I'll start with the night before..because I can say the last time I got a full nights sleep was sunday night! When monday night rolled around..I wasnt anxious or anything like I thought I'd be. I knew I wouldnt sleep though and when I laid down around 1130 after making sure all the bags were packed..the storms came rolling thru. Our power kicked off for a few seconds right at midnight and came back on. Thank goodness I was still awake because we dont have a backup alarm clock..the only one we have is power operated so when the power kicked..it kicked off the alarm. We had to be at the hospital for my c-section at 5:30 am..which meant we needed to leave here no later than 4:15am. Needless to say..I didn't sleep a wink because I didn't want to oversleep.
We headed to the hospital around 4:15 and I wasn't scared like I thought I would be. Nervous, yes, but I was holding up remarkably well especially since I knew what was going to be happening in the next few hours. I'd been watching c-sections take place on tv so I knew in a matter of speaking what to expect. But of course knew that my own experience would be somewhat different than what you see on 'tv'. We got to the hopsital right on time and when I saw the hospital itself is when I began to become nervous. After getting signed in and admitted, they got me hooked up to an IV and took some blood and asked me a few questions (not the 'millions' my dr said they would). It was around this point when my shaking began. I was getting really nervous thinking about the spinal block they'd be doing to numb me for the procedure..having a needle put in your back just isn't something that sounds ideal, you know? I thought it would be a long process but it actually went very quickly and before I had time to think about it, they were walking me back to the OR. I kissed Damon before they took me in and they walked me over to the table and got me up on the edge and had me hunch over so they could do the spinal. There was alot of nurses there and they were all incredibly nice and calm, which helped alot. I have to say, the spinal didn't hurt at all like I thought..just like getting a shot basically. The one thing I didn't like was even though I asked if someone would hold onto me when they did it, nobody did. I was afraid my uncontrolable shaking would mess up something which is why I really wanted someone to hold me still (like they do on tv). I don't know if they forgot or what happened, but it didnt matter cause everything went in like it was suppost to. They quickly laid me down on the table, put some oxygen on me and Damon was brought in around that point. I thought it was funny because he looked just like a dr with all that garb they make you wear!! The feeling that came thru my body from the spinal wasn't as bad as I thought either. It just felt like how it does when your legs go to sleep, only magnified by about 100 and its your whole lower body. They checked to make sure I was totally numb by taking a piece of cloth or something that was dipped in cold water or alcohol (not sure what it was). They rubbed it on my arm and said, "See how you can feel me rub it on your arm and you can feel the cold from it? Let me know if you feel hot or cold when I rub it on you.". So they rubbed my belly and though I could feel her rub it on me, I couldnt feel the hot or cold sensation, which was odd because I knew it was really cold. They started the procedure and I had a couple nurses talk to me the whole time to see if I was nauseous or feeling dizzy/light headed, which I did a few times but nothing terrible, just slight. They'd give me something in my IV and it would immediately help..so it was no big deal. Then my nurse said they were almost there (not much time had went by..probably 20 minutes) and then there was a little commotion (I knew then they were REALLY close to getting her out). They told me to take some deep breaths because they were pushing down on me to her out. Then I heard them say she was here..followed by the sweetest sound I had ever heard in my life. My baby girl cried.
Makayla Giuliana was born on May 24th, 2011 at 7:54 am and weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long with a headful of hair!
