Boy, it's only taken me
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I'll start back on March 1st -
My cesarean was scheduled for 10:30 on Friday, March 1st. Everything is routine by now-- We showed up at 8:30 (last time we had to be at the hospital at 5, so this was great!), I was hooked up to all the monitors, the nurse asked a million mandatory health questions, and after two hours we took the elevator up (or down, I have no idea!) to the operating room.
The OR always creeps me out. Who in their right mind would willingly walk themselves into a room where they will be cut open and in pain for weeks? (Ooh, ooh, pick me! Pick me!) I always want to play "Eye of the Tiger" or "Another One Bites the Dust" as I walk in.
While waiting for everything to begin, I did my best to not look around the cold, sterile room. Last time, I started checking things out and discovered the "tool tray" and a million other things I'd rather be ignorant about.
At 10:30 on the dot, I got the spinal, they strapped me down (Why?? It's not like I'm going to try to jump up or anything!), the curtain went up, John came in, and a little baby Bethany was born.
This was actually the first surgery that I have been able to see the "heat lamp" area from my bed. I could tell right away that a girl was different when I heard her cry from the table and all I wanted to do was jump up and comfort her... the boys' crying never bothered me - it makes them tough!
One of the sweetest moments was after B was all wrapped up. She was not happy. John brought her over and put her by my face and she calmed down almost immediately. I was smitten. :-)
{ Warning: medical talk ahead -- }
Apparently the placenta was slightly attached to my uterus so my doctor had to take the placenta out in pieces. The time spent on the table after Bethy was born felt like an eternity and John said they sucked out a lot of blood in the process.
I was a tad concerned about the implications of what happened, but in my 2 week post-op appointment my doctor assured me that it's not unusual. He also said that in future pregnancies they'd be able to look at ultrasounds to see if I'd need extra attention during surgery. { Very worst case scenario - I'd need to have the cesarean at UW and if I were to start hemorrhaging uncontrollably, I'd get a hysterectomy... No biggