preface : after 4mo & 11days, the details are getting a bit hazy. i remember the big stuff, but the little things have started to fade (like when exactly the ped came to examine gretchen or when exactly e came back on friday...?). should there be another hawley baby (mor's shaking his head "NO!" to this! haha!), i'll make sure to get everything down much quicker. the little things are a lot of times the sweetest things.
it was pretty cool after gretchen was born because instead of whisking her off to the nursery to bathe her and all that jazz, the nurse kept her in the room with us so we got to be a part of everything. i even got to choose what kind of little bow to put in all of her hair. red and white polkadots, a la minnie mouse. adorable. the nurse was excited to put the bow in all of g's curls. (i wish there was a statistic detailing babies born with hair vs babies born without hair. i know our babies have all had pretty fantastic hair, but it seems like it must be such a rarity based on how many people comment on it.) moving on...g took to nursing like a champ, which was awesome and a relief. however, she also took a shine to spitting up. not normal spitting up either, but weird gagging without breathing spitting up. to say it was unsettling would be a major understatement. i was terrified and would practically slap her back and jiggle her to help her get everything out and start breathing again. mor and i were super tired (apparently waiting around to have a baby will do that to you), so we had the nurse take gretchen to the nursery for a few hours. when they brought her back to us, we were told she had continued to choke and gag and stop breathing and that there had been a little blood in her spit ups. all of us were able to get some sleep that first night, and i felt really good but made sure to stay on top of my pain meds so i would keep feeling really good.
the next morning, e brought the boys to see us. jones climbed right up onto the bed with me and asked to hold the baby; finn kept his distance, just like he did when jonah was born. it was pretty great to have my sister there with my brand new baby. i remember loving on coop literally right after he was born, and now it was my turn to share my little piece of heaven with my sister. (poor ains had to stay in the waiting room. sorry, p!) after they left, i showered. kal was just coming in the door when i was getting out. it was so good to see her and have her love on gretchen. e came back with lunch for mor and "relieved" him of his sit-around-at-the-hospital duty. he took jones home to nap and to get finners from school. brit came to visit. she said something that i kind of loved, that gretchen was familiar to her, that she felt like she knew her already. that brit's a good lady. mor came back sometime later, and his aunt carol, diane and emi stopped by. carol loved getting to send gloria a picture of her with gretchen! ha! we should them a side-by-side of day-old finn (a picture on my phone) and day-old gretchen. at first, they thought it was the same baby, that's how much finn and gretchen looked alike.
*gretchen kept up with the reflux-y stuff all day and night. saturday morning, dr young came to check on us. he came right in and sat down like we were old friends and he was just coming for a chat. he couldn't get over gretchen's hair and cheeks but he esp liked her chubby shoulders. (i really like dr young, btw.) he said i'd most likely be discharged home as soon as the baby was cleared by the pediatrician. when the ped came, he took her to the nursery to check her out. during, she started to do her choking-gags, and it got so bad they recommended we let them basically pump her stomach. not, though. stay with me. same idea, different method. they would flush saline into her stomach to have her throw up it and anything else that was in her stomach. she threw up quite a bit of phlegm and old blood, which was a concern. while g was off having this done, i was packing and getting ready to go home. i was standing up and felt a clot pass. it was such a strange sensation, like i was giving birth again. i got to the bathroom before expelling it and was able to actually catch it in some tissue. it filled the palm of my hand and (as if you aren't already grossed-0ut and gagging enough already) looked very similar to how a brain looks. (gah. i'm sorry.) it was definitely NOT just a clot. the nurse was disturbed by it and had to call dr young to inform him and see what he wanted to do, if anything. it seemed like we were going to be at the hospital forever! but, i was so very grateful all of this was happening while we were there instead of at home without the nurses' and drs' help and expertise. we finally got the all clear with instructions for me to take it extra EXTRA easy and for gretchen to be seen first thing the next week.
we were expecting e, ains and the boys to be there when we got home, but it was pretty nice that we were able to settle in a bit before they got back. ains was excited to finally get to hold the baby, as was jonah. all he wanted to do the first few days after we got home was hold the baby, smooch the baby, check on the baby. any nervousness i had about how he would be around gretchen had been unfounded; he loved her immediately and intensely, and he still does. finn warmed up to her too, and even asked to hold her a few times. e had bought a few things for the house and moved the furniture around a little; she is our mother's daughter! they left sunday, early afternoon. it was so great to have them here, to take care of our hooligan boys** and sniff our sweet new baby girl.
*somewhere in all of this mixed-up timeline, mor gave me and grechen each a blessing. he's a wonderful husband and father and priesthood holder. i really couldn't have handled all of this without him.
**e said she only had 1 rough spot with finn; jonah had been a complete love for the 2 1/2 days we were in the hospital. i think he was extra soft because he and i had never been apart, and it was a new, maybe even scary experience. she told us that ben, who is not a fan of "babies" in the least, was smitten with jones. he snuggled right up to ben and would put his head on his shoulder and was more than content just hanging out with him. tender mercies for my little jones.
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