His birth was not without incident, either. The first thing I thought when I saw him was, "That big thing came out of me????" The second thing was, "He's blue!" And he was. Bright blue. Though they never told me so, I believe he had begun to go into distress. It took the doctor a long time to get him to breathing, and when the doctor is saying, "Come on little guy" with an edge of urgency in his voice, it doesn't comfort a new mother's heart.
They finally got him to breathing well, but he had an elevated temperature. Remember that I had been running a 102+ fever the whole time I was in labor. Though Cody's temperature dropped to a steady 98.6 within a couple of hours, mine stayed high for several days. Initial blood tests revealed that my white count was high, and based on that, the pediatrician decided to run a full course of antibiotics on Cody just to be on the safe side. Because of this, we battled yeast infections for the next 6 months.
Hint for new moms: don't ever stay in the nursery while the doctor is trying to put an IV into your child's head. You won't like it.
Finally, after a week in the hospital, the doctor decided Cody was ready to come home. It was at this time that I finally was able to take pictures of him. Unfortunately, I haven't moved my photo albums from the old house, so I can't show you a baby pic. But this is what he looks like today:
Before my ex left, I told him to call me as soon as he got back to the States, and leave me a phone number where I could contact him when the baby was born. He left on Wednesday, and I knew he wouldn't be back to work until the following Monday. He didn't call. I thought he was waiting until Monday so he could call from the office he worked in and wouldn't have to pay for the call. By Tuesday evening, he still hadn't called, so I called his work number and was informed that he hadn't worked there in several weeks. I asked the Sargent who had answered the phone to give him a message, and began telling her all about Cody. She interrupted me, saying, "Excuse me, but he already had that information." I said, "How could he have that information? He left before the baby was born." She replied, "I don't know, but he came in yesterday bragging that it was a boy and his name was Cody."
When he finally did call me, the next night--Wednesday, a full week after he'd left--he denied saying that. He said that what he said is that "We think it's going to be a boy and his name will be Cody." By this time, he'd lied so much to me that I didn't even argue. I found out later that he'd spent the rest of his leave time moving in with Angie.
Well, I could go on, but I won't bore you with the tawdry details of my life. My ex is no longer a part of our lives whatsoever. He has never seen Cody, and I doubt he ever will. Since our divorce was final, I have not heard from him at all.
I think we are better off without him.
One more thing before I head for bed. I haven't forgotten that this is Saturday, and that means it is time for:
We went to the Memphis Zoo today, and I took my sky picture there. More about that trip tomorrow...
3 comments:
Having a blue baby is one of the scariest things I can think of. Neither of mine were blue, but my best friends first-born came out blue (I was in the room, acting as an ersatz doula). It was utterly terrifying. More so for me than for her, actually. She was still somewhat out of it from the birth.
It sounds like you are well rid of your ex. What a complete jerk.
Happy Birthday Cody!
When my son was born after a very long hard labor, his head was terribly mis-shaped - My doctor said I could put him on "Coneheads". Bo was long and skinny, he had forcep marks on the sides of his face, his eyes were way too big for his little face and he was yellow. I looked at my husband and said, "He is so ugly, and he looks just like you." Yeah, I was a little tired.
Cindy, I think I was so out of it, that it didn't register with me, either. Between the fever, stress, and lack of sleep--I hadn't slept in about 3 days--I was pretty loopy.
Lou, he may have been an ugly baby, but he's grown into a fine looking young man! Cody was pretty as a baby. He had such a nice, round head that most people thought I'd had a C-section. Others insisted he was a girl, because he was too pretty to be a boy. They would ask me, "Are you sure he's a boy?", and I would say, "Well, I change his diapers."
Patti, Ack! Don't remind me! And thank you for those words of support.
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