They called the anesthesiologist back in and he upped my dose so I really didn't feel anything below the waist. Then they gave me some anti-nausea meds which I promptly threw up all over myself. By this time I was shaking. Badly. Really badly. Apparently it's normal but it freaked me out more than anything else. My arms actually got sore because they were shaking so hard. But everyone around me was calm and I just tried to relax.
I couldn't see what was going on and I didn't feel anything when they took her out except I suddenly felt much lighter. She was born on May 31st at 3:03am. I heard her cry and the doctor said, "She's beautiful!" I figured they told everybody this but a few moments later they showed me a gorgeous, freshly cleaned baby all wrapped up in a cloth and with a cap on and I knew it was true. I couldn't hold her yet but the nurse held her to my face and I kissed her a dozen times. I was in love immediately and completely.
My family had been out in the waiting room for at least twelve hours. Apparently my mom got very upset that I was having a C-section. I found out later that the doctor went and talked to them and said it was because the baby's brains were too big. When the nurse brought my daughter out to them and said that her name was Lily (we kept her name a secret the whole time) my mom cried because we named her after her beloved mother Lillian who passed away a few years ago.
I had to wait in the recovery area after they sewed me up and I chatted with the nurses and anesthesiologist. I suspect I wasn't very coherent at that point. They brought Lily to me to nurse but she chose that moment for her first poop, the details of which I will refrain from describing. Moments after they took her away to be changed the nurses started running around frantically like ants whose hill has just been stepped on. I could sense that there was some emergency and heard them call for my doctor but I couldn't figure out what was going on. I was scared that something was wrong with Lily but they brought in a woman who was in labor and had her on her elbows and knees on the gurney. I felt guilty about being relieved because she was clearly in distress and finally just threw a sheet over my head so I couldn't watch.
The amazing thing was, my doctor came in and even though it was about 5 in the morning and she'd been up all night with me she was completely poised. I heard her talking to the nurses calmly and could feel the energy in the air mellow out quickly. She assessed the situatioin and I was in the recovery area until she performed an emergency C-section on the woman and saw that everyone was fine.
It's funny, I don't think I've ever really appreciated the work that doctors and nurses do until that day. I'm grateful for what they did for me, my baby and the unknown woman and child they rescued that day. Come to think of it, Lily and I should pay those guys a visit with some chocolate chip cookies...
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Miracle of Birth part 1
And now for the story of Lily's birth...
On Memorial Day I woke up at my usual time (7am) and took a shower. When I got out I noticed I was still dripping wet no matter how much I toweled off. Yup, you guessed it... my water broke.
I woke up Jeff and we were out the door and at the hospital by 8am. They checked us in, tested me and said I was definitely in labor. The funny thing was that I didn't feel any contractions. They put the sensor on me and the monitor showed my contractions but I didn't feel anything.
Hours passed. I ate. I watched soccer with Jeff. I watched my long-planned-for birth movie Undercover Brother (I figured I'd laugh so hard that she would just pop out.) My parents visited in the afternoon and then hung out in the waiting room. I texted my sisters and waited waited waited...
I started to question whether I really needed an epidural because they checked my dilation a few times and I was progressing but still not feeling contractions. Eventually I started to feel pretty uncomfortable and decided to get the epidural after all. Within minutes the anesthesiologist was there explaining the procedure to me. He made it sound very complicated but all I felt was them numbing my back and that was it. I felt better pretty quick.
Not long after that the nurses came in to do some practice pushing. I didn't realize they did that but whatever. Breathe breathe breathe push push push... Okay, seems simple enough.
An hour or two later I told the nurses I was feeling nauseous and they all came in with their equipment and had me pushing again. I thought it was more practice but eventually figured out that it was the real thing. The head nurse was really really loud when she counted to ten and could be heard down the hall. I pushed and pushed for a while and the nurses came and went. Eventually it was just Jeff and one nurse and he was the one counting so loud my family could hear him in the waiting room. He was great, I thought he would be hanging out by my head and wiping my sweaty forehead down (a "Northerner" is what this was called in our birth class) but he has apparently watched enough CSI to not be bothered so he hung out by my legs and watched everything (a "Southerner"). It was about midnight at this point and I kept falling asleep between pushes.
Finally, the doctor came and explained that it's taking a while and the baby wasn't getting past my pelvic bone. She said that if she didn't move past it soon they may have to do a C-section. I had refused to even consider this a possibility during my pregnancy (my mom told me she would just fall out like her children did) and was scared - I've never had any kind of operation before. So I pushed with all my might for almost two more hours and - nothing. So my doctor made the call for the C-section.
On Memorial Day I woke up at my usual time (7am) and took a shower. When I got out I noticed I was still dripping wet no matter how much I toweled off. Yup, you guessed it... my water broke.
I woke up Jeff and we were out the door and at the hospital by 8am. They checked us in, tested me and said I was definitely in labor. The funny thing was that I didn't feel any contractions. They put the sensor on me and the monitor showed my contractions but I didn't feel anything.
Hours passed. I ate. I watched soccer with Jeff. I watched my long-planned-for birth movie Undercover Brother (I figured I'd laugh so hard that she would just pop out.) My parents visited in the afternoon and then hung out in the waiting room. I texted my sisters and waited waited waited...
I started to question whether I really needed an epidural because they checked my dilation a few times and I was progressing but still not feeling contractions. Eventually I started to feel pretty uncomfortable and decided to get the epidural after all. Within minutes the anesthesiologist was there explaining the procedure to me. He made it sound very complicated but all I felt was them numbing my back and that was it. I felt better pretty quick.
Not long after that the nurses came in to do some practice pushing. I didn't realize they did that but whatever. Breathe breathe breathe push push push... Okay, seems simple enough.
An hour or two later I told the nurses I was feeling nauseous and they all came in with their equipment and had me pushing again. I thought it was more practice but eventually figured out that it was the real thing. The head nurse was really really loud when she counted to ten and could be heard down the hall. I pushed and pushed for a while and the nurses came and went. Eventually it was just Jeff and one nurse and he was the one counting so loud my family could hear him in the waiting room. He was great, I thought he would be hanging out by my head and wiping my sweaty forehead down (a "Northerner" is what this was called in our birth class) but he has apparently watched enough CSI to not be bothered so he hung out by my legs and watched everything (a "Southerner"). It was about midnight at this point and I kept falling asleep between pushes.
Finally, the doctor came and explained that it's taking a while and the baby wasn't getting past my pelvic bone. She said that if she didn't move past it soon they may have to do a C-section. I had refused to even consider this a possibility during my pregnancy (my mom told me she would just fall out like her children did) and was scared - I've never had any kind of operation before. So I pushed with all my might for almost two more hours and - nothing. So my doctor made the call for the C-section.
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