The Story Of Sully Vol. 1: My Little Pot Roast

Before my brain becomes completely foggy from exhaustion, pain killers, and being the mother of 2 boys, I need to get down the details of when Sullivan Richard Skywalker arrived on the scene and into our lives. It was an amazing moment, amazing day, amazing week, and has totally made my heart full.

After absolutely no sleep, Todd and I met Phoebe at the hospital and in case I forget to mention it, she was straight up incredible. If you want someone rad on your side in a somewhat scary situation, she's your gal. I was moved into a room, got a gown, an IV, some anti-nausea meds, signed some paperwork, and before I knew it, I kissed my parents goodbye and was walking down the hall to the operating room. I was quaking in my hospital socks!

I was sitting on the operating table surrounded by people in scrubs talking medical jargon and poking around my spine looking for the best point for the spinal. I knew it was coming and I knew it would be over in a flash but I was terrified. My doc and colleague stood in front of me telling me how great I was doing which only made me more aware that the horror was coming and then POKE! It was done. It wasn't awesome by any means but it was quick and I survived without tears. Lickity split, I was numbing up.

The next thing I knew, the drapes were going up, an anesthesiologist was at my head, they had started slicing me up (I was clueless), and they went to fetch Todd. Even behind a mask, I could tell he was nervous so I reached for his hand and held tight as we waited. After being told that I'd feel some pressure, everyone in the room started raving about how much hair they were seeing! And then there it was...the most beautiful sound...loud and strong. Sullivan Richard Skywalker Gansert was born at 10:38am on September 24th. They had Todd snap some pictures to show me. He looked perfect. I was so, so, so happy.

Todd got to cut the cord which he didn't with Spencer and a nurse was nice enough to snap some photos. She even captured the moment when I finally got to smooch on my cinnamon-haired son. Just because I'm split wide open doesn't mean you can forget about me! He was awesome. Soft and delicious. He was 8 pounds and 2 ounces (oink) and 19 inches, which is up for debate. 4 days later he measured 20.5" and that's a lot to grow in 4 days. Moving on...

I really could not believe that after all this waiting, here he was, laying against my cheek. Todd went to update our families while they cleaned Sully up (and shut down my baby-making factory...mama is officially sterile) and I took a moment to shut my eyes. The whole thing really drained me and things were only going to get rougher before I could relax. I warned them that after my section with Spencer, I tossed my cookies, so they tried to head that off in advance with some meds in my IV (welcome back, Zofran) and a patch behind my ear. Said patch made my dizzy and I felt uncomfortable even holding my son. So off the patch came!

And the cookie-tossing began. It. Was. Horrible.

I puked in recovery. I puked in my room. I almost puked as they were wheeling me into the elevator backwards. I kept sending my parents and Todd's mom to the hall because I despise throwing up and when I throw up, I cry. It's a disaster. Phoebe fanned me which made me feel awful like she was a slave...but it felt so good as I was overheating. It was great to have Phoebe. She did anything and everything we asked her to. And she probably saw more of my body parts and fluids than she wanted to. You know you have a good friend when she doesn't care about being in the room while nurses shave your junk or while you're sweating and throwing up foam into a bucket. I'm a lucky broad.

Everyone felt awful for me. They brought me a fan to try and give me some comfort. I missed Sully's first bath because I was in such a bad state. My only choice was to get the anti-nausea patch back behind my ear and hope that I wouldn't be too dizzy to enjoy my son's first day of life. Eventually, everything evened out and besides loathing being in a gown with a catheter and an IV, I was happy. Tired but happy. Sully is like a little pot roast or a meatloaf or a pork chop. He's scored a lot of edible nicknames because he's compact and solid. It was just instantaneous. And it was instantaneous how crazy bananas I was about my new son. I know all moms think this about their kids but he's just amazing. I was worried that I couldn't love anyone as much as I love Spencer but Sully is the perfect compliment.

Later Monday evening, my sister...who also deserves a boatload of thanks for how much easier she made this week on us...brought Spencer up to meet his brother. His interest was slim to none but just seeing them in the same place at the sane time melted my heart. My sisters and their husbands passed the little ham around and my sister graciously took Spencer home with her for the night so Todd could stay with us. I needed him. When I look back at Sully's 1st day if life, I wanted to remember him there always. We had the biggest amount of visitors on Monday but when the crowd died down, I put Sully in his basinet next to me and gave up in fighting my heavy eyelids. Everything went how I had hoped, even though I was physically wrecked and had a particularly rancid smell!

STAY TUNED. There's more meat to this story!