The Hospital Stay

One of the reasons why we chose August 7th for Logan's birthday was because it was the last date we were offered when scheduling a c-section.  We were hoping that by waiting a little longer, 5 days past my due date, that we were increasing our chances that Logan would just arrive on his own.  If you read Welcome, Logan, you know that didn't happen.  As a result we were at the hospital from Tuesday morning until Saturday morning.
A long hospital stay when you have your first child is fine.  It gives you time to recover and have a bit of extra help from the nurses.  But when it is your second child, it gets a bit more complicated.  Who will stay with Evan? Where will they stay, our hour or theirs?  Will Bruce leave the hospital to come home and be with Evan?  Will Evan feel left out?  Will I be able to handle Logan by myself if Bruce does leave to be with Evan? All of these questions and more went through my head before Logan was born.
On the Sunday before Logan was born, Bruce and my dad worked it all out while I was trying to put Evan down for a nap.  Evan would stay with Papa & Gramma at their house at least Tuesday and Wednesday nights and they would bring him to the hospital as often as we wanted them to.  It ended up that Evan was with them Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and they visited us on Tuesday and Wednesday but not Thursday.
This was a big change for our big boy and as much as we tried to prepare him for what was going to happen, none of us really understood how much things would change.  Evan handled being separated from us as well as any 27 month old can but still had times where he just didn't understand why he couldn't be with  us.  Gramma said that Thursday, the day they didn't visit, was his best day with them, probably because he didn't see us...until we decided to video conference at night.  During the chat, everything was fine but then when we started to say good night, Evan just lost it.  It broke my heart to see him so upset and missing us.  I wanted to be able to reach through the computer and just hold him.  My baby needed a hug from his mommy...and truth be told, Mommy needed one too!
Friday afternoon Papa, Gramma & Evan came to visit again.  The only difference this time was that Evan stayed with us when Papa and Gramma went home.  We were finally a family of four, alone for the first time to begin getting used to what that meant.  Evan was an absolute angel that afternoon and evening at the hospital, so much so that we didn't even have to break out the new toys that we had in case we needed to occupy him for a while.  Friday night, Bruce and Evan went back home while I stayed at the hospital with Logan.  Then they came back on Saturday morning to pick us up and bring Logan home for the first time!
Aside from all of the logistics concerning Evan's care for a few days, my hospital stay was relatively uneventful.  We had some wonderful nurses who were quite helpful and nice.  I was able to get up and out of bed for the first time on Tuesday night, just about 8 hours after Logan was born.  I was up and about some on Wednesday when Uncle Dan, Auntie Karin and Bumpa came to meet Logan.  Wednesday night was a tough one for me because my pain meds had lapsed.  When Evan was born, the nurses brought me Rx strength Motrin every 6 hours and Percocet every 4 hours.  This time around, however, I needed to ask for what I needed and when.  As a result, overnight on Wednesday, when the nurses didn't wake me up for my medicine, I was in a tremendous amount of pain when I woke up.  From then on, I was a bit more assertive and made sure the nurses knew that I wanted them to wake me for my meds when I was due for them.  By Friday afternoon I as feeling antsy and ready to go home but I was also glad to have one more night to send Logan to the nursery and get some rest.  After Bruce and Evan went home, I enjoyed some quiet time with Logan for a while and then turned in early.  Saturday we had a slow morning with very few interruptions.  By around 1 o'clock we were wondering if the doctors were going to come in to evaluate Logan and me one last time.  They finally did and we began packing up and heading home.  We were loaded into the car and on our way home at 2:50 pm...ready to begin our journey as the Skarin's, family of four!