I'll start with the week before I had her. Bright and early Nathan and I drove to the hospital on the 18th to try and have the baby flipped. This was my second breech baby, Carter was the first, and I had always swore that I would never have an ECV again, but with the prospect of having a c-section lingering over me, I decided to give it a go. We checked in, got the IV and soon after the doctor and his partner came in to do the version. With Carter I was given an epidural and so it was pretty blissful, this time around I got nothing. No pain meds, nada! She started the procedure and it hurt like a mother. The first attempt was unsuccessful. They tried again. Same result. Last try, and they decided to go a different direction. I could feel like baby moving as the physician struggled to make the baby turn. It was such an odd sensation. For some reason, my hip started "spasming" (new word) and this turn hurt about a million times more than the other. Just when we thought she was in the right position, the baby flipped back to her breech position; it was like she had a spring attached to her. I was pretty dang disappointed. My doctor had to go do a c-section but told me he would be back when he was done to check on me and then give me the go to head home. We left and of course I cried to Nathan a little about A. how freaking painful it was and B. how I REALLY didn't want a c-section.
That evening I started having a lot of braxton-hicks contractions. With my past pregnancies, when these started, it meant that the baby would be here within the next day or two. Nathan decided to hold tight a day or two before heading back to Denver. The next day I had a doctor's appointment. I went in for my NST and was contracting quite a bit again. Nothing painful, but they were pretty consistent, like 8 minutes apart, and not the most comfortable things ever. The doctor checked me and I was only at a 1 and 80% effaced.
Next day, contractions all day long, but nothing had changed. They felt the same and were still the same distance apart. Fast forward almost a week, and lots of time spent upside down hoping to turn the baby, and the exact same thing was happening...nothing. Monday morning I had an appointment, my very first ever, with a chiropractor to try the Webster technique in hopes that the baby would turn. The appointment went well but the baby had definitely not budged. Nathan had to get back to Denver so he headed out. I ran and grabbed a babysitter for the kids and went to my orthodontist appointment and got my braces off! I wasn't going to miss that appointment for the world.
Okay, rewind a little again. The day before, Sunday, so I was 37 weeks that day, I kept joking around with some friends at church about what would make my week perfect. It went like this. Monday morning I would go to the Chiro and do the Webster technique. The baby would turn right away. Then, I would head to the orthodontist to get my braces off. Right after, my water would break and I would drive over to the hospital, and not be in any pain, where the anesthesiologist would be waiting, I would get my drugs right away, and then have the baby! It would be perfect. I would get released the next day, go home, rest, enjoy a mellow Thanksgiving with the family, shop online all day during black friday, and then go out Saturday and get all my free crap for Small Business Saturday.
Okay, back to the story and I will tie that last part in in just a minute. So, braces off, Nathan on his way back to Denver, still having my weird contractions. I got home, took the sitters home, and continued my day just like any other. We went to bed that night. At some point Carter had sneaked into my room and climbed in bed with me. At around 3:30am I woke up because of my contractions. It felt just about the same as the ones I had been having during the week, but just a little bit more uncomfortable. I expected to fall right back to sleep but couldn't. About 8 minutes later another hit. Same story as before. I figured this was just going to be my life until I went in for my c-section on December 8. I couldn't sleep so I decided to time the contractions on this neat little app that I had found. They started to get a little closer together, even around like 4 minutes, but then the next would wait for around 10 minutes. I called Nathan because I was bored and figured if I had to be up I would make him suffer with me. Not really! I just missed him and was anxious. At some point I had to use the bathroom, TMI, and started peeing my brains out. Like 9 times in a row. Wayyyy TMI! This is what happened when I had Carter so I decided to call my mom this time and tell her what was going on. I hung up with her and then something crazy happened. My contractions just stopped. 12 minutes had gone by and nothing. I called my mom back and told her it was probably a false alarm. I was super disappointed but also reminding myself that I knew this was probably not it. After another minute or two a contraction came back and hit with a vengeance. Soon after, they started getting really close and super painful. It seems like everything happened so quickly here.
