Henry Raphael's Birth Story

Henry Raphael Herrera is here, and I'm proud to say we have survived the first week as a family of four! In honor of Throwback Thursday, let's take a trip back to September 21st, 2017, Henry's birth day...

Well, let's take it back just a liiittle bit before that. The day before my C-section, I spent the majority of the day cleaning up our apartment, mostly our bedroom. I wish I took a before-and-after shot, but trust me - it's much cleaner and much roomier. Later in the evening, Ralph's mom came over (she looked after Owen while we were at the hospital - thanks, Nana!), and I continued to clean till a little past midnight. I'm glad I did because I slept SO well.

The following morning, it was go time. Owen was still asleep when we left, and I had to fight back the tears when I said goodbye - I didn't want him wondering where we were once he woke up, but I had to remind myself that we'd be seeing him in about 6 hours, heh.

Last bump photo at 39 weeks.

I have to say...a scheduled C-section (vs an emergency C-section) is sooo nice. No waiting, no labor, no wondering when. Don't get me wrong - I would have LOVED to deliver both my babies vaginally, but it was not meant to be with Owen. I DID want to attempt a VBAC if I went into labor before my C-section date, but that didn't happen either.

Ready to go!

I was taken to the operating room first for my spinal block while Ralph waited outside. I wasn't bothered by the actual pain from getting the block as much as the feeling of restlessness from my legs once the anesthesia kicked in. I remembered hating the same feeling from the epidural on Owen's birth day (more so than the contractions).

Once I was numbed and prepped, Ralph joined me. A little while later, I felt the doctor pushing down on my belly and towards my pelvis, and I knew, at that moment, that she was pushing Henry out. I heard his cries, and Ralph and I just laughed and cried (well, I cried).

When Owen was born, I was so out of it in the operating room that I wasn't able to hold him until I went into recovery. This time, the nurse placed Henry right into my arms, and I fell in love all over again.

Ralph and Henry went ahead to recovery for skin-to-skin bonding while they closed me up. I cannot thank the surgery staff enough for taking care of me and making the surgery a thousand times better than the last one.

In the recovery unit.

We were taken to our room, and we immediately called our parents to head on over. First visitors were big brother Owen and Nana. To be honest, I wasn't sure how Owen was going to react...but he blew me away - he loves his baby brother so much, and my heart could not handle it.

Showing Henry his Pooh Bear.

Nana and her grandsons.

Shortly afterwards, our friend and family photographer Christina, her assistant Haileigh, and my mom arrived. Here are some photos that Christina took.

My friend's sister suggested that we give Owen a big brother gift when he visited Henry, so we got him a wooden clock puzzle - he's aaalll about clocks and puzzles right now. 

Missing my Dad (he was stuck at work).

With Haileigh!

With Auntie Christina! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUCH BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS!

Later in the afternoon, we were visited by my friend Jackie, Ralph's grandmother, sister, niece (though she was unable to actually be IN the room because they don't allow children under 12 unless they're siblings *sad face*), and my dad. During this time, I was SO nauseated that I didn't take any photos. I couldn't even keep down ice chips, and I was soooo thirsty.

Later in the evening, once everyone had gone, I was feeling better and began chugging my water and eating as much jello as I could get my hands on. At 11pm, I happily told my nurse that I passed gas because that meant that I could graduate to a regular diet. Since it was late, the only thing she could offer me was a turkey sandwich; and let me tell ya, it was the best sandwich I ever had in my life, hahahaha.

I'm not sure why, but I recovered a hell of a lot better and faster this time around. I didn't require much help from Ralph or the staff, and I was up and walking around the following morning. The next day, we went home.

Owen has been the absolute best. He has been so loving and gentle towards his baby brother, and I could not be more thankful and excited for their relationship to grow.

Unfortunately for Owen, he has been riddled with insect bites since our last heat wave (about 3 weeks ago). He had two nasty bites on his face (which are NOW only starting to disappear). And when he visited us at the hospital, we noticed that his eyes were super red and puffy - we thought it was possibly due to allergies because he also had the sniffles; but when we got home, his entire body broke out in a rash. 

I was sure that it was nothing serious, but because we just brought Henry home, we wanted to triple check to make sure it wasn't anything contagious. So that evening, Ralph went to urgent care, and the doctor said it was just allergies and for Owen to take Benadryl as needed.

The following day, we took Henry to the doctor's to check if he lost any more weight since coming home (he lost 8% of his birth weight while we were at the hospital); and thankfully, he did not.

