Happy Birthday, Graham :)

 Everything went SOOO smoothly on Monday morning!!!  When we had our c-section with Jackson, it was scheduled, but only by one day.  My surgery was really successful that time, and my recovery went well, but the logistics were trickier.  We were put in a curtained-off area, and forgotten about, so Jackson's surgery was much later than planned.  This time, they took us right to a L&D room, hooked me up to monitors, and started getting everything ready!  The anesthesiologist was quite thorough and wanted to make sure I could handle the spinal block she planned to use, so she put in a call to my cardiologist.  If we hadn't double-checked that, Graham would have been born even earlier!  We already got taken in ahead of schedule--I was pleasantly surprised :)  Our nurses for pre and post-op, Rina and Courtney, were awesome!  The anesthesiologist and her nurse were wonderful!  Her nurse, Dan, was key in keeping me calm during the surgery.  He could see everything and kept me posted, especially when they were ready to take Graham out, he warned me there was going to be a lot of pressure and pulling.  

 Josh was awesome, just like last time!  He dutifully got dressed in his "outfit" for the OR, and sat by me the whole time.  Now that we are through the surgery, I can say that it went amazingly well, but I was a little more nervous than last time.  I remember the surgery going so well, and my recovery being pretty easy.  I started to wonder, however, if those were memories were just the product of so much time passing.  Maybe it was easier to stay calm when I didn't know what to expect?  The first time I remember getting panicky and short of breath before the surgery started.  This time that didn't happen, and I was so excited...until I started to to get really nauseous, and ended up throwing up after Graham was born :(  That was really a yucky feeling, but I did feel MUCH better!  It was hard to be patient while they sewed everything up since Graham was crying and I just wanted to hold him!!!    

 We got moved to our recovery room right away, and not only did Graham start to eat nurse right away, but my first snack was GRAHAM CRACKERS ;)  LOL  The nurses took Jackson to the nursery to get all checked out, and Josh and I just relaxed before it was time to head up to our room.

 Overall, I felt really good after the surgery!  I did feel much woozier than I remembered from the first time.  We were happy to just relax in our room.  Once Graham got back from being checked out, we just snuggled and fed him :)

 Mimi and Jackson headed to the hospital after naptime, and it was WONDERFUL to all get to be together :) :) :)  Right away, Jackson wasn't as excited as I had expected.  He was happy to meet his little brother, don't get me wrong, but I think the room took his attention away for a bit as he checked everything out.  By the time it was time to leave, Jackson had already discovered his talent of "shushing" Graham and calming him down--he was SO proud of himself!  I don't know where he came up with that--maybe he heard me do it with Liam or Levi?  LOVE it all the same :)

 We were SO excited that my mom was able to hold Graham right away!  Such wonderful first visitors!

 Super happy to get to snuggle his baby brother--he was so patient for many months!

 First picture of me and my TWO boys!!!

 Family shot with Mimi

 Our family of FOUR :)

Jackson is so curious about EVERYTHING we do for Graham!  He likes to be RIGHT THERE when I'm feeding him to make sure everything is ok :)

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  Graham continued to eat really well and even slept in the nursery for a good three hour stretch!