If you had asked me a year ago if we'd be on our way to the hospital to have another baby on November 2, 2015, I would have laughed. But yet, there we were, heading down Route 1 at 5:30am for my scheduled c-section on a beautiful fall day (though just turning light at that hour), with colorful leaves still clinging to some of the trees. Upon arriving at South County Hospital, Marc and I settled into the temporary hospital room quickly and began the waiting game. The surgery was scheduled for 8am, but the time kept getting pushed back because the anesthesiologist was held up in the emergency room. One of the downfalls of a small hospital, I guess, but the advantages of a community hospital still outweigh the disadvantages as far as I'm concerned. After what felt like a lifetime of waiting, but what in reality was only a couple hours, I was wheeled into the obstetrical operating room at around 10:30am. Again, there was a small wait, I think the assisting surgeon was running behind at that point? I was starting to get a little nervous and was ready to get this show on the road. I just wanted to meet my baby boy! Finally they got down to business and I don't know if it was the wait or my nerves or what, but it wasn't a very pleasant experience, but knowing that I was about to see my baby made it okay. Marc was doing a great job trying to keep me calm and comfortable, and the anesthesiologist was also trying, but that guy was so annoying! One nice thing that he did, though, was ask if I wanted any music on while they tried to get the baby out. I requested the Grateful Dead and he put on Truckin', which isn't my favorite Dead song, but was comforting nonetheless. My stomach was certainly large when I went in to have the baby, but it didn't seem all THAT big considering I was 39.5 weeks pregnant. Jack and Sam were fairly small babies (6.7 and 6.10 lbs, respectively) and while playing the waiting game in the hospital room, the nurses and Marc and I were taking guesses as to how big this baby would be. We all guessed somewhere in the high 6s/low 7s. But after much tugging and pulling and pushing on the doctors' behalves, we finally had a baby! A beautiful, beautiful baby boy. A very large (for me) beautiful baby boy! They didn't immediately weigh him, which was great with me. I actually got to do skin to skin with him right away, while they were finishing up the surgery. It was a little awkward since I had a lovely screen blocking my abdomen, so I couldn't see the little guy very well since he was resting just under my chin, but man was it awesome having my new baby with me while I got stitched up. (Poor Marc was dying, he had never seen this part of the c-section and thankfully never will again!) Then they brought all of us back to the room so I could recover with my baby. I'd never been able to do that before and I was so, so grateful for the experience. At some point the pediatrician came in to check on our little (still nameless) little baby and we were shocked when he weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 8 oz!
Marc and I spent some time with our new little one in the hospital room, where I'd be recovering before moving into another room down the hall for a few days. We hadn't yet decided on a name, but Marc had pulled the name Henry out of nowhere on his way to the hospital and we both were pretty on board with that one. We were also considering Leo and Luke at that point. We'd left our older boys with my mom when we left that morning, and once the boys came up to meet their little brother, we ran the name by them and they were on board with the idea. By the end of his first day on this earth, it was official, our new baby's name would be Henry Julian Rapoza. We were pleased with his name, but beyond all else, pleased with this incredibly sweet baby boy. Words cannot describe just how much the four of us love this new addition to our family, and how grateful we are for his presence. Welcome to the family, Henry Julian! You are loved!