They got her cleaned up and Damon went over and saw her while they did that. What I didn't expect (and he probably didn't either) was that he got to cut the umbilical cord! I figured with a c-section he wouldnt have the opportunity to do that cause the dr would have to do it when they got her out..but I guess they left it long enough for it to be cut twice. I heard him say, "How do I cut it?" and I knew what they were letting him do..I was so happy for his sake because I knew that was something that would mean alot to him. They kept working on me the whole time of course, and I honestly don't remember much about it. I just remember crying, shaking uncontrolably (still), and smiling so much I couldn't stop. It wasn't long after they were wheeling us out to a recovery room. I was still shaking once in recovery and really that was what bugged me the most. It was a shake I couldnt stop no matter how hard I tried. They said it was perfectly normal though. Not long after, they brought my baby girl into our room. The nurse asked if I wanted to try to breastfeed and I told her I did but wasn't sure I could at that point in time. I was afraid I wouldnt be able to hold onto her due to my shaking. So she put us skin to skin and I held her for probably about 5 minutes when I realized, my shaking had finally stopped. Odd how something so simple had such an effect on my body. My nurse asked again if I wanted to try at this point and I said, "Yeah! I'm not shaking anymore so I would like to try!". She got me into position and my little girl latched right on. The nurse couldn't believe it and said she'd never seen a baby take to breastfeeding so quickly and so well. It made me proud! I still couldn't believe that I was now holding my baby girl that I'd carried for 39 weeks.
My stay in the hospital went well. I was there until around 1pm on thursday, so my total stay was 2 nights. I have to say, my nurses were the BEST. I had heard alot of people say negative things about the hospital where I had Makayla at prior to going in, so I was pleasantly suprised at my overall treatment and time spent there. After the inital success at breastfeeding, we hit a few snags along the way, which is normal. Its a learning process not only for me but for Makayla as well. And we're still dealing with that as I write this. I do want to brag on my night shift nurse though. The last night we were there, we had them take Makayla to the nursery so we could attempt to get a little bit of sleep. Damon got in my bed beside of me and I started to cry because I'd had a few frustrating tries at feeding her that evening. I was worried I wasn't doing it right and wondering if she was getting enough from me at that point (my milk hadnt came in yet). It had taken her almost a whole day before she peed so it concerned me even though they said it was perfectly normal. Damon consoled me and went outside for a minute. I thought he went to get something to drink, but he got my nurse instead. She came into the room, turned on the light, and asked me what was wrong. I just told her my concerns and she got out my charts and said everything was going exactly like it was suppost to and she went and brought Makayla back in the room with us and had me to try to feed her. She showed me a few more things I could do and it helped so much. She was incredibly patient with me and was in there with us alone for probably 30-45 minutes and didn't leave until she was confident I was ok with everything and settled down. Its nurses like that who earn every single dime they make and then some.
Probably the worst thing about EVERYTHING in those 2 days was when the following morning my dr pulled off the tape they had over my incision. I remember when I was in the OR and they were taping me up, I was thinking, "this is gonna hurt when they pull off all this tape" because it felt like they wrapped me tight about 4 times. Well, I was right! My dr warned me, she said this is going to hurt worse than anything else. And I said worse than the cathetar coming out? She said honey thats nothing compared to this. Oy..she was right. She started pulling and it was all I could do to keep from screaming and coming out of that bed. She got halfway and asked if I wanted to do the rest and I was gripping the handles on the bedrail and said "no keep going" as I beared down knowing she was halfway there. Then she got to the last bit on my side and I literally started laughing because for some reason it started tickling like CRAZY. I think she thought I had lost my mind because she was laughing at me at that point. LOL! If pulling that tape wasn't bad enough, when I got to take my first shower a few hours later, I found that the residue from the tape gave me some sort of allergic reaction. When we showed it to my doctor he said it was blistered and prescribed me some ointment to clear it up.
One final note, some of you might be wondering why I opted to have a c-section in the first place. I know its not always the 'norm' to go that route, but for me I felt it was what I was suppost to do. I commend all you mom's out there who have your babies the 'old fashioned way'. The thought of pushing a baby out terrifies me and always has. And yes..I'd rather of faced surgery than went thru the regular childbirth process. Also..when my husband was born..his mother almost died while birthing him and was in a coma for sometime afterwards. Thats something that had always stayed in my mind and I wondered if the same could happen to me. I know there are alot of things that can/could go wrong no matter which way a woman has a baby. But even though I'm still in pain as I write this..I'd go this route again.
So thats pretty much it for my birth story! I've enjoyed reading everyone's birth stories on blogger in the past few months and its so interesting to me to see how each one is different and special. Hope you have enjoyed reading mine! :-)
