C-Section Day and Welcoming the Little One!
Well, C-Section today. Still not looking forward to it, but because baby’s still on his/her butt, we have no other choice.
Woke up around 5 am as we have to be at the hospital by 5:45 and I had to quickly have a shower before we left. And as much as I wanted breakfast (tummy was starting to grumble), I didn’t.
Got to the hospital on time and registered and then went up to our room and got ready for surgery. Prep was going good until they tried to get an IV in my hand. Now my veins are pretty hard to get, even on a good day, and even more so in my arm and hand. So the nurse had gotten a vein in my arm, got the needle in and threaded it and then started the drip. Well my hand just started hurting like crazy and so I let her know. She said that wasn’t a good thing and double-checked it. Turns out that when she threaded the needle, it might have come out a bit and nicked a valve, which is why it was hurting so much when they started the drip. So she pulled out the needle and went to go find a different spot. Yeah right. She had found another good spot, but it was in my wrist and seeing as the IV would be staying in until at least tomorrow, she didn’t want to put it into my wrist because I wouldn’t be able to bend it much and hold my baby. And this is a nurse with 20 years experience doing IV’s. So she said she was going to get someone else to try to find a different spot after trying for almost 15 minutes. The other nurse came in and managed to find one in my hand and quickly put the needle in, threaded it, and started the drip. And this time it didn’t hurt! Oh, on a side note, catheters hurt for the first little bit. L
Once I was all hooked up, they let me and Keith have some quiet time, which we spent in prayer that everything would go smoothly and that me and the baby would be fine at the end of all of this.
Once 8 am rolled around, they got me onto the gurney and wheeled me into the OR and made sure that I was prepped for surgery. Then of course, they had to do the spinal for the Epidural. They got me to sit on the table, hunched over as much as I could (which isn’t much when you’re 9 months pregnant) and then push my back out as far as I could so that the tech could find the right spots to insert the needles. The tech used about 3 needles to fully numb my back and when he was putting in the last needle, he asked if I could feel anything. My response? “Feel what?” Lol. He said that’s the exact answer he was looking for. And then we ran into another problem when he was trying to put the needle in for the spinal. It turns out that I might have scoliosis in my back because of the extreme curvature (which might be from being pregnant) and my spine was off center by about 1 ½ inches, which made it hard for him to find the proper spot to insert the needle. Once he did find the right spot and everything was done (at least for that part), they got me to lay down on the table and finish getting ready for surgery. At this point, Keith was allowed into the OR and he came to sit right next to me and keep me occupied during the surgery. And also at this time, I felt the numbing start setting in, which felt weird because it felt like tingling down my legs and that was it. Keith came and sat beside me while they finished prepping and putting up the drape so that we couldn’t see what they were doing, which was fine by me. They told me that I’d feel some pressure when they pulled out the baby and maybe some tugging/pulling, but that was it. Then the anaesthesiologist put the oxen tube in my nose, but because of my cold that I had, it was really cold in my nose, so I asked him to take it out. And it felt weird. Lol.
They started the surgery at 8:30 and Keith started his job of keeping me distracted. We were just talking about random stuff and then he asked what I wanted to do after all this. I asked him what he meant by that and he said he meant what I wanted to do after everything is said and done and once the baby is weaned from breast-feeding and then mentioned about possibly going back to Pine Wood Lodge for our anniversary or in the fall. I told him that that would be a great idea and I’d love to go back to Pine Wood Lodge as we haven’t been there in over 2 years. He said that he’d see what we could do about that as we would probably need some time to ourselves in the near future.
We kept talking a bit more and then the anaesthesiologist said that I would probably be feeling quite a bit of pressure on my belly, which I did and felt really weird. And then I heard these words: “It’s a GIRL!!” I just looked at Keith in amazement as we were both pretty sure that the baby was a boy and said to him, “It’s a girl?” “Yes, it’s a girl.” “Hi there Daddy.” And he just smiled. The nurses said that they would quickly clean her up so that we could see her and asked Keith if he wanted to cut the cord. He politely declined and stayed by my side. He’s not really into that stuff. Lol. And of course, once it set in that we had a baby girl, I looked at him and exclaimed that I could buy pink stuff now. His reply: “Yes, you can buy pink stuff now.” “Oooh, I can buy pink camo!” And this is where he started shaking his head. Lol.
