Our first day!

At 8:28pm, on Christmas Eve 2011, I became a Mom and Ryan became a Dad. 

After the birth, Ryan went off to watch our son.  At our hospital, the baby is taken from the labor and delivery wing to the nursery to be weighed and checked and taken care of.  So Ryan (after sneaking a peak around the curtain to see the big operation!) followed our baby boy out of labor and delivery and off to where our family was waiting to meet him!

Eli, fresh out of the womb!

As it was Christmas weekend, my Mom, younger brother and sister-in-law were in town to celebrate the holiday (remember, we had not planned to meet Baby Wynne for 19 more days!).  Ryan's Mom and Dad also drove in for the night.  So just after Eli was born, he was able to meet Grandma Ellen, Aunt Kelly, Nana and Pop-pop!  Ryan was very excited to show of our new son!

Ryan was a very good dad and hung out with Eli while they checked him over and made sure he was OK.  Despite being a bit early, he was 19 inches long and weighed 7lbs 1oz!  Because I had gestational diabetes, they had to test Eli's glucose levels and give him some formula because he had very low sugar levels (this happens with GD babies).  Ryan snapped some photos and started spreading the good news!

While that was happening, I was being stitched and cleaned up and then shipped to the recovery room.  I had to stay there for a few hours while the drugs wore off and they got my postpartum room ready. 

I remember trying to move my legs and not being able to.  That was weird.  Also, my face itched like crazy!!  Apparently, this is a side effect of the morphine.  It started while I was still on the operating table and kept getting worse as I recovered.  It was so hard not to itch my face!  They gave me some benadryl via IV which helped a little, but not completely!

I also really, really wanted to see Eli, but couldn't yet.  This led to crying, even though I was not sad (crying despite not being sad happened a bit over the next few days -- damn hormones!)!  Finally, Ryan came in to see me and fill me in on how awesome our new little boy was!!

We watched the end of It's a Wonderful Life and they finally wheeled me off to my room.  I was so excited to see Eli and hold him!!
 

Mommy's first snuggle!

I may be biased, but I think he is the most adorable baby ever!

We didn't get to hang out very long.  Eli had lots of mucous because he was a c-section baby and he was very cold, so they wanted to take him back to the nursery.  And I still had lots of drugs in my system and I couldn't get out of bed yet, so they weren't keen on leaving him in my room all alone all night.  But we enjoyed those few minutes together!

Eli's first little smile!!!

I have to admit, my night alone was not fun.  Ryan went home (we live 3 minutes away) and I was stuck in bed and without Eli.  The pain meds started wearing off and I definitely felt some pain.  I was itching like crazy, but didn't want any more benadryl because it had made me loopy.  I was checked on every few hours and everything was going well with me, but I definitely missed my Eli!

When Ryan arrived early the next morning, I was so happy to see him (again, more crying ... I guess it takes a while for the hormone levels to re-adjust!) and he went to go check on Eli for us (as I was still stuck in bed)!  Within minutes, Ryan brought Eli to my room and I got a few more minutes with my little man!

Christmas morning with our little miracle!

It was definitely the craziest Christmas morning of my life.  After Ryan and I spent about 20 minutes with Eli, they came in to get Eli for his circumcision (Merry Christmas, buddy!).  Then the nurse came in to get me out of bed -- which I was very happy about and practically jumped out of the hospital bed (I do not recommend this after a major abdominal surgery!).  I was still hooked up to an IV (for more pitocin and fluids) but I could move to the chair and eventually go down the hall for visiting with family!

Just before lunch, a doctor (whom I had not yet met) came in to talk to us about Eli.  Luckily, he was smart enough to start his speech with "Everything is OK with Eli now, but ..." and then mainly talked to Ryan since I was still dealing with the hormones/crying-for-no-reason thing.  Apparently, Eli choked on his superfluous mucous during the circumcision.  And turned blue.  Yes -- TURNED BLUE!  Day 1 of life and the kid is already giving Ryan and me heart attacks!  As the doctor said, Eli was fine ... but the episode led to a whole slew of tests that were then performed to be sure he didn't have pneumonia or any other respiratory issues (which he did not).  This all meant we couldn't see him again for many hours. 

Like I said, definitely the craziest Christmas morning of my life!