"Recovery" in the hospital...

There really isn't much to tell, the difference between vaginal and Cesarean recovery is like a moonless midnight in the deepest forest and high-noon in the desert.

I was up and walking around in no time at all. As exhausted as I was, I took a shower after, which I desperately needed, being covered in blood and sweat and the gods know what else. It felt great to be clean and pain-free. They had nifty little fold-down shower seats, and I just sat there and let the water run off me for a long time. I almost fell asleep.
Although I lost a good amount of blood and was a little dizzy for a couple of days, for the most part, it was incredibly easy. The only pain I had was from the post-delivery contractions, which got hellish while I was nursing Alex, and for the short time I spent in the hospital, I was able to get a small amount of oxycodone for them.

I got horribly frustrated by being in the hospital. It seemed like every single time I fell asleep, a nurse came in to either check my vital signs or ask how I was doing, or just to see "the VBAC mom who caught her own baby!"... I felt like I was a circus freak or something.

Dr. P, who had sent me home the previous Thursday, came to visit me as well. "So... I heard everything went well... For you, anyway," he said after he walked in, and then laughed. He had heard what I did, and he came to say hi, say congratulations, and see Alex. "You did know he was going to be huge, didn't you?" he asked. I replied with, "You did know I was actually 42 weeks, didn't you?" He laughed again, and said that some of the OB team was aware that I was "past due", but it wasn't something he had been about to bring up in front of the residents that were caring for me. As to why that was, he said it would have made them push for a section, and he felt that extra pressure wasn't really necessary- he was absolutely sure I'd have Alex within a few days after he saw me the first time, but he was required to give me the "When you get to 41 weeks, we need to discuss your options" speech, so that he remained within the hospital's safety protocols.

I had one ENORMOUS clot- it was a really gross feeling passing that. It was actually big enough to clog the toilet, so I won't describe it any further than that. After that was gone, my bleeding lessened significantly, and I felt much better. The afterpains still sucked, but definitely weren't as intense.

We were given the option to go home after 24 hours had passed, because Alex and I were doing really well, so there was no need to keep me longer if we didn't want to stay. I was done with that place and their terrible food, so I did. We actually ended up being there for about 36 hours after Alex was born. There was paperwork to finish, and the hospital photographer to meet.

We were going to have pictures taken, but Alex decided to systematically ruin every single thing we put on him. He either peed, pooped, or spit up on everything. We only had newborn sizes to put him in, and most of them didn't fit. I ended up frustrated and in tears from being overtired. We finally told the photographer it wasn't happening. She told us she'd make a note of it, and we could come to the studio at a later date, and they'd waive the studio's sitting fee for us.

When we loaded up the car, the seat didn't fit quite right, so we spent about half an hour messing with that outside. After that, we were finally ready for going home. We had hoped to get back before TJ got home from school, (GW had brought him back to our house the night before, and TJ was ok with spending the night by himself, and had my cell with him for any emergencies) but we didn't make it. TJ beat us home by almost an hour. TJ said he was fine with getting himself something for dinner. Mercifully, GW and I were able to take a real nap. Finally. We needed it.