Matthew's Birth Story and Choosing His Name

As most of you know I had a scheduled c-section planned for my second pregnancy.  I actually picked his birthday of November 4, 2014 back in May but didn't know the time of my surgery until the day before.   Just like my c-section with Miller I ended up being scheduled for 10:30am which I thought was good luck.
For some reason even though I knew what to expect I was still very nervous for this c-section.   To help ease my nervousness and stress we decided to take Miller and Layla to my parents the night before surgery so that Kyle and I could go to dinner and try to get some good sleep. We are lame and ended up at Cheesecake Factory but I did treat myself to one last dessert with their delicious pumpkin cheesecake.

Here is my last bump photo the day before Matthew was born:

On November 4th we arrived at the hospital two hours prior to surgery at 8:30am and got set up in triage. I was lucky enough to have a labor and delivery room prior to surgery with Miller but this time they were booked and some of the rooms are being renovated so I was stuck in triage. It wasn't awful being stuck in triage but they would only let me have one visitor at a time and they weren't allowed to stay long. Due to this rule I only got to see my mom and sister briefly before my surgery.   At this point we still hadn't decided on a first name for this little guy. We went in with 4 choices:
-Matthew
-Brooks
-Tilghman
-Hayes
The middle name was set as Joseph but we decided in the hospital that we wouldn't pick a first name until we met him and we would wait to discuss it until I was feeling up to and not groggy from surgery. Kyle's first choice was Brooks, mine was Matthew but Tilghman was a close second for me.  Kyle got to make the final decision on this name because I got to choose Miller's so I was prepared to go with Brooks if  that's what Kyle wanted.

In triage I got all hooked up to the machines and monitors and got my IV in as I waited for my doctor and the anesthesiologist to come by and talk to me before surgery. I wasn't loving my OB in the appointments leading up to my c-section but the day of he was great and his bedside manner was much improved from my office visits.

We headed back to the OR right after 10:30am. The first thing to happen in the OR was my spinal.  I got extra nervous when we got into the OR and it was freezing cold so I was shaking like crazy.  The anesthesiologist, Dr. Nguyen was awesome and let Kyle stay in the OR to hold my legs while I got my spinal.  I LOVED Dr. Nguyen but it took him 3 sticks to get my spinal in right!! After the first two mess ups I was freaking out even more but everyone in the OR did an awesome job to calm me down. They were all telling stories and making jokes to help me forget.
Once the spinal was in and set we were ready to roll. At this point I was so ready to have this baby and be in the recovery room. Since I was so nervous Dr. Nguyen promised me once the baby was out he would give me a special "cocktail" to calm me down. 

Baby Boy H was born at 11:14am. I couldn't wait until I heard that loud baby cry and just like his brother he let out some huge wails before he was taken away for all his tests.  With Miller I felt absolutely nothing during the whole surgery but this time I could feel all the pulling and pushing especially when they got the baby out. It was a really weird sensation to feel the movements but not the pain. I even said I few times I can feel it, I can feel that and they were like don't worry your spinal is working trust us you'd be screaming if you could really feel it. Kyle was able to accompany Baby Boy H to see him get weighed and his tests run.  I was so excited for them to get back to me so I could meet him.

Sorry for the close up!!

The minute I saw him the tears starting rolling down my cheeks and I just knew he was a Matthew. I didn't say anything to Kyle because they were whisked away to our recovery room so that they could finish up my surgery.  I was so happy to hear he was healthy with an apgar score of 9 and weighed in at 8lbs 2 oz!!  Dr. Nguyen gave me two "cocktails" which made the rest of the surgery go by really quickly and made me relax without feeling groggy.  My OB told me when the surgery was over that my uterus was really thinned out where my first c-section scar was so he was happy I chose a repeat c-section over a VBAC.  That kind of freaked me out but made me feel good about my decision.

Once I was in recovery I started to feel good right away.  With Miller I was really groggy and out of it in recovery but this time I felt absolutely great. Kyle asked how I felt and if I was with it and I said I felt great. He was holding the baby at the time and looked at me and said "I think he's a Matthew. I don't think he's a Brooks at all" (that was Kyle's first choice, mine was Matthew). I seriously just smiled and said "Oh my god I think he's a Matthew too and felt it right when I saw his face." I was honestly shocked that we both chose the same name after just seeing him. Matthew is Kyle's middle name and Joseph is named for Kyle's grandfather that he was close with who passed away in 2001. I never got to meet him but heard many wonderful things about him.

We spent about an hour in recovery before it was time to head to our room and for Matthew to met the rest of the family.  Everyone is our families were anxiously awaiting not only meeting him but learning his name. We spent the next four days in the hospital just getting to know Matthew and soaking up our time as just the three of us before we went home to big brother.  I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks!  I can't imagine life before Matthew anymore and he's made our family feel complete.