Savanna is here

Monday morning we were at the beach – we left pretty early since the afternoons are usually taken up by thunderstorms - just getting settled in when Cori called to tell us the doctor had called her and asked her to get to the hospital to be induced. She was ecstatic. So were we, but with the timeframe of such events we stayed at the beach for several hours before we packed up and headed to the house.

We got cleaned up and waited – and waited. As it turned out this was not an easy delivery for Cori. She was in labor for many hours as Savanna tried to get into position to be delivered. The baby was face up and slightly sideways as mommy was able to give the final pushes to bring her through the birth canal. It was a strain on both of them. What had started about noon on Monday resulted in a successful birth at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The net result is that Cori and Nate have another beautiful baby girl; seven pounds, five ounces, eighteen inches long. She is quite a tiny package compared to Walter who came out several pounds heftier. Mama was remarking to other visiting mothers that the problematic births were startling similar between Walter and Savanna. Now, just to add to the saga, it appears that Becky is going to have similar issues with her first - due sometime next month.

Since I am remote I do not have pictures to upload but there are multiple postings on Facebook for Cori, Victoria, Mama and a slew of others who visited Cori and Savanna in the hospital yesterday. It was really rough on Cori since the birth had been difficult but she trudged on as family after family shuffled through the room taking pictures of their children holding Cori’s newborn child. I think the hospital staff had to fill the hand sanitizer dispenser several times that day.

Mother and baby are not expected home until sometime tomorrow. I know mommy and daddy are eagerly anticipating homecoming – if only so they can really rest fully. No one gets to rest in a hospital for more than thirty minutes at a stretch. Grammy is very anxious to have the newborn home also since her time to get to enjoy the tiny one will be limited.

We are headed back around lunchtime today so we can take Nate out for a real meal. The hospital food is necessarily bland – incredibly unappetizing. We took dinner from home to Cori and Nate last night. We packed sandwiches for us and the kids but made burrito bowls for the two of them. Savanna has her own food to eat as Cori’s milk is coming in well now.

As these things go, we were there to celebrate Savanna’s first bowel movement. It was interestingly gross. Grammy, who will not abide certain things in her field of view – spiders, roaches, etc. – was completely nonplussed but the revolting black runny mass that filled the diaper. I would venture to say she was excited to do the first diaper change. (Nothing particularly exciting there for me.) But it was kind of a celebratory moment for the progression required to get the baby diagnosed as healthy.

I cannot understand the joviality of getting to change a diaper but it is a happy thought God puts into a mother’s heart in the bonding that happens with a mother and child. Feeding I get; changing a diaper, not so much.

I would rather gut a deer. Somehow that just seems less gross.