An hour or two before I got to the hospital
I just kind of lost it. I called my mom hysterical because I couldn't get a hold of anyone at all! I didn't know what to do. I hung up with her, called my cousin bawling, hung up with her, called Nathan bawling, then hung up and kept trying to call more people! Finally, when I was getting ready to wake my kids up and take them with me, I got a hold of one of my friends who quickly ran to my rescue. At about the same time, another one of my amazing friends called and asked if she could drive me to the hospital! They both got here within a few minutes of each other. By now it was getting close to 6am and all the boys were awake! Poor babysitter! Nathan knew that I was officially on my way to the hospital and poor guy was stuck in horrific rush hour Denver traffic. Side note- it was super early in the morning and I am sure most people had their ringers off. I hope I don't make anyone feel bad for writing this. I am pretty sure no one intentionally ignored my phone calls! I am so grateful for all of my amazing friends and family who ran, no questions asked, to help me out as soon as I got a hold of them! It was just an unlucky morning, at first.
I hopped in my friend's vehicle and we headed to the hospital! She had her kids with her, which was great because I probably would have been swearing and yelling like a crazy lady during my contractions if they hadn"t been present! We got to the hospital entrance and said our goodbyes! The worker at the ER front desk wheeled me up to labor and delivery and then things started getting real! By the time I got in to the room I was crying and yelling a lot. My contractions were sooo painful and barely even letting up. They started me out in the monitoring room but before they had even hooked anything up, the nurse decided to send me to a real room. She was pretty sure that I was in labor! The nurse checked me once I got in to my bed and I was at a 4. I felt like a wuss but whatever! I think I asked for the anesthesiologist about 10 times within the first 5 minutes. Before I knew it, though, there were like a million nurses in there getting me all ready for the c-section! I got my IV, which freaking hurt almost worse than the contractions, and of course took several tries to get in, they put all sorts of weird machines and wires on me, and kept getting me ready to go. The anesthesiologist still wasn't there and I decided to start hating him for taking so long! The nurse checked me again, it had only been a few minutes, and I was already at a 5. They decided to take me right over to the OR and just meet the anesthesiologist there because they couldn't wait any long. He walked in right at that moment, though, and told me he would meet me in the OR. I just remember everything feeling kind of cloudy. At some point my doctor even came in and I think he had me sign a paper, but once again, a big blur.
I kept breaking down crying because I was completely by myself and everyone kept asking me where my husband was or if I had anyone that could come with me. No, no, and NO! One of the sweet nurses then said she would be my baby daddy. It sounds corny, but I was so grateful to have someone there holding my hand through the contractions and just talking to me. We headed back to the OR where the anesthesiologist, AKA knight in shining armor, was waiting except he had scrubs on instead of chain mail and a needle instead of a sword! He got that sucker going right away and before I could scream "contraction, I was numb! It was amazing. I did feel one last contraction, but since the spinal block was in, it was not too bad and my suicidal thoughts and murderous feelings began to subside. They started prepping my belly for surgery, which freaked me out a little bit because I could still feel quite a bit. I asked the anesthesiologist and he said lots of pressure was normal, but it also took a good five minutes to become fully affective. I could wiggle my toes for the first few minutes, so I was still nervous that I would feel the surgery, but sure enough, a little while later I was so numb it was actually really funny. I tried, with every ounce of my will power, to get my toe to wiggle and it just would not move. It made me laugh and everyone probably thought I was insane! And obviously I forgave the anesthesiologist!
Within a few minutes my doctor was ready to go and it was baby time! The surgery itself was a piece of cake. The anesthesiologist and my nurse, aka baby daddy, stood by my side and kind of told me what was going on. They kept warning me about how I might get nauseous at some point or how I might start to feel breathless at another. Nothing they warned me about seemed to happen, though. At some point during the procedure we started talking about the way a barbequed human would smell! Things get weird when I'm in labor. At least I didn't start singing during the anesthesia. I am notorious for breaking out in song during those suckers!
