Andrew Ezekiel Marshall was born March 30th, 2010 at 3:51PM via c-section. He was 7 lbs., 3 oz., and 20 in. long. No complications whatsoever, Baby Drew came into the world very healthy and screaming at the top of his lungs.My surgery was scheduled for 1:50PM and we were told to come in two hours early, so we showed up at the hospital around noon. They checked me in and I got into a room right away. As I laid there waiting, I was asked a bajillion more questions, one being if I had eaten, as I was supposed to fast. I had to be honest - I had A doughnut early this morning because I knew I wouldn't make it that long without eating. Big mistake. Because of one silly doughnut, I got my surgery pushed back to 3:00PM, not to mention the title of "The Doughnut Lady" by the surgical staff. As soon as they started in on me (in jest, of course) I told them, "Well, if it means anything, it was a really good
doughnut and totally worth it." Finally, Matt and I were prepped for surgery (Matt donned a very lovely paper suit, booties, hair net, and mask). Matt had to wait outside as they did my epidural - which took a few tries, but when they got it right, it set in almost instantly. They continued to prep me and then they let Matt sit beside me. After much tugging and pulling, Drew came into the world screaming. He received very good APGAR scores and was screaming like mad. Matt got to follow him back while he was being cleaned up to take pictures and trim the cord, then he brought him out to show me. I bawled, of course. He was so beautiful! Matt left to share Drew with my family as I was being stitched up. Almost an hour later, I was back in my recovery room, waiting for my baby boy to come join me. Finally, both he and Matt came and I was able to hold and nurse him. Later, my step mom came and brought Robby in to meet his new baby brother. When we told him, "This is Baby Drew," his eyes got huge and his mouth dropped, as if things were 
starting to click inside his little head. After much brotherly bonding, Robby left with my step mom, quite excited over his new brother. I felt pretty good that evening and asked my nurse if I could stand. Surprised, she said I could. I ended up standing up twice that evening. The rest of the night was filled with the usual pokings and proddings; they had to monitor both Drew and my vitals periodically, so we were woken up by a nurse multiple times that night. On top of that, I was hooked to machines that liked to go off at various times. Needless to say, it was less than restful, but was to be expected. The second day was filled with visitors, including our pastor, a few church friends, and then my family. Robby also visited again and enjoyed some Daddy time with Matt in the cafeteria for lunch. I really started to miss him by that evening, so we set up Skype with home to see him, but it only made me miss him more. We also Skyped with Matt's family for a little while, but then I started becoming noticeably sleepy, so we decided to it was time for bed.
We had a couple hiccups with breastfeeding and I did have to break down and supplement with some formula, but it hasn't deterred me at all from continuing to try. We all had a fairly restful sleep that night and woke up eager to go home that morning. Technically, I could have probably gone home the evening prior, but my doctor decided that one more night of monitoring might be best. I'm glad, as I was a little sore, but I was sure ready to leave the next day! We packed up our belongings and our new little one and headed home for some much needed rest and bonding time with our boys.Overall, the whole experience was vastly different than what we had with Robby. It was calm, controlled, and actually joyous - as it should be. I went in nervous, but aware of everything that was going to happen and had no surprises. No chaos, no emergencies, no complications. I am praising God for His strength and mercy in this situation and for the joy and blessings He has showered upon us undeservedly. We felt every single prayer and were immensely blessed by the family and church family who came beside us celebrated new life with us. And a HUGE thank you to my step mom, brother, and sister-in-law who were wonderful enough to take care of our firstborn the whole time we were in the hospital. Robby was well taken care of thanks to them.
On a personal note, my pain is very minimum and I feeling pretty good overall. Drew is in very good health and will be going in for a checkup sometime on Monday. Conveniently enough, I will have my staples removed sometime on Monday as well.
