Welcome Sloane Eloise! Baby Squirt’s Birth Story

She’s finally here! I’m way behind on posting this (she’s already 2 months old… what happened?), but I wanted to get it in writing once and for all.

Although I never thought I’d make it to my scheduled date for the Caesarian section, I did! Multiple times from weeks 36 on, I had prodromal labour (early labour signs) that convinced me that I’d have baby early, but she held on!

The night before surgery, we made sure our bags were all set. Thankfully, my parents arrived back from their European river cruise just in time! They stayed at our place that night so they could help with the kids in the morning. I had a shower before bed, tucked the kids in, and everyone went to bed knowing that we’d be meeting baby Squirt in the morning. It was a surreal feeling to KNOW when baby would arrive.

In the morning, I was able to do my hair, put on my comfy clothes, and head into the hospital with Trey bright and early. We checked in like you would at a hotel – paperwork all set, a quick check of baby and Mama on the monitors, and then we waited to speak to the anesthesiologist. Our check-in time for surgery was about 2 hours prior so we had a bit of a wait. During that wait we just chatted about baby names, and how excited we were to find out who our baby would be…. that was a nice distraction, but my anxiety was still ramping up during that time. I actually used some ocean sounds from the Calm app to help relax me, which was really nice. When the anesthesiologist finally came in to meet with us he even commented on how relaxing it sounded in our room.

As ready as I could be… anxious to meet our baby Squirt!

Surgery was scary, I’m not going to lie. I’ve had two caesarians previously, and they don’t get any easier. The fact that it was scheduled and that I knew what to expect helped. I dumped a bunch of my anxieties onto my OB/surgeon and the anaesthesiologist. Sometimes letting people know how freaked out I am helps, because they know to try and reassure me.

The anesthesiologist really helped me throughout the surgery. He was on my side of the curtain and was able to calm my nerves. I could ask him what was happening or tell him when I was nauseous so he could adjust my medication. Trey was amazing as always at keeping me calm, too. It is uncomfortable and it feels like forever before you finally get to meet baby, but it was worth it and at some point the doctors and nurses called out “It’s a girl!!!” and I cried and cried. I really wasn’t sure what to expect but we were so happy to finally meet her.

We were shocked to learn that after two 9lb 1oz babies, little Squirt was only 7lbs 13oz! I realize that’s not small to most people, but she seemed to tiny to us. Trey stayed with her as they were weighing her, and then got to hold her while they finished the operation. She screamed and cried so loud for so long!

Once baby was all checked out and the surgery was over, I was wheeled to the recovery room where we were able to snuggle her and I got to breastfeed her under the care of a lovely nurse. She latched and fed immediately and then fell right to sleep. Our nurse let Trey to go and bring my sister in to meet her, which was so special. After she fed, the hospital staff allowed Trey to take baby, all wrapped up, to meet the family and the kids in the waiting room. I was really sad to miss their reactions but I knew I’d see them in an hour or so.

The kids were infatuated with her! Trey had the pins that said “Its a boy!” and “Its a girl!” that I had bought before her birth and he wore the pink one out to see the family. Gigi quickly decided that was hers, and proudly wore the “It’s a girl!” pin all day long.

We had a lovely first day with baby Squirt (still nameless). We hadn’t had a chance to decide on her final name because Trey and I hadn’t been alone with her all day! We took photos as a family, enjoyed her snuggles, did lots of breastfeeding, and rested.

Once the family went home, Trey and I finally decided on her name: Sloane Eloise! We love it and think it suits her so well.

Everything was amazing until 12 hours after surgery. Then, in the middle of the night I had severe postpartum bleeding. I could feel that something wasn’t right and could tell that I was bleeding a lot. If you are squeamish, skip the next part of this post. I called in the nurses to ask if they could check me out and clean me up. They asked me to wait an hour since I was set to get the catheter taken out then and start walking. I waited, they removed the catheter, and when I got up to try walking I immediately felt faint. I laid back down, they checked the bed, and noticed that I had passed a huge clot and was bleeding a LOT. The nurse said “Oh, let me just get another opinion”, and within minutes an entire team was in my room, working on me. I had two obstetricians pushing their full weight on my body to get all of the blood that was sitting in my uterus out. They called for blood units (I was close to needing a transfusion), inserted a second IV, started giving me meds to stop the bleeding… I barely knew what was happening as I was very close to passing out.

Trey had Sloane at this time, but I asked him not to go far as I started to worry that I was going to die. I knew it was serious because nobody had the time to tell me what was happening or to reassure me. A few of the nurses took a moment to calm me but reassurance was hard to come by and my anxiety was through the roof. It took an hour to stop the bleeding.

I opted not to have a blood transfusion, but to try an iron infusion first, at the recommendation of my doctor. We were told we wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital without staying an extra night for observation and for them to redo my blood work a few times to check on my hemoglobin levels. It wasn’t what we were hoping for, but once this happened I was happy to be monitored for that extra night. By the next morning my milk had come in, I was feeling a lot better, and I was able to enjoy baby Sloane.

Sloane was amazing from the get-go! Other than the initial screaming and crying when she was first born, she was quiet for our whole hospital stay and seemed to be on the right day-night schedule. She slept easily at night and fed more during the day. I found the opposite with Noah and Georgia, so this was a nice change.

This whole time my parents took care of Noah and Gigi and did such a good job. It was nice not to have to worry about a thing with them, because they are always with the kids and they know their routine, where things are, etc. It was a lot of work for them, especially my Mom, because they were running on no sleep from their cruise and my Dad had to go back to work. For most of our hospital stay, my Mom had both kids 24/7 and was also driving back and forth to and from the hospital. In total we spent 2 nights in the hospital and 3 full days. When we were able to go home my Mom brought Gigi to the hospital (Noah was in school), and we all got to pack up and go home together.

Sloane Eloise has completed our family and she is really the sweetest, most perfect addition to our crazy, happy life. The kids are amazing with her, and haven’t had an ounce of jealousy over her arrival. They love to help and are so excited to have a new baby sister.

Trey and I are so happy and proud to announce her arrival!

Sloane Eloise Geiger — 7 lbs 13 oz — June 17, 2019