The funny thing about c-sections vs delivering vaginally is the attitude of all the hospital staff. When you deliver vaginally, you have a doctor and nurse or two, everyone is quiet, usually tired because the doctor gets called in in the middle of the night. Just really mellow and unexciting. With the c-section, everyone is in the best mood ever. There are like a million nursed in the room, the doctor and the resident were chit chatting about their weekend, lots of laughing, etc. It was actually a really fun experience.
A few minutes later, after the doctor said something about how her head is really stuck, I heard this amazing little baby cry! It was just one little cry, but it was strong enough to melt my heart. She was here. All the nurses and even the doctors kept saying how cute she was. I got all teary eyed but unfortunately had to wait to see her. It probably took a good 5-10 minutes before they handed her to me. I asked right away if she was really tiny. I was expecting even smaller than Carter because I was measuring so small. The doctor said she was pretty little and they would weigh her in a few minutes.
After a few more minutes, they took the baby away again to go and weigh and measure her: 5 lb 14.4 oz and 17.5 inches tall! So little but not as tiny as Carter was. She was actually an entire pound more than he was. I think her head was 13.5 inches, but I'll have to check on that to make sure. The doctor finished, and then I was finally wheeled back to recovery. Right before I went back, they had to move me, obviously, from the operating table back to a wheeled bed. It felt so weird when they picked me up and I was so numb. It felt like I was floating and once again, made me giggle. I can't remember exactly what happened or when it happened, but I know that I had my baby in my arms when I got to recovery! It was super awkward trying to hold her because of how numb I was. It got even more awkward when I went to nurse her and certain parts of my body, if you know what I mean, were completely numb, as well. She latched on pretty easily though and has been nursing like a champion since.
Sarah, aka Baby Daddy
Once they wheeled me to my room, my friend came in and got to come hang out with the baby and I. She should feel pretty special because she was the first person, besides me and the hospital staff, to get to hold and see her! After probably about another hour, my hubs finally came! He walked in with a big vase of beautiful flowers and a smile on his face. Seeing him made my heart so happy. I can't even begin to describe how much I miss him when he is gone on his crazy long shifts. I knew that now that he was there I would be taken care of and all my worries could subside! My friend headed home and Nathan and I just sat with our new baby girl, staring at her in awe! There is nothing in this world like a brand new baby. I am always on cloud nine for the first few weeks after giving birth! They are just so perfect and innocent, and easy! Newborns are so easy. Once they hit like 3 months, it's all down hill, but in the beginning they rock!
We stayed in the hospital until the late afternoon on Thanksgiving. The first night the baby did pretty great. The second she was kind of a beast, but luckily I had Nathan with me to help out. We were both pretty dang tired by the time we were ready to go home. Also, 2 Percocets make me freaking weird! I had a few different friends stop by and visit and I was seriously high as a kite. I remember their voices sounded so far and distant and it took everything for me to not fall asleep while chatting with them. In the middle of the night I would wake up over and over again and start glaring at Nathan. He would ask what was wrong, I would mumble and then fall back to sleep. The nurses probably thought I was a slight druggy as well because the second my four hours were up, I was
That about sums up my birth story. We are home now and Lynden will be a week old tomorrow, already! I don't know how that is possible. Part of me feels like we have always been together and part of me feels like time is flying by so quickly! It blows my mind to think that one second I was pregnant with her, feeling like pregnancy would never end, and the next I am holding her in my arms kissing her perfect little cheeks. The boys made it home last night from Utah so we had a little Thanksgiving feast together. I managed to make a few pies and rolls from scratch, and a few other things. The boys loved seeing their sister and even Quincy can't stop giving her kisses. He has told me several times now that "I like hers!"
Now it's time to go savor these oh so special moments with my babies!
1 comment:
So sad Nathan wasn't there!! And that's crazy about the extra finger! How many of your kids have that? She is so beautiful! I love that I've written out my kids birth stories because so many things would get forgotten otherwise!
Post a Comment