Once they had her all dried off and measured, they brought her over to us so that we could see our baby girl for the first time. She’s GORGEOUS!! And her name is V. She has a full head of hair (and I do mean a full head of hair) and came in at 21 inches. We guessed her weight at around 6 lbs, but as they hadn’t weighed her yet, we’d have to wait and see. I couldn’t really hold her because I had one arm still strapped down (pre-cautionary measure during surgery, as were my legs), but I just awed over her, just amazed that we made this beautiful little girl that was all ours.
Once the nurses took her to get weighed and check her all over, Keith stayed with me to keep me distracted (still) while they finished putting me together like Humpty Dumpty. Lol. Once they were done, Keith went to the Nursery to check on V while they took me into Recovery to monitor me while everything was un-freezing. I was in Recovery for about an hour, just waiting for everything to un-freeze and with the nurses making sure that I was regaining full use of muscles and legs. And it was kind of weird, because my left leg was un-freezing slower than my right leg, but they said that was normal. Oh well.
Once everything was un-frozen, they took me to our room so that I could see Keith and V. When they had gotten me into our room, they asked me if I wanted to try to move over into the bed or have them move me. Seeing as I had movement/feeling back into my legs, I said that I’d try to move myself and the nurses said that they would help and watch me. Well, that ended up being a bad idea. I did manage to move myself into the bed (very slowly and painfully, mind you), but as soon as I got into the bed and barely settled, I had to ask for a puke basin. Yuck. Luckily I haven’t had anything to eat/drink since last night, but still. Apparently a spinal will make you quite queasy and puking. Great. They had me on water and clear liquids for today for this reason.
Once I had finally settled in the bed (and my stomach), Keith handed me V so that I could have some skin-to-skin time with her. So worth everything, including the pain. Keith says she has my face, especially my nose and cheeks. Lol. She is adorably cute though. J She comes in at 7 lbs 8 oz and 21”. I was going to try feeding her, but she was sound sleeping, so I just let her sleep on my chest while I rested from surgery. Around this time is also when the nausea starting kicking in quite a bit. I was quite thirsty and just sticking with water, but it just wasn’t staying down. Grrr… While V was sleeping on my chest, I rested and talked with Keith and sent out the mass text to everyone saying that V had made her entrance. And then I got a bit irked by the return text that my Dad had sent saying “Wow, it’s not worth a phone call to tell someone. Congratulations Jen.” Nothing about Keith at all. Felt quite hurt by that.
Later after I had a nap, we talked about letting the parents and grand-parents visit this evening as I was doing pretty good and V was still sleeping. So we called the parents and grandparents and let them know that they could visit us this evening. I still wasn’t feeling the greatest (throwing up-wise), but otherwise I was feeling OK. So the parents and grand-parents came to visit, which was a good distraction for me and Keith. After everyone left, V finally woke up fully and decided that she was hungry, so we started with the breast-feeding. She did pretty good (and apparently so did I), but my milk supply hadn’t come in yet, so she wasn’t getting very much, but at least she was getting the colostrum that she needed. And then we both decided to get some much needed sleep. Except for the nurses coming in about every hour to check on me and check her over as well, just to make sure that we were both doing OK. Keith wasn’t though. I guess my cold that I had had gotten to him and he was feeling pretty crappy by 1:30 in the morning, never mind with V wanting to feed a lot. So he ended up going home just before 2 am to boil himself in a nice hot tub and get some good sleep as I’d need him to help me tomorrow. Just before he left for home, I asked him to move V’s bassinet near my bed so that I could get to her when I needed to in the middle of the night, seeing as I was basically tied to the bed (stupid catheter). So he moved her closer to my bed and then went home to (hopefully) get better.
Night-time wasn’t too bad for us, except for the nurses coming in and out about every hour to check my blood pressure and temperature and to check her temperature as well and make sure that we were doing OK. She was being quite fussy during the night and so when I wasn’t trying to feed her, I was snuggling with her, just to comfort and reassure her that I was here. I ended up keeping her in my bed with me while we both slept as it was easier for me to get her for feeding. And I actually did manage to get some sleep, although I’m not sure how much. But at least we’re off to a good start.
