Alexander napping on mommy

As many of you know, we had a C-section scheduled for 8:45 this morning. Michele went into labor at 3:00 this morning. Michele is recovering and doing well.

Mommy holding Alexander for the first time

Mommy got to hold her baby boy pretty soon after delivery and was very happy. Right now she continues to rest and heal. Thank you to all for your wishes congratulations.

Daddy Dave changed his first ever boy diaper. Far from the last, of course. The early thinking is that he looks like the Hane genes are strong in his veins, just like his sister.

Sophia came by to visit her new brother. Honestly, we were nervous about how it would go. When we got a call telling us she didn’t even want to enter the building, we got even more anxious. She’s not a huge fan of hospitals. When she came into the room, she just wandered around for a while exploring, though at least she greeted Mommy.

Sophia waving to Alexander

Once she got accustomed to the idea of seeing a baby, she was most intrigued. Sophia waved and kept saying “Hi, Baby” and “Baby, bed”. We have video of her being very interested in her brother, but I think the Rex guest wireless network is prohibiting me from uploading the larger files, so that may just have to wait. All in all, a good experience with Sophia.

As time permits, I’ll post more pix, video, and experiences.

The (expected) details of his arrival:

• C-Section scheduled for the morning of Monday, Feb. 15. (For those of you thinking, “that’s just like Michele, planning it out”, you should know that Michele was really looking forward to the spontaneous, natural experience. But sometimes even that is not something you can control.)
• As with Sophia, we will be delivering at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC.
• We have AWESOME friends that have agreed to watch Sophia while we are in the hospital. Though at least we learned she can visit. Yay!

Because Michele will be recovering from surgery, we ask that if you want to meet the new addition, please introduce yourself to him when we get back home. The amazing love and support we received in the hospital when Sophia arrived was both amazing and literally overwhelming.

So, how exactly is it different this time around beyond the obvious gender difference?

1. Not as much free time to prep. So the prepping is not as peppy.
   

   Crib and dresser from "his" room

   For a perfect example, one only need look at his room. For “long time readers”, you may recall the post describing her nursery. To prep for this post, I ran upstairs, moved boxes out of the frame, and snapped some pix. We simply have not been able to dedicate the same level of energy and time to his room that we did for Sophia’s. Nevertheless, he does have a bigger room, brand new furniture, and just as many hand me downs and amazing sales acquisitions as Sophia did.

2. One huge difference is the amount of combined time we’ll be taking off. With Sophia, Michele stayed at home 4 months. Dave began his 3 month leave after that. When all was said and done, Sophia did not start day care until she was 7 1/2 months old. Her brother will only have mom home for the first 3 months. It will be interesting to see how that difference plays out. Dave will be out a total of 6 weeks, though the last 3-4 weeks will be staggered as part time. (Big shout out to my boss Kevin for supporting this flexible schedule! Here’s an unsolicited plug for his site about all things Durham.)
3. Lastly, it will be….interesting to see just how different the two kids are. We, of course, think Sophia is the perfect child. So, of course, karma would dictate that he will be….different. We know it’s just being silly and superstitious, but we can’t help it. I remember a story my mother shared about when she was expecting her second child, my brother Michael. She was concerned she could not possibly love anyone as much as she loved her firstborn, my sister Elizabeth. (She was genuinely concerned about this.) But then, as soon as he was born, she knew she loved him just as much. I’m sure the same will be true for us.

Michele and Sophia waiting for the Surgeon

Guess it was bound to happen. Many of you know Sophia has had a running bout with ear infections. She’s had around 8 or 9 in the last year. Having to give her antibiotics all the time can’t be that great. In addition, her inability to sleep through the night wasn’t helping. So, on the advice of her pediatrician and the ENT specialist, Sophia had tubes put in her ear this morning at WakeMed North.

We arrived at hospital at 6:15 for her 7:45 surgery. That meant getting her out of the crib at 5:45 am. Ironically, she decided to sleep through the entire night last night. Can’t say the same was true for Mommy Michele who was anxious and had trouble sleeping. Go Figure.

The nursing staff at WakeMed was fantastic. They were kind, patient, and interacted fantastically with Sophia. Sophia endeared herself to them by successfully being “that really cute kid.” After the 19 month old in the bed next to her was wheeled out on “the train”, Sophia spent the next 30 minutes asking, “Baby, are you?” (The “where” in the statement is, of course, understood. At least by her parents.) The nursing staff was kind enough to let us walk around the PACU so that she was sedentary the whole time. Acknowledging our bias right up front, I think other patients and their families were enjoying Sophia and her antics. They chuckled and smiled as Sophia said hello to the clock; asked “Baby, are you?”; and instructed Daddy to stand on one scale while she stood on the other.

Sophia getting some love during pre-op

Mommy and Daddy continued to work up the story that her bed was a train and that the doors to the OR were “outside”. This made her very interested in sitting on the bed and going through those doors.  That’s a really good thing since our surgeon ended up being 20 minutes late. In effect, Sophia had been awake almost 2 1/2 hours without anything in her stomach.

She was still in an awesome mood. You can see that in the pictures. Our huge fear was that the other kids would start returning from their surgeries before Sophia left. Other kids crying probably would not help sustain her positive outlook.  Luckily, we were able to let her ride her “choo-choo” “outside” before anyone else got back. As nerve-wracking as it was to see her going down that hallway on the bed with the nurses, we were so proud of her for just sitting on the bed and looking forward. (Did I mention she was awesome?)

We were in the waiting room for around 15-20 minutes before the surgeon came out to tell us everything was great. Surgery went great. She had no fluid in her ears. (Probably because she’s wrapping up this round of antibiotics.) She was very well behaved.

That last part changed after we went to recovery. Once the anesthesia wore off, she was very disoriented and confused. (We were not to her yet when she came to, but we heard her.) It took about 2o minutes of the world’s best medicine – cuddling, singing, and soothing from mommy – for Sophia to relax and be ready to go.