Birth Story Part Three: The Tale of Ronan Rook

I was distracted from this thought of seeing baby when Dr. Bowers began delivering the placenta. Now that I could feel my stomach, I could feel the extreme discomfort of her massaging it from my insides. I looked down to see what the heck was going on and Tim stopped me. "You don't want to look right now. Ew." So I just sat there and took it, thinking to myself this was worse than delivering the baby. Once it was out, she set to work on sewing me up. It made me nervous how long that took, and that's when I found out the extent of the damage. A two inch episiotomy and a second degree tear. I still don't know how bad that combination is in comparison to other people, but it sounds pretty bad to me.

I tried not to think about the pain and instead, looked over to the suctioning station. Just feet from me was our baby. I'd done it. He was here and he was ours. I looked over at Tim and felt tears touch my eyes. His eyes were a little watery as well. I grabbed his hand and squeezed. "It's our baby," I said. "He's right there." He leaned over the side of the bed and kissed me. "You did great, Mary."

Suddenly, the moment had come. "Give him to Dad," someone said. Tim walked over and took our swaddled baby. For a moment, Tim didn't move, but just looked down at him. "Bring him over here," I said. He looked as if he'd come out of some trance and brought our baby boy over the side rail of my hospital bed so we could both look at him.

I could not believe it. There he was, our little man. Nose just like daddy's and cheeks as pink as a cherub's. He wasn't crying anymore. He was looking right back up at Tim with big, wondering eyes. He was so ALERT, looking at us like that, like he knew exactly who we were. I could hardly stand how stinking cute he was. "Hi, baby," I said. His eyes wandered over to my face for just a brief second, then went right back to Tim.

I thought I understood what love at first sight was when I saw Tim for the first time. Never had I ever experienced such a strong connection to a stranger before, and then to see how our love unfolded every day, it was such a testament to me that God existed and he had a plan for us. Now, to see what that love had brought into the world was overwhelming. I knew Tim was feeling the same thing I was; the love we had for each other had just grown about a million times over for this new little stranger, this adorable little man who had immediately stolen our hearts. That was a new kind of love at first sight, and I knew once again that God was watching over us, happy for our little family.

For some precious few moments, we were the only three people in the whole world, and then they had to take baby away again. Sugar level testing, more sucking, getting his footprint on paper, etc etc etc. I looked up at Tim. "So his name is Ronan Joseph, right?" Tim nodded. "Ronan it is."

Nurse Wendi stayed 30 minutes past her shift, trying to help us get Ronan ready for post partum wing. We thanked her profusely for being so awesome and she said she hoped to see us again soon. In my head I said, "Not TOO soon."

Dr. Bowers gave us some advice before leaving as well, and she told us this was one of the best birthing experiences she's had, and she's been in the business for a long time. I agreed it wasn't all that bad and it had been a beautiful experience, thanks to her and nurse Wendi.

I had been in labor for five hours, and pushing for only 50 minutes before Ronan Joseph Rook came into the world at 6:26am, July 19, 2012. At birth, he was 10 lbs. 3 oz. and 21 inches long.

Over the past week, he has proven himself to be a pretty easy going little man. He cries when he's hungry sometimes, cries when we're changing him most of the time, loves to sit and look around at the world, hates getting baths, and smiles in his sleep the most adorable smile I've ever seen ever ever ever. He loves to fall asleep on Mommy and loves to stare at Daddy. He is so chill, the other night he just sat in his rocky seat for about an hour while I folded laundry. Not sleeping, just looking around. We love him so much already and can't wait to discover all the little facets of who he is and who he will become down the road.

We'll post another blog with pictures soon. As soon as I figure out how to add them from our iPad... Which may be never.