Welcome to the world Bailey May Walsh

Welcome to the family Bailey May! On Tuesday last week Sean and I had an early start and headed to the hospital to bring our newest addition to the world. She is absolutely perfect we are all so in love. Xavier is finally warming up to her and is currently off on his summer holiday with Nanny and Grandad whilst we settle Bailey in. Strap in because our very long birth story is below! I also talk about what I did whilst waiting for Bailey to come stay with me om the ward. ---- Sean and I had to be at the hospital by 5:45am on Tuesday the 15th January for our booked Caesarean Section. I think we had our alarm set for 4:45am so as we had time to shower and get to the hospital. We got to the hospital and check in was beyond fast. We then sat around in the waiting room for around half an hour before finally my name was called. We went through the surgical pre checks with the nurse before we were taken upstairs and I was given a bed in which I was about to stay in through the prep stage! There we watched some TV whilst we changed into our surgery clothes. Sean particularly enjoyed this rather than last time when he was thrown clothes and was dressing on the way to theatre. We were probably only there for around 20 minutes before someone came and said its time! The walk to the theatre was so light hearted this time. I was talking to the staff and laughing with Sean. I had no nerves at this point and was just ready for it to happen. Once we got to the theatre we were kept outside in a little prep area. The next stage took what felt like forever. I was in the freezing cold surgery area with Sean in a chair across from my bed. I knew that we were moments away from meeting out little girl but I absolutely couldn't believe it. This is where they inserted my drip and spinal.. I know I have had strong pain medication before (an epi whilst in labour with Xavier), but the spinal was a whole different experience. My lower half slowly just went warm. It was so freaky that I just laughed with Sean. Then it was time. I was wheeled into the surgery first whilst Sean waited in the prep room whilst they transferred me onto the operating table. As soon as I was on the operating table there were doctors and all kinds of people everywhere getting ready for the surgery to begin. Sean came in and sat to the right of my head. He grabbed my hand and I began to get butterflies that it was nearly time! The curtain went up and I could feel that there was pressure on my tummy as my OB was getting down to business. Before I knew it, my OB stopped and said "ok, I am stopping here as the midwife isn't ready and one more cut and she is here". I looked at Sean and told him to grab his damn camera as it was time. Then suddenly you could hear Bailey screaming. My OB started to laugh and say that she is not even free yet but she was crying her head off. Slowly they lowered the curtain and I straight away grabbed Baileys foot as my OB was holding her out to us. She was HUGE!

Our first look at Bailey

Sean then went with the midwife to the other end of the room. They raised the curtain back up and went to town putting me back together. Once that was done they brought Bailey and Sean back over to me so as I could hold her. This for me was the point where I let my emotions hit me and I was just over the moon smiling whilst I had a little cry. Once I was cleaned up Sean took Bailey off me whilst they transferred me back into a real bed. Then we were off to recovery! This time I could take Sean and Bailey with me! We got to the recovery area with Sean, a midwife and a recovery nurse. The recovery nurse went about getting me settled and taking off different cords I was strapped to in surgery. Whilst this was happening I was looking to my left where Sean was going through checks on Bailey with the Midwife. This is where things went slightly wrong with Bailey... The Midwife informed us that Bailey was dropping in temperature and that we needed to try warm her up. The best way to do this being skin to skin and trying to breastfeed her for the first time. The popped her on my chest and she started to suckle straight away. Brilliant I thought! I was so happy with this. The midwife timed us for 5 minutes before checking Baileys temperature again. This time however her temperatures had dropped further. The Midwife ducked outside of the curtain and made a call. She came back in, wrapped Bailey back up and before I knew it her and Sean were off to Special Care Nursery to have her blood sugars checked. Thankfully this time we were smart enough to take BOTH our phones to surgery so Sean gave me mine on the way out so as we could communicate and I could see how Bailey was going. I was silently freaking out as at this stage all we knew is she wasn't well. They finished up with me in recovery and by 8:50am it was time to move into my new room! I was messaging Sean at this stage and they confirmed that Bailey had very low blood sugars. After sometime Sean was brought to my room to fill me in on what was happening. They had started to give her formula top ups as she needed her sugars raised. Sean had asked for a Midwife to come down and talk to me about expressing as we knew that we wanted to Breastfeed successfully this time. As I was stuck in bed after surgery I didn't get to see Bailey again until just before 3pm. A Midwife from the Special Care Nursery brought her to my room at 2:50pm and gave Sean strict instructions that she had to be back in by 3pm. Those few minutes I got to hold her made the rest of the day disappear. I was so relieved to see her and see that she was ok. After my quick visit from Bailey, the rest of the afternoon flew by. Soon our families came to see her. Our visitors included Sean's mum Louise, my parents Lynne and Jeremy, my sister Amy and of course our darling little man Xavier. Sean was able to take them into the Special Care Nursery one by one. Xavier went first, he lasted only a few minutes before getting overwhelmed by the noises of all the machines. Then went Louise, Amy, my dad and then my mum. They all stayed for a while in my room before taking Xavier home for bed. Shortly after everyone else left, Sean did as well. As hard as it was, he needed to be home for Xavier. The rest of the evening I spent watching TV and expressing what I could for the Midwives to feed Bailey with. Around 10:30pm a Midwife came in with Bailey whilst she checked my wounds and cleaned me up. This was another half hour that I got with my girl so I was not minding. The Midwife told me how great Bailey was going and that she was picking up her sugar levels really quickly. As long as she kept tracking this way then she would be discharged onto the ward with me in no time! The rest of the night was long and stressful. I was waking myself every two hours to express for Bailey. Sometimes I was lucky and got several mls and other times I barely got a drop. Finally it was 6:30am and the Midwife came to get me up for a shower. I was so excited as this meant I could go down to see Bailey! After taking the longest shower (so refreshing after major surgery and being bed bound for 24 hours) I ate my breakfast, showed the Midwives that I ate (a condition of me being cleared to walk around), then went to see my girl! I spent around two hours in the Special Care Nursery with Bailey before Sean arrived to be with us for the day. The Special Care team had confirmed that her sugars had reached the normal level and let us know that as long as we started to feed, Bailey could be back with me by lunchtime. Sean and I then headed back to my room, leaving Bailey in the Special Care alone for what would be the second last time. Once back in my room, my family came to say goodbye. This time I was able to be the one there to supervise the visits. I was so proud to show off our little girl. Saying goodbye to my family was emotional as at this stage none of them were able to hold Bailey. I knew it was the best for her health but I so wanted them to be able to bond with our little girl. Finally after one more trip to Special Care, I had the most emotional feed I think I could ever have. It was the feed that would determine if I could have my baby! Thankfully for us, Bailey is a chubby bubba who fed perfectly. Finally, IT WAS TIME TO TAKE MY BAILEY GIRL. Sean was stoked when he realised that Bailey was coming with me. I had to text him as he had gone home to collect Xavier. So there we have it. A fast version of our first 30ish hours with our baby girl. The experience this time was so positive despite Bailey's initial issues. One day soon I will be posting the birth story of Xavier. That for me is going to be so much harder to post as it was written not long after his birth and became something that I went on to negatively obsess over for months to come.

One plus one FINALLY equals four x