Later in the evening, as I was getting Owen ready for bed, I noticed that his insect bite behind his left thigh was extremely swollen, like 2 inches wide. I knew right away that it was infected, and I just started bawling. Ralph took him to urgent care, and the doctor diagnosed him with cellulitis. He was given 10 days of antibiotics, which he is (thankfully) taking well. I'm also going to guess that his body rash/puffy eyes are due to an allergic reaction to the bite vs the weather.

Today, we are halfway through his antibiotics, and he was recently also prescribed hydrocortisone 2.5% cream for his itchy skin. The swelling on the bite HAS gone down, but the rash just won't let up. *Sigh* I just want him to get better already. :(

But other than that, we're all settling in as a family of four. And now, I'd like to take this time to thank Ralph for going above and beyond and taking care of 3 people - a wife status post C-section, a toddler with cellulitis, and a fresh babe...LOL...poor guy. I'm lucky and blessed to have him. Life is good. God is good.

Until next time!

Owen Michael's Birth Story

This week has truly been a crazy week. On Monday, I had vaginal bleeding, which earned me a trip to L&D (see previous entry), and then on Tuesday morning, I began having painful contractions every 7 to 9 minutes for 2 hours. I was so sure that I was going to have the baby that day, but my contractions, for some weird reason, just vanished (along with my hope of giving birth to a baby that day).

Contractions or not, I was planning on trying some Old Wives' Tales to induce labor that day anyway...

Eggplant parmesan, "labor-inducing" chocolate cake, and a pineapple smoothie.

I'm not entirely sure why eggplant parmesan (I like the one at Trader Joe's) and chocolate cake (recipe here) are labor-inducing foods, but many people have told me that pineapple contains an enzyme that helps soften the cervix. So for dinner, I had eggplant parmesan, and for dessert, I had a small slice of the cake (the recipe is actually pretty good...very moist) and a pineapple smoothie (with strawberries and orange juice because I actually hate pineapples).

Well, guess what happened on Wednesday at 2:00am? I woke up with painful contractions at intervals of 9 minutes. I didn't get too excited because the same thing happened the day before (with the end result of no baby), but Old Wives' Tales (for the most part) got my baby's gender prediction right...so maybe the Old Wives' Tales of these labor-inducing foods could be true too...?

Since I had to get up at 5:00am anyway, I decided to just stay up and monitor my contractions. They became closer and closer together. By the time Ralph dropped me off at my parents' house before he headed off for work, my contractions were 5 to 6 minutes apart. He went to work anyway, since I wasn't supposed to go to L&D until my contractions were every 3 to 5 minutes for a whole hour...and who knew when THAT would happen?

It happened an hour later.

So I called L&D, told them what was going on, and sure enough, my mom and I were back at Kaiser at 7:00am. The same midwife who examined me on Monday was there, and she gave us the good news: I was 5cm dilated and 100% effaced...it was time for this baby to come out. WOOHOO!

I was moved to my very own labor and delivery room and called Ralph to let him know that he had the rest of the day off, hahaha. A little while later, my mother-in-law arrived, and then Ralph arrived.

For the next 6.5 hours, I was given fluids and antibiotics through an IV; and like a trooper, I powered through 5-minute contractions every 7 to 8 minutes - the nurse said it was normal for contractions to space out once you get IV fluids, but it was weird that I was getting contractions that lasted 5 minutes. The midwife came in at 1:30pm to examine me again and said that I was dilated to 6cm. My immediate thought was, I've been here for 6.5 hours, and I've only dilated 1 freaking cm?! At this rate, I was going to be in labor for 3 years! So the midwife broke my water for me and started giving me oxytocin to help get things going.

It was a little while after when I decided to get the epidural, since I heard that contractions get more intense and closer together once your water breaks. And believe me, I'm no freaking hero - I always knew I was going to get the epidural. Props to you women who went through labor and delivery without any pain meds.

Well, things went downhill from there. After getting the epidural from the anesthesiologist, I immediately regretted it - I rather would have dealt with the 5-minute contractions than the side effects of the epidural. I was just nauseous, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Later on, at 5:00pm, the midwife came back to check on my progress...I was STILL only 6 cm dilated. She also noticed that my BP kept dropping...and so did the baby's heart rate.

I heard the midwife tell a nurse to get the anesthesiologist back in the room. Next thing I knew, there were 5 nurses trying to reposition me and trying to rearrange the fetal monitor leads on my tummy. There was just too much scuffling, so I knew something was wrong. I was instructed to use a breathing mask to get more oxygen flow for the baby, and then another doctor came into the room - all I heard was that the baby was in distress, and he thought it was best to proceed with a c-section.

