrival. If he did decide to come before his due date, we were going to attempt a VBAC. But, as the day drew nearer and nearer, there was no sign that this little guy was on his way. Like his mother, he has a tough time arriving early. I guess we truly do reap what we sow. ;)
As the day approached, I had resigned myself that surgery was the most likely avenue. I wasn't thrilled about facing surgery again, but on the other hand I knew what to expect. There is something to be said for having the knowledge of where and when your baby is arriving, and of knowing how the surgery will progress. We got the call a few days before that we were scheduled for the first surgery slot, so we had to head to the hospital bright and early for 6am. 
The night before was a roller coaster of emotions. We were excited to meet the little guy, nervous to have a newborn again, and I was sad to say goodbye to our little family of 3. That sounds a bit silly, but I was having a lot of guilt over the fact that my son would no longer have our undivided attention. Pregnancy hormones had one last huzzah and broke me down into tears when we put Peanut to bed. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much and when 6am came, it wasn't hard to get my nervous butt out of bed and get ready. 
We made it to the hospital and got all checked in and ready. We had a wonderful nurse prep us for the surgery and we were on time for 8am waiting outside of the operating room. We met the team who would be in the room with us, and the nurses said we just had to wait for the doctor who would actually perform the surgery. She finally showed up a little late, and we began the preparation for the spinal anaesthetic. After they had injected the local freezing, there seemed to be a bit of a commotion and the doctor was called out. The nurses then kept chatting with me, and eventually told me to lay down, as it was going to be a while. We chatted about a bunch of things, and then they turned on some music. They brought my husband in the room and we all just waited. It was fairly obvious that something else was going on and that we were likely going to be here a while. After a quick bathroom break I suggested we sit in the comfy chairs in the hallway rather than go back in the freezing cold OR. 
Just as we sat down we heard a lot of screaming and a woman was wheeled by with blood everywhere. They called a code over the intercom and people were rushing and arguing about whether or not they could use our OR as it wasn't sterile anymore. However it was clear there was an emergency, and we were totally forgotten. It was like a real-life Grey's Anatomy episode. Hubby and I just sat there trying to be out of the way. They called the code saying the baby wasn't breathing and I got a little upset. Finally our prep nurse rushed down the hall and swept us back into the ward. She did a great job of debriefing us (and we know the mom and babe were ok as we saw them later in the post-partum ward...thank God!). But at that point we knew there wasn't going to be a surgery any time soon. We went back to our prep room and just hung out and waited for another couple of hours until we were called back. 
When we got back to the OR everyone was laughing and joking and they tried hard to put us at ease. Of course it's all in a days work for the staff, and they were totally unfazed by all the craziness. They promised we would actually get to meet our baby this time, and they set to work. 
The first time around during Peanut's birth I was so exhausted that they surgery was a bit of a blur. It was also very quick, as it was a bit of an emergency situation as he was in distress. This time it was completely different. I was totally aware of everything that was going on, and it seemed to take much longer. Besides feeling very nauseous from the anaesthetic, I was feeling alright, and so it was a bit bizarre to just sit there with Hubby holding my hand while they worked. The OB was training a resident so she was sort of describing the surgery to him as they went, which was a bit surreal for me. It's strange to hear all the crazy things they are doing to your body while you just lay there all numb behind a curtain! And it's impossible not to listen! For the most part Hubby and I were totally ignored and it seemed to take forever before they were ready to birth the baby. Finally they told me to get ready for the pressure, and out he came. They quickly showed him to me before they had the team check him over. Because the hospital was so insanely busy that day, they had to take him up to the ward to get him weighed and measured, etc., so Hubby and Q left after a quick visit with me. Then I was all alone while they finished the surgery. It honestly was pretty crappy to be left alone for so long in recovery. I just wanted to see my new baby and spend time with my husband. But they eventually came back down and Q took to nursing like a champ. 
I have to say that after seeing the craziness in the OR when complications arose for the other patient, I feel we made the right decision to go with the repeat surgery. 
When we brought Q home, Peanut was a bit flabbergasted I think. He was pretty cautious about the whole baby thing, and began saying "Baby" and making the sign for "all done". Poor little guy! He also happened to get the stomach flu very badly for our first 3 days home. So the poor little dude was feeling super awful. We basically just laid in bed and watched movies on the laptop while he slept. Once he recovered though, we had a few days of pretty bad jealousy. We got him to help bring blankets for the baby, etc. and that seemed to help ease it some. We also made sure to spend some one-on-one time and give lots of cuddles and reassurance. Now he still has his moments where he wants the baby to go away, but he also tries to share his cars and toys with him. True brothers.