Woke up around 5 am as we have to be at the hospital by 5:45 and I had to quickly have a shower before we left. And as much as I wanted breakfast (tummy was starting to grumble), I didn’t.
Got to the hospital on time and registered and then went up to our room and got ready for surgery. Prep was going good until they tried to get an IV in my hand. Now my veins are pretty hard to get, even on a good day, and even more so in my arm and hand. So the nurse had gotten a vein in my arm, got the needle in and threaded it and then started the drip. Well my hand just started hurting like crazy and so I let her know. She said that wasn’t a good thing and double-checked it. Turns out that when she threaded the needle, it might have come out a bit and nicked a valve, which is why it was hurting so much when they started the drip. So she pulled out the needle and went to go find a different spot. Yeah right. She had found another good spot, but it was in my wrist and seeing as the IV would be staying in until at least tomorrow, she didn’t want to put it into my wrist because I wouldn’t be able to bend it much and hold my baby. And this is a nurse with 20 years experience doing IV’s. So she said she was going to get someone else to try to find a different spot after trying for almost 15 minutes. The other nurse came in and managed to find one in my hand and quickly put the needle in, threaded it, and started the drip. And this time it didn’t hurt! Oh, on a side note, catheters hurt for the first little bit. L
Once I was all hooked up, they let me and Keith have some quiet time, which we spent in prayer that everything would go smoothly and that me and the baby would be fine at the end of all of this.
Once 8 am rolled around, they got me onto the gurney and wheeled me into the OR and made sure that I was prepped for surgery. Then of course, they had to do the spinal for the Epidural. They got me to sit on the table, hunched over as much as I could (which isn’t much when you’re 9 months pregnant) and then push my back out as far as I could so that the tech could find the right spots to insert the needles. The tech used about 3 needles to fully numb my back and when he was putting in the last needle, he asked if I could feel anything. My response? “Feel what?” Lol. He said that’s the exact answer he was looking for. And then we ran into another problem when he was trying to put the needle in for the spinal. It turns out that I might have scoliosis in my back because of the extreme curvature (which might be from being pregnant) and my spine was off center by about 1 ½ inches, which made it hard for him to find the proper spot to insert the needle. Once he did find the right spot and everything was done (at least for that part), they got me to lay down on the table and finish getting ready for surgery. At this point, Keith was allowed into the OR and he came to sit right next to me and keep me occupied during the surgery. And also at this time, I felt the numbing start setting in, which felt weird because it felt like tingling down my legs and that was it. Keith came and sat beside me while they finished prepping and putting up the drape so that we couldn’t see what they were doing, which was fine by me. They told me that I’d feel some pressure when they pulled out the baby and maybe some tugging/pulling, but that was it. Then the anaesthesiologist put the oxen tube in my nose, but because of my cold that I had, it was really cold in my nose, so I asked him to take it out. And it felt weird. Lol.
They started the surgery at 8:30 and Keith started his job of keeping me distracted. We were just talking about random stuff and then he asked what I wanted to do after all this. I asked him what he meant by that and he said he meant what I wanted to do after everything is said and done and once the baby is weaned from breast-feeding and then mentioned about possibly going back to Pine Wood Lodge for our anniversary or in the fall. I told him that that would be a great idea and I’d love to go back to Pine Wood Lodge as we haven’t been there in over 2 years. He said that he’d see what we could do about that as we would probably need some time to ourselves in the near future.
We kept talking a bit more and then the anaesthesiologist said that I would probably be feeling quite a bit of pressure on my belly, which I did and felt really weird. And then I heard these words: “It’s a GIRL!!” I just looked at Keith in amazement as we were both pretty sure that the baby was a boy and said to him, “It’s a girl?” “Yes, it’s a girl.” “Hi there Daddy.” And he just smiled. The nurses said that they would quickly clean her up so that we could see her and asked Keith if he wanted to cut the cord. He politely declined and stayed by my side. He’s not really into that stuff. Lol. And of course, once it set in that we had a baby girl, I looked at him and exclaimed that I could buy pink stuff now. His reply: “Yes, you can buy pink stuff now.” “Oooh, I can buy pink camo!” And this is where he started shaking his head. Lol.