I was beyond scared. I tried my hardest not to cry, but as soon as I saw the concerned look on my mom's face, I was overcome with emotion. I burst into tears, and Ralph immediately came to my side and said, "It's okay, Pagey. The baby just wants to come out a different way."

And before I knew it, I was being wheeled to the operating room. Thankfully, I didn't have to be knocked out, so I was awake for the entire thing. First, the anesthesiologist gave me stronger numbing medication, which, of course, made me feel worse and more dazed. I started shivering like crazy, and I felt like I needed to throw up...and I did. Ugh.

After I was prepped, Ralph was brought in, and I couldn't be more grateful that he was able to be there with me. He just sat by my head, stroked my hair, and assured me that everything was going to be okay. The actual procedure was quick, and there weren't any complications (other than the fact that I felt like I couldn't breathe, but the anesthesiologist said that the medication I was getting could cause my nostrils to feel plugged). I didn't feel any tugging or pressure from the surgery, and just a few minutes later, I heard the baby cry.

All my worries vanished as soon as I heard his cries...so I also began to cry. Ralph left my side briefly to cut the umbilical cord, and once the baby was cleaned up, a nurse brought him to me. Since the doctor was still "closing" me up, the nurse took Ralph and the baby into the recovery room, so Ralph could have skin-to-skin contact with the baby, which is something that is encouraged between parents and the newborn.

After the doctor was done with me, I was wheeled into the recovery room, where I saw Ralph holding our baby. And then it was my turn for skin-on-skin bonding. As soon as I had the baby in my arms, I just breathed out a sigh of relief and thanked God for our little blessing. After about an hour and a half in the recovery room, we were finally able to move into our post-partum room. We were immediately greeted by my parents and brother and Ralph's mom, grandma, sister, niece, and aunt. Unfortunately for them, visiting hours were almost over, so they only got to spend a short time with the little guy.

And then Ralph and I were all alone with the newborn baby...DUN DUN DUN! I must say, Ralph did a great job. Because I was bed-ridden for the rest of the night, he was the one who had to do everything - change the baby's diapers, pick him up when he cried, swaddle him, help me reposition myself when I got uncomfortable, and get whatever I needed that was too far from my reach.

The first night was rough, mainly because I was starving (the last thing I ate was that labor-inducing meal...which had been more than 24 hours prior), and Ralph and I could just not sleep - the nurse checked on me every 2 to 3 hours, and whenever we heard the baby stir, we would panic and check up on him.

Our second and last days at the hospital went by quickly. And let me tell you...you grow dependent on the nurses and that wonderful bed that helps you sit up with the touch of a button...so enjoy every moment of it! And also, a huge shout out to the staff at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Irvine...EVERYONE was so wonderful and so accommodating - I couldn't have asked for better care.

We were finally able to go home Friday afternoon. A ton of pictures were taken during our stay at the hospital, but here are just a few more:

Once I was off my clear liquid diet, I requested my mom to bring me sushi. AT LONG LAST!!!

Kaiser even provided me and Ralph with a celebratory dinner.

I'd like to take this time to thank everyone for all the well wishes, whether they were through visitations, phone calls, text messages, social media messages/comments, etc. We are truly grateful for all the support, and we cannot wait till the baby meets everyone! 

As far as how we're doing...

- I was in excruciating pain for the last couple of days because I refused to take any pain meds (other than Motrin) because I'm super constipated, and pain meds only make it worse. And boy...you feel EVERYTHING once the anesthesia wears off. So moving just HURTS, but I am feeling a lot better today. Things are only going to get better from here!

- Ralph is super man. He not only has to take care of Owen, but he also has to take care of me. I am beyond blessed for Ralph's patience and for everything that he has done for me the last couple of days...we are a lot closer in our relationship, that's for sure, lol! He is also now a pro at swaddling and changing diapers.

- Baby Owen is just the greatest thing I've ever seen. I cannot get enough of him. He's breastfeeding just fine and loves to be carried...he's fussy when he's not in someone's arms - what a brat! :D

- Wendy is still a little confused as to what's going, but she has been the sweetest dog. She constantly sniffs the baby's stuff and always jumps out of her bed/crate whenever the baby cries, as if she's concerned about her little brother's well-being. :)

"Mama...what's that you got over there?"

More updates/pictures once I feel better. :)

Owen Michael Herrera
Born on Wednesday, February 25th, 2015 at 5:37pm
Weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 20 inches long