Day 6... Going Home!

Day 6... Going Home... oh how we have longed to be able to say that... Sweet Blake had had enough with sleeping on the orange couch and I was with him.  We were headed home with our new little bundle of joy and we were ready to start our new "norm" as a family of 4.  We called the nursery first thing in the morning and asked for our baby but they said "you must pay first"... clever huh?  But Blake had to run to another city in the morning which was an hour away so I wanted to wait until he got back... so we finally got he process of leaving started around noon... paying bills, getting birth certificates, packing, changing clothes, saying thanks and goodbyes... and we were out of there about 1:30 with Asher and headed home to big brother who was anxiously awaiting.  ViVi and Grandad kept wanting updates bc they were being inundated with questions from Pierce... he was watching the clock and expected us to be home when the small hand got to 1... we were a little late but he was so excited to see us home that he forgave us real quick.

When we went to the nursery to get Asher... all the nurses were really sweet and came to say goodbye and cuddle him one more time.  They first unwrapped him from his cocoon and he was not happy... we got him dressed in his outfit from ViVi and Grandad... loaded him in the car seat... stopped to make an appointment and take a picture and we were off... here is the process in pictures...

These sweet nurses... they really loved him and were so kind to us.  I remember one morning when a nurse brought Asher into our room... she picked him up and gave him the biggest cuddle and put her face right in front of his and was just speaking the sweetest words in Korean... and I thought she was going to kiss him and I think she wanted to but thought it was probably best not to in front of me... it did make me wonder how many times has he been kissed on but then it made me so happy to see how well they took care of him when I was not there.

Leaving floor 2 and 3... finally... heading downstairs to level one... what a milestone.

Waiting for our birth certificates... we got one in Korean and 8 in English... :-)

Proud Mom and Dad... lets go home.

"Is he buckled in good"... you better believe we checked this several times... what is it about the first trip in the car... that is so nerve raking... 

Nice and Cozy... I think he likes his car seat...

Home at last... 

When we got to our door we had a surprise waiting for us.. a sweet home made sign from Pierce... can't wait to get my hands on him.

Our new family of 4... so blessed.

What a miracle you are to us little Asher... when Pierce was born we sent out baby announcements that said "A baby is a piece of God that we get to hold" and we are so blessed to get another chance to hold a little piece of HIS marvelous creation in the palm of our hands. SO IN LOVE!

Day 5... last full day!

Day 5... we are all doing well and feeling much better but Blake and I are ready to sleep in our own bed... Blake headed back to work on this day and I was left alone with the baby (had to be a secret bc the hospital was not to keen on my being alone) but it was a great day of rest and bonding time.   My parents and Pierce did come and visit which was a great (bc my mom always brought me something good to eat) and we even had a visitor.... sweet Meredith came to visit.  Here are some pics of our day...

Pierce getting to spend more time with Asher... what a good big brother... he has always been very gentle with Asher and loves to kiss all over him.

This is a great picture of what Pierce did when he was in the hospital... playing with the ipad and asking me if he can buy something... like a movie/a new app/a magazine...

We had a good feeling this was going to be our last night at the hospital and I wanted to spend some time with Pierce to let him know how much I missed him and I could not wait to be home with him (tomorrow)... so we headed to the lobby of our floor and had some alone time with each other... Grandad came and snuck in a picture which I am so happy that he did... I sure hope this boy knows how much I love him and nothing will ever change that... one of my prayers every night is that Pierce sees just how special he is to us and now that he is a big brother we just love him that much more.  I never knew that one heart could love more than one child as much as I do... I do miss some of Pierce and I's quiet moments just the two of us and especially the way he would crawl in bed with me in the morning and cuddle but there are many times when I have Asher in my arms and Pierce crawls right up on my lap and looks at me and says "you got all your boys now" and I would not change anything.  So blessed to be a mom of 2 boys... still seems so surreal.

