I decided it was due time to share a handful of photos from the cutting room floor. These photos are from when Rowan was born and are completely unflattering of both Dusty and I…(more unflattering for me) but that's ok. I've come to terms with the fact that I was a bloated jelly fish during my whole labor and for a month or two afterward. Now that I've deflated some and I'm feeling more myself…I can poke fun at it…but damn…post pregnancy weight loss sucks with a capital S.

You can read more about Rowan's birth story by clicking here. And more about his first months with us and how I almost thought I'd never see today (thanks to sleep deprivation, a semi-colicky baby…and did I slay sleep deprivation?) click here and click here.

First, reading the backstory is a good idea…again…click here for the birth story.

So…these photos were taken just after Rowan was removed from my uterus and cleaned up by our fantastic nurses. He was brought quickly to see us and I was able to do some "skin-to-skin" with him for a short time. As you will learn when you read his birth story…we didn't go into this with a "plan". I did know however that I wanted Rowan to do skin-to-skin…whether that was with me, or with Dusty…whatever way it needed to be. While I could have let him stay cheek to cheek with me for a prolonged period of time…I asked them to hurry and take him to our room where Dusty could hold him on his skin. So these few photos of us together were a span of about 1 minute tops. And to be honest…I was going on 32 hrs of no sleep…after hours and hours of labor…and had a good handful of meds in me at this point. I don't remember much else after these moments meeting Rowan – until I got into our room. 

Rowan was crying at first…and then I started to talk to him and tell him "it's ok buddy, momma and daddy are here." and then I did the "shhhh shhhhh" sound and in moments he was calm and even clung to my face with his little hand…it was a precious moment. You'll see his face relax in the 3rd photo and then by the 5th he practically fell asleep.

While I didn't get the skin-to-skin moment I initially envisioned in my mind…I am totally ok with it. Dusty got to have such a special moment with Rowan…a bonding moment that I know Dusty will never forget. The moment Rowan touched skin-to-skin with him and looked up into his eyes. I'm pretty sure there were tears shed…and not just from Rowan 😉

Finally back together again.
Rowan's first bath. 

All clean, sweet, and snuggly. My favorite pic of him from the hospital.
We were exhausted to say the least. Dusty found himself passed out on numerous intermitent occassions. My mom would come and hang out with us and hold Rowan for hours so that Dusty and I could try to sleep. We had yet to master the swaddling technique and so we often paged a nurse to come in and do it for us. Everytime she swaddled him he'd zonk out for at least 30 minutes or more which allowed us quick cat naps. I do recall however…a 24 hour period where I think Dusty and I slept for 20 minutes total. Yikes. 

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