The Story of Nathan

In honor of Nathan's one week birthday I thought I had better update the blog with his birth story. If you missed the events leading up to last friday you can read about them by scrolling down.
Last Thursday was a nice day spent with just me and Naomi. We went to storytime at the local library, had McDonalds for lunch, and shared lots of hugs and snuggles. During her nap I got a call from the maternity ward at ARH (click on the link to see pictures of the new hospital) and they told me that my section was scheduled for 9:15 on Friday morning and that we should be at the hospital at 8:00. That evening Ron's parents brought us dinner and we spent the evening together, just the three of us. Around 8:00 we dropped Naomi off at my parents house again and gave her lots of hugs and kisses. It was hard to believe that my baby girl would be a big sister the next day.
Ron and I had a great night sleep, although both of us were feeling nervous and excited.
On Friday morning we woke up and headed to the hospital. When we got there the nurses were saying that every room in the maternity ward was full. It had been a very busy night:). They got me all ready for surgery and took us down the hall to the OR. While we were waiting we met with our surgon (Dr. Goswami) and she assured us that everything would be fine and had us sign some concent forms.
At 9:15, as scheduled, I was wheeled into the OR for my spinal. Unfortunalty, it did not work and I had to be put under general anisthetic, just like when Naomi was born.
Then finally after the months of waiting, Nathan Henry Klassen made his entrance into the word at 9:56am on Friday, May 22, 2009. Ron was able to see him right away and watch the nurse weigh and measure him. Everyone was suprised to hear how heavy he was. 11 lbs 5 oz and 23 inches long! A beautiful baby boy!

I woke up in recovery and soon was transfered to our room. Ron was waiting for me and told me that Nathan was in the NICU. Nathan was having trouble maintaining his blood sugar levels because he was such a big baby. As soon as I could I asked Ron to bring me to the NICU to see our son.


When I first saw him my inital reaction was that he looked a lot like Naomi did when she was first born. It was so nice to finally see him and hold him in my arms. The nurses had tried to give him an IV 4 times, but they couldn't get it in because he is so chubby. Instead they inserted a feeding tube in his nose so that they could constantly feed him formula to keep his blood sugars regulated.
I got up every 4 hours for the next day and night to go visit him and nurse him. He nursed really well right away, but was not getting enough since my milk had not come in yet. The nurses tested him by taking blood from his heel every few hours. His sugars thankfully stayed at proper levels.
After 24hrs in the NICU our little buddy was finally able to join us in our room. It was so nice to have him so close by. Just before he came to our room Nathan got so frusterated with having the tape on his face he pulled out his feeding tube and it left a huge red mark on his cheek. Although he was nursing well he still needed a topup of formula after each feed, and he eagarly gobbled this down every few hours.

We enjoyed many visitors during the next day, but the most special momment was when Naomi got to meet her little brother. It was so wonderful to see how gentle and loving she was towards him. She just held his hand and kept saying "Hi, Hi" in a quiet voice. We asked her if she wanted to sing a song for Nathan and she said yes. Then she sang "Jesus loves me" without any prompting from us.

Ron and I both missed her so much while we were in the hospital. She seemed so indepedant when she came to visit us and didn't seem upset about spending the weekend with Opa and Oma. In fact it was quite the opposite. She just kept saying that she wanted to have a sleepover at Omas house. We know she was well taken care of and obviously had a wonderful time.
The next evening we got the ok to go home. We packed up all our things and our precious "little" son and began our new life as a family of four.


Things have been going well since we got home. He has been up for a few hours every night except for last night, but sleeps well durring the day. Even when Naomi is playing her recorder right by his bassinet:) He is now completely on breastmilk and does not need any formula. This is such an answer to prayer, because I was worried that he would not nurse well after getting used to having a full tummy of formula. So far he is nursing like a champ and no longer needs to have the formula to feel full.
Naomi is adjusting well and really seems to love her little brother. She is loving having her daddy home to play with all day and all the extra attention.
We have been so blessed by our families. They have come to visit every day and taken turns bringing us dinner every night since we have been home. Thankyou, we love you all!

I love my little family so much and I am enjoying each day with them. I think this post is definalty long enough. If you have read all the way to the end "thank-you", and if you just stoped by for the pictures "thanks" also :) I just had to get this all down to preserve my memories since the days have a way of running into each other and I don't want to forget all the little details of my little mans big day.