Look at this angel... this picture reminds me of a story that I have yet to share... so it is fitting to share now... on day 3 in the hospital Blake went home with ViVi and GD to help put Pierce to bed and spend some time with Pierce and I was left all alone for the first time in weeks.  Previously that day the lactation consultant was worried about Asher and his feeding (and said that he seemed weak) so they took him back to the nursery to monitor him (but since we had done this before where my milk was slow to come in and we had a hungry sleepy baby... we were not that concerned and just thought he was not weak but just sleepy).  So they took Asher back to the nursery and I was alone in my room when I got a call to come and feed Asher in the "nursing room".  I was confused bc they had just called an hour before and told me that he was eating well out of a bottle and were not concerned anymore but were going to keep him in the nursery to continue to monitor.  Confused or not I was not going to pass up this opportunity to spend time with him so I headed to the nursing room to hold him. I had not been to the nursing room yet and had no idea what to expect.  I walked in and oh man I wish I had a picture there were about 8 rows of couches (like the one above) and they were filled with Korean woman breast feeding their babies.  We new moms could be identified based on our clothing how long we had been in the hospital.  The wonderful pink dress you see in these pics means we had been there less than a week and once you stay longer than a week (most women stay a month) you are promoted to purple scrubs.  So i could look around and tell every ones status by their clothing and by their style of breast feeding (some looked really comfortable and some looked they were about to cry. I was pointed to an open seat in the back row in the corner and I went and sat down.  One minute later a sweet Korean Nurse brought me my baby.  There was a boppy beside me (like everyone else) and they were playing sweet baby lullabies (in Korean).  There were about 40+ of us in this room for the scheduled feeding.  These women were in here bc they had opted not to have the baby in the room with them and just to come to the scheduled feeding and visiting times while they were in the hospital.  Since Asher was in the nursery (bc of "concerns") I guess they called me just for procedure purposes.  I held Asher in my arms for a couple of minutes and just starred at him as he was all "swaddled up" and sleeping.  He did not want to eat and I was still not sure what I was suppose to do.  I watched all these moms that look so different from me, talk different from me and felt so alone.  I started to weep (again) and I looked out the window trying to pull it together... but it hit me that I was in Korea and that I had a baby so far from home.  I had my hubby, my son and my parents and a new baby but I truly felt like a foreigner in a foreign land and I had no idea what I was doing there.  God has really been my strength through all of this and had taken away so many fears, frustrations, concerns, anxieties and worries.  I really can look back over my pregnancy and see God in action and just how much he cares for us.  He truly went a head of us and made this path perfect... but at this moment He too wanted me to experience this feeling of loneliness.  I could not help but to think about when Jesus was about to be captured by the soldiers when he was surrounded by some friends (disciples) and they were sleeping and he cried out to God... I am sure He felt alone.  Blessings from God that are little reminders that we are His first and that without Him we are alone and have nothing.  I then remember thinking "is this hormones" and I got to pull it together or all these Korean women will think "that crazy American".  So I held my baby tight and held him like that for an hour... and when I got there the room was full and by the time I left I was one of the last ones.  I did not want to let him go that night but knew it was best for all of us... I was thankful for that moment... a reminder that this world is not my home and everything good and perfect is a gift from above (James 1:17).

Here are some pics that ViVi and GD captured.. some good ones.

Day 4... full of fun and cuddles!

Day 4... by this time when I had Pierce I was headed home... but not this time... Day 4 and I still have a few more days to go.  The doctor came by today and checked me out and everything looks good but this was Tuesday of the week and I needed to get my stitches out on Thursday and that was the day we were shooting for to leave...

Day 4 was a little rough ... I was feeling tired from moving around so much the day before and really not able to move like I wanted to... my incision was really sore and I was finally able to see my incision which was a larger than my incision with Pierce... which we figured was causing all the pain (the doctor said the second c-section is always more difficult :-().  Also this was day 4 of trying to get the breast feeding thing down... not to go into to much detail so the short version is I had a lactation consultant come to my room about twice a day to help out and she recommend that I get 'breast massages' for the 3 days at the hospital.  So I signed up bc I really want to BF and off I went to my first massage... lets just say as I had tears running down my face as I laid on my back with my toes curled as tight as they would go and had christian music playing in my ears...I realized that they should not call this a massage but a "milking"... I have never felt more like a cow than right then.  After an hour we were done and I was suppose to go feed the baby... all I have to say is YEAH RIGHT... that is the last thing I wanted to do... but I did it... I was able to do 3 milkings before we headed home and I do have to say  (looking back) that it was a blessing... it really did help and was worth all the PAIN.

So needless to say I was really sore and to make it even worse while the lactation consultant was in the room one time she noticed that Asher was tongue tied (heart shaped tongue)... this is where the tissue that connects the tongue to the base of the mouth is too short which could cause BF issues and speech problems later... after seeing the pediatrician here in Korea she suggested that we leave it alone and not clip it.  We have read mixed opinions online and seems to be some controversy out there about this... so we are torn on what to do but this is not life threatening and a minor issue... so thankful.  The good news is I was able to get my hair washed today and take a shower without getting my stomach wet... oh it felt so good.

So all in all we had a good day but just some hiccups along the way... nothing we could not overcome and press on... Blake as always is very encouraging and kept our spirits up...

Speaking of keeping the spirits up... here is our big boy... he came to visit and had some more of that cake that Hanah and Kevin brought him... yummy.

