Ike Family Adventures: He's Finally Here!

And I don't think anyone is more excited than his Big Sister! Em has been asking daily if it's time for her baby to come out and on October 13th, we finally had a different answer! YES! Here's the story of Micaiah's big day:

5:20 am: Nathan and I arrived at the hospital to check in for my scheduled c-section. Exhausted, anxious and more than ready for this baby to arrive, we walked up to triage where I was prepped for surgery. They started with my IV and of course, the only vein they could find was in my right hand (which was fine by me since I'm a lefty), but it's not comfortable at all. The nurse said I am lucky I have veins.

She then says: "Some people are just fluffy, so you can't really get to their veins."
Me: "I'm pretty dang fluffy... Maybe that's the problem."
Nurse: "No, I mean REALLY fluffy..."

Of course at that point, Nathan and I are both laughing. Good thing too, it helped lower the nervousness in the room. Then I had to get blood drawn, get stripped down for the hospital gown and was then asked millions of questions to get ready for the surgery.

Approx. 6:50 am: Nathan puts on his scrubs and gets ready to head to the waiting room until they call him into the operating room. I pee, again, for the billionth time and then have to drink this horrific antacid stuff that smells like it could taste good, but doesn't. It's salty, grapey bitterness was awful and I'm so glad my nurses were amazing and let me swish water around in my mouth to get the taste out.

7:10 am: I waddle to the OR with my nurses at my side. I'm seated on the table and get my spinal block. I have to say I was incredibly blessed with some amazing nurses, doctors and anesthesiologists. I kid you not, the anesthesiologist explained EVERYTHING and cracked jokes with me. He assured me that everything would be okay and continued to talk to me because he knew I was nervous. Then we started cracking jokes. For instance, once we got everything started, he leaned over and said, "Now, if you really want to freak them out, wait about five minutes and start screaming that you can feel everything". I knew he was kidding, but it entertained me nonetheless.

7:20 am: The surgery began. The muscle tissue was pretty thick, so it took some extra cutting. It wasn’t bad. The spinal blocked everything. My blood pressure dipped a little and I started to feel nauseous, so the anesthesiologist gave me something for my blood pressure. It worked. Temporarily. This little guy has proven already that he is going to be one stubborn little man… Everything was going smoothly when I started feeling this intense pressure pushing against the top of my belly. Intense enough that I started to feel the urge to throw up. The anesthesiologist told me that they were pushing up higher to move the baby down and gave me Zofran through my IV. Thank goodness because I so did not want to throw up while laying flat. And Zofran through an IV works even faster than when you take the pill!

7:42 am: Micaiah Thomas Kekoa ‘O Kalani arrived! They pulled him out and Nathan went with the nurses and baby so they could make sure he was okay. He scored a 7 and 9 on his Apgar Test, peed all over the place when he got his Vitamin K shot. I could hear the “ooh’ing” and “aw’ing” along with the laughter from the pee incident, but I couldn’t see anything. The nurses absolutely adored him, he stole their hearts right from the start. They brought him out to me and I got to hold him while they finished sewing me back up and I got to have him right on my chest for a few minutes. It was so nice to hold my baby right away since with Emma I didn’t.

8:00 am: As surgery wrapped up. My OB told me that Micaiah was definitely wasn’t budging. He had moved himself to the very top of my belly (even though he’d been sitting low the past three weeks). He really did not want to get out. Then, I joked with my OB,

Me: How freaked out would you be if I were to ask, ‘Did you remember to take care of my tubes”?

Dr: If I hadn’t asked you about it just before we came in here…

Nurse: How freaked out would you be if we said, “It’s taken care of!”?

Dr: It’s too early for me to think of that response!
…

From there, the timeline is kind of a blur. We were moved to recovery where they monitored my blood pressure, heart rate, baby nursed (like a champ!) and just relaxed. After about two hours, we were moved to our Mom & Baby room, where we’d be until we headed home. Our friend, Michael, came and took pictures of us and was there when my mom and dad brought Emma to meet her baby. It was a very sweet moment. Nathan was holding Micaiah when she came and she walked right into the room and straight to Nathan. She climbed up onto the seat and immediately took to her brother. She got to hold him, squeeze him, kiss him… She is in love! She has been nothing but loving and gentle with him and it’s been so much fun to see her react to having a baby brother. She is in his face a lot, but just because she wants to give him kisses and hugs so much. We’re working on that part...

When we got home and Emma saw me nurse the first time, her exact statement was, “Probably Micaiah will eat your boob off. Probably he will.” It takes some explaining, but she understands now. I think she still gets confused, but she’s getting better. It’s been an adjustment, but we’re making it all work. Very slowly.

Here are some photos of our Little Mister:
Last Belly Photo - 39 Weeks and 1 Day