Once they had her all dried off and measured, they brought her over to us so that we could see our baby girl for the first time. She’s GORGEOUS!! And her name is V. She has a full head of hair (and I do mean a full head of hair) and came in at 21 inches. We guessed her weight at around 6 lbs, but as they hadn’t weighed her yet, we’d have to wait and see. I couldn’t really hold her because I had one arm still strapped down (pre-cautionary measure during surgery, as were my legs), but I just awed over her, just amazed that we made this beautiful little girl that was all ours.
Once the nurses took her to get weighed and check her all over, Keith stayed with me to keep me distracted (still) while they finished putting me together like Humpty Dumpty. Lol. Once they were done, Keith went to the Nursery to check on V while they took me into Recovery to monitor me while everything was un-freezing. I was in Recovery for about an hour, just waiting for everything to un-freeze and with the nurses making sure that I was regaining full use of muscles and legs. And it was kind of weird, because my left leg was un-freezing slower than my right leg, but they said that was normal. Oh well.
Once everything was un-frozen, they took me to our room so that I could see Keith and V. When they had gotten me into our room, they asked me if I wanted to try to move over into the bed or have them move me. Seeing as I had movement/feeling back into my legs, I said that I’d try to move myself and the nurses said that they would help and watch me. Well, that ended up being a bad idea. I did manage to move myself into the bed (very slowly and painfully, mind you), but as soon as I got into the bed and barely settled, I had to ask for a puke basin. Yuck. Luckily I haven’t had anything to eat/drink since last night, but still. Apparently a spinal will make you quite queasy and puking. Great. They had me on water and clear liquids for today for this reason.
Once I had finally settled in the bed (and my stomach), Keith handed me V so that I could have some skin-to-skin time with her. So worth everything, including the pain. Keith says she has my face, especially my nose and cheeks. Lol. She is adorably cute though. J She comes in at 7 lbs 8 oz and 21”. I was going to try feeding her, but she was sound sleeping, so I just let her sleep on my chest while I rested from surgery. Around this time is also when the nausea starting kicking in quite a bit. I was quite thirsty and just sticking with water, but it just wasn’t staying down. Grrr… While V was sleeping on my chest, I rested and talked with Keith and sent out the mass text to everyone saying that V had made her entrance. And then I got a bit irked by the return text that my Dad had sent saying “Wow, it’s not worth a phone call to tell someone. Congratulations Jen.” Nothing about Keith at all. Felt quite hurt by that.
Later after I had a nap, we talked about letting the parents and grand-parents visit this evening as I was doing pretty good and V was still sleeping. So we called the parents and grandparents and let them know that they could visit us this evening. I still wasn’t feeling the greatest (throwing up-wise), but otherwise I was feeling OK. So the parents and grand-parents came to visit, which was a good distraction for me and Keith. After everyone left, V finally woke up fully and decided that she was hungry, so we started with the breast-feeding. She did pretty good (and apparently so did I), but my milk supply hadn’t come in yet, so she wasn’t getting very much, but at least she was getting the colostrum that she needed. And then we both decided to get some much needed sleep. Except for the nurses coming in about every hour to check on me and check her over as well, just to make sure that we were both doing OK. Keith wasn’t though. I guess my cold that I had had gotten to him and he was feeling pretty crappy by 1:30 in the morning, never mind with V wanting to feed a lot. So he ended up going home just before 2 am to boil himself in a nice hot tub and get some good sleep as I’d need him to help me tomorrow. Just before he left for home, I asked him to move V’s bassinet near my bed so that I could get to her when I needed to in the middle of the night, seeing as I was basically tied to the bed (stupid catheter). So he moved her closer to my bed and then went home to (hopefully) get better.
Night-time wasn’t too bad for us, except for the nurses coming in and out about every hour to check my blood pressure and temperature and to check her temperature as well and make sure that we were doing OK. She was being quite fussy during the night and so when I wasn’t trying to feed her, I was snuggling with her, just to comfort and reassure her that I was here. I ended up keeping her in my bed with me while we both slept as it was easier for me to get her for feeding. And I actually did manage to get some sleep, although I’m not sure how much. But at least we’re off to a good start.
Last preggo shot...
Me and my little girl
Hehehe. Too cute :)
Daddy and his little girl :)
Comments
Post a Comment