And flowers always brighten your day... Blake's work sent the pink basket and the President of the Shipyard sent the purple ones.. so sweet of them to think of us at this time... the tradition here in Korea is for the flowers to be set outside the room (not inside) just in case the baby is allergic or the flowers have bugs... and this just reminded me of when we got Asher in our room for the first time there was some complaints from the nurses that our room was too cold... so we had to make it warmer until they would bring the baby back... yikes...

Our little man... getting a diaper change... look at all those blankets... this is bc we did not want the nurses to think we were freezing him out... they had the heat coming from the floor so we had to have the aircon on... but it was warm trust me... 

ViVi with her little man... she could have held him all day long... look how long those arms are... almost as long as his body.. 

It took 4 days... for Pierce to realize that Asher was clean enough to hold... this is the first time he got to hold Asher (or wanted to I should say)... he was so proud... and to this day still so proud... he kisses Asher all over now.

 

 

Lots of love... and lots of cuddles... so thankful that Vivi and Grandad are here to help love on Asher and Pierce...

3rd day and counting...

Day 3... we were all feeling a little better and I was up and moving which was nice for a change (since my back and bottom hurt so bad from lying down).  I was already getting tired of sleeping in the hospital but I was happy for all the help and someone to look after Asher at night time.

Day 3 I was allowed to start having some food (other than seaweed soup) so Blake would sneak me in some good food and sweets.  We also got to have Asher the whole day which was so much fun and we had our first friend visitor... meet Margaret I have only known her a month or so but was introduced from a mutual friend bc both Margaret and I moved to Ulsan from Singapore... she has been an encouragement to me and I look forward to getting to know her more and more... so sweet of her to visit us in the hospital.

Pierce also got a present from his good friend Brady in Singapore... for becoming a big brother.  So sweet of them to love on him in that way... it sure did make it special for him to have a friend remember him during this time/transition... with some fun activities... Thank you Morris family... 

Daddy getting to spend some time with Pierce... I think they are both very happy... they are looking at pics of Pierce when he was a baby.

More cuddle time with ViVi and Grandad... and Pierce trying to get Grandads attention.

Grandad with his grand babies...so sweet...

 

2 days old...

After a good nights rest (well sort of) we were ready to face day 2... I remember waking up (really stiff) and thinking is it really true... Asher is here... it was and could not be any happier.  Blake stayed at the hospital with me and ViVi/GD/Pierce came a little before lunch to see us and hang out.  When Pierce showed up there was a present waiting for him from his little brother...  A set of walkie-talkies... something he has always wanted and since they were illegal in Singapore we thought this would be a great gift from Asher to his big brother.  They can not use them yet but it will happen before we know it... in the meantime Pierce has a good time playing with them with his daddy.  They even went for a walk about 10 blocks away and they still worked... this is a great gift for a kid that "never stops talking".
 

 

Now it is time to get our hands on baby Asher... He is so loved.

Pierce is still kind of grossed out by the image yesterday when Asher had not been cleaned yet... so Day 2 he was still not really interested in holding him and getting to close... we had to show him that he was clean and ok to hold and love on.

We had arranged with the hospital to bring Asher to us at 9am and then we would take him back to the nursery at 9pm.  Having the baby in the room is really rare (that we could tell).  We had to get them to agree to our arrangement prior to having the baby.  The norm would be for the baby to stay in the nursery and the mom and family would visit the baby during certain hours and there was a nursing time as well where you could sit in a room with other new moms and nurse all at the same time.  They would play music and provide boppies.  I will have to write about that later... a very enlightening moment for me the one time I went to the nursing room.

Day 2 I felt a lot better than Day 1... so I got to hold Asher a lot more and nurse him... I was still on a liquid diet and was not allowed to shower (so my hair was greasy and I am sure I was not smelling to good).

 

I just could not get enough kisses. 

 Day 2 was a little rough bc this is when my catheter was taken out and I was allowed to get up and down to use the restroom... and during one trip to the toilet my IV ruptured my vein in my hand... and when they came to fix it they tried to re-use the site and when they inserted the meds it made my hand grown instantly and stretch my skin and it was so painful (I look back and think about how I reacted bc of the pain and I think how crazy that was... but if I felt that much pain while on pain meds it must have been bad).  They stopped immediately and took out the IV (thank you Jesus) and they wanted to put another one in but I refused... and asked for a little time... they ended up coming back at night to put another one in.  My hand and arm hurt for almost 2 weeks.  Had to take my watch off and if anything touched my hand it hurt... but it is all better now and so thankful that was really my only complication.