Lennon Elias Welch Moore made his entrance into the world on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 3:21 p.m. He was born via c-section and weighed 8 lbs 7 oz, was 20 inches long and has lots of dark black hair.
We are so very glad he is here and love him more than words could every say. Aleece and Madelaine absolutely adore him and would hold him 24/7 if it were possible! They are such good big sisters!
We kept thinking Lennon would make his debut on his own, but once I hit 41 weeks my doctor decided it would be the safest option to take him c-section. I will admit this was incredibly hard for me, having had Madelaine vbac, and even up until the night before I was ridiculously emotional and couldn't seem to get a grip on the whole situation. I am so thankful that Val honors his priesthood covenants and was able to give me a blessing of comfort and understanding. I truly felt my Heavenly Father there with me at the hospital and know that it was meant to be this way. We arrived at the hospital at noon on Wednesday and I had been fasting since midnight--I don't think they realize this is a really long time to make a pregnant woman go without food! I was admitted and taken to an area where they could monitor the baby, put in my IV, fill out any needed paperwork, etc. etc. before the c-section took place. The hospital was really busy and so everything seemed to take longer than it should have, which didn't necessarily help my nerves, but it did allow me time to reflect on everything--especially my pregnancy and all of the love and support I had from my family. Once they got my IV in, things started to move a little more quickly. Luckily it only took one poke to get my IV in, unlike the 5 or 6 tries it took them with Lainey! Then they started pushing fluids to keep me hydrated and took some blood work and then we were ready to head to the OR. My sweet mother was watching the girls in the waiting room this whole time and has truly been a godsend to us during this time! My sweet husband was by my side the whole time, making sure I was being treated well. They wheeled me into the OR where they were going to administer my spinal and I couldn't help but start shaking, I was so nervous! The spinal was probably one of the most frustrating experiences I had through it all--apparently the anesthesiologist was "teaching" that day and so I got poked more than once. And let me tell a spinal is not the best feeling in the world! I do have a nice bruise on my back to show for it also. Once that was finally in place, it was the weirdest sensation to be able to know people were touching me, but not be able to feel it. I could feel the pulling and the tugging but it didn't hurt, thank goodness! When I had my c-section with Aleece, it was under emergency circumstances and it was quite traumatic for me, which is why I was so nervous going into it this time around. But my mind was clear this time and I was aware of everything that was occurring. Some of the first things that were said once cutting into my abdomen were "Wow, that is a lot of water" (I warned them!) and "that is one big boy!" I was so happy to hear Lennon's little cry and to see him for the first time. He melted my heart and I was so glad he arrived healthy and perfect! He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 7 oz, which may not seem huge, but you have to remember that is almost 2 pounds more than Lainey weighed, so it seems big to me! They got Lennon all cleaned up and gave him to Val and I was able to sit with my sweet boys while they stitched me back up. Lennon was born with my big chubby cheeks and had a hard time opening his eyes at first, but it was so sweet to watch him acclimate to his surroundings! When they finished stitching me up, they took us to our recovery room, where we stayed for about 2 hours while I got some feeling back into the lower half of my body. I kept trying to send signals from my brain to my feet to move, and it was so strange knowing that those impulses were being sent, they were just not doing anything! I was able to hold Lennon for the first time and nurse him and it was incredible. I love the mother/child connection and am so grateful for all three of my beautiful children. We made some phone calls to let people know Lennon had arrived and before we knew it, we were headed to the room where I would be staying for the rest of my hospital visit. The hospital I delivered in is pretty new and it is beautiful The rooms are huge and the staff is very nice. Well, they took us up to our new room and we were finally able to be reunited with Leecy, Lainey and Granny. Thank you again Granny for everything!!! It was so joyous to introduce the girls to their new baby brother. They wanted to hold him right away and it made me so proud to be a mother as I watched my 3 children together. Aleece is so tender with Lennon and really didn't want to have to give him up to anyone else to hold! Madelaine really wishes she could hold Lennon on her own. She wants to be just like her big sister! We got some really cute pictures, courtesy of Granny (seriously what would we do without her!) and got to really enjoy our first moments of being a forever family!
I could go on and on about everything that happened over the next couple of days, but instead of a novel, I will try to just give a few highlights! Pain pills are wonderful--the next day the pain was definitely stronger and they had me get out of bed less than 18 hours after having the c-section. It was difficult to walk/move but I knew that by getting out of bed and moving around, I would be able to heal more quickly. I had some "weeping" start midday from my incision and had the nurse check it. She said that wounds sometimes do that and left if at that. Well, by late evening I attempted to get out of bed for the 5th or 6th time and was in excruciating pain even after having had some pain pills the hour before. The night nurse came and looked at my incision again, only to find that there was a hole in my incision. It hadn't sealed completely. Soooo, she called the night resident, who came and took a look and after poking around, which did not feel good, she proceeded to pack the hole with gauze saturated in saline and let my doc determine the outcome in the morning. Sweet. So my doctor came in the morning and checked out the hole in my incision and determined the underlying stitches were still in tact, the outer layer had just not stayed glued shut. Yep, that's right, they use glue to hold everything together. Comforting isn't it! :) She reglued my incision and put steri strips on top of that, so hopefully I won't be popping open any time soon! Other than that my hospital stay was pretty quiet. I got to see my mom and my beautiful girls every day and Val was with me a great deal of the time. I got up a little more every day and was released from the hospital on Saturday afternoon. It was so nice to come home to my sweet family and not have someone walk in on me every hour to poke and prod! Our ward has been wonderful, bringing dinner over for us and offering their support. As I said before, my mom has been a godsend--the girls adore her and she is so good with them! They have a very special relationship with their Granny! I still deal with the pain of having a large incision in my abdomen, but the pain pills help and getting up more and more each day, I believe, will help me heal quickly. I absolutely love being a mother and could ask for no greater calling in this world! My children bring so much joy to my life and I am so blessed to be entrusted with them! They are all so different, but my love for all of them is unconditional. They make my heart swell every time I look at them and I would go through anything and do anything for them.
I am so grateful for eternal families and the knowledge that I have that I will be with them forever!
I am so glad Lennon is finally here. I love every squeal, every sneeze, every cry, every look, everything. I am anxious to see what his personality will develop into and what each new day will bring us!
