Zachary Robert Griffitts

It is really about time that I have gotten around to posting about our new little man... I had a scheduled repeat c-section on the 10th. We got the girls off to school, Kyle to a babysitter, and headed to the hospital with a packed bag. It was the first time that Trevor and I have gone to the hospital together to have a baby. He has always made it in the past to the deliveries but it was so nice to have him there from start to finish. We were suppose to have an 11:00 delivery but we got bumped for a couple of more urgent deliveries which was fine except I was starving!!! A little after 2:00 it was finally our turn. I went back to the operating room where they put in the spinal block (my least favorite part of the whole experience!) and then they let Trevor come back. It was a really long procedure for a c-section but there was lots of old scar tissue from the last delivery and my placenta had also started to detach before the delivery. At 2:56 Zac was born.

I just got a peek at him before they took him over to clean him up and check him out.

Another hard part about a c-section is the separation from baby. While I was in recovery Zac spent some time with the nursery nurses. It was SO HARD to wait to get to see him.

Look at the size of those feet!!! He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long (although I don't think they stretched him out all the way because at his doctor visit six days later he was almost 21 inches).

Here he is all bundled up and waiting for his Mommy!

It was so fun to finally get to hold him. He looked a lot like my Grandpa and my Dad with a little Kyle mixed in. I did not get to snuggle with him for long before his other visitors arrived and wanted a turn.

Kyle loves Zac which I am so thankful for. He always wants to know where baby Zac is and he wants to "pet" him all the time. He is not bothered by Zac's crying and he just says "Baby Zac is talking!"

Abby loved holding Zac and she is very helpful if I need anything.Emma is going to be an excellent little mom. In the last week she has gotten a lot more comfortable holding Zac and she can't wait to have more responsibility.

Very happy Dad!

Grandpa drove out to see him and loved every second he got to hold baby Zac while he lobbied for his name to be Augustino because he really did look like my Grandpa.

My Mom is an awesome grandma, although she looks too young to have five grand kids!

Auntie Shayla got to be the first Aunt to hold him which I am pretty sure puts her at the top of the list of favorite aunts right now since she is the only one he has met :)

Family of six!!! Still hard to believe.

Zachy all ready to go home in his oufit picked out by his Dad. I love that it is warm enough here for him to wear shorts already!

Being a patient waiter while we got ready to leave.

Loved his car seat which is a relief since he has three busy siblings and will be spending a lot of time in it soon.

Relaxing at home!

Napping with Dad.

Playing with Dad.

Napping with Emma!

First bath at home.

He did not like having his body washed at all but calmed right down when it was time to have his hair washed.

Resting with Dad again when it was all over.

***This is where the pictures end and I have to record the rest of what has gone on in the last week. Feel free to stop reading now as this is just for journal keeping sake***

The days after bring Zac home were really tough on me. I just kept telling myself that it was because I have never had a c-section and brought the baby home right away and I had never had four kids before. I really just felt awful. I was more tired than I could ever remember being and simple things like walking to the bathroom and taking showers left me wiped out. I had a headache that I could not get rid of even with the strong drugs they give you after a c-section. On the Tuesday after Zac was born I went back to the hospital to have my incision checked because when I left the hospital there were two small openings that needed to be watched. The docs were happy with the incision but when I told them about how I was feeling they did some blood work and found that my iron was really low. I ended up getting two units of blood and being sent home. The next day I felt a little better and thought that the problem was fixed. As the day went on I could tell that my milk supply was really low which was strange because I had been pumping off the excess for the last couple of days because there was so much. By Thursday morning I had nothing and I became even more of a wreck. Zac had already lost so much weight that the doctor wanted me to supplement and I felt horrible that I was starving my baby and that was before I lost my milk. On Friday I decided to go back to the hospital because the headache was back and I just felt like something was wrong. They did an ultrasound and found that I had a LARGE clot and lots of blood still in my uterus so they had to go back in and clean everything out. I have to say general anesthesia is brutal, I feel like I got hit by a truck but overall I think things have taken a turn for the better. Retained placental fragments is a reason to loose milk so now that that is taken care of I can work on getting my milk back and teaching baby Zac how to eat again. Although it has been a rocky road I am so thankful to have Zac in our home and to once again be shown how good the people around me are. We have received so much help and support through all of this and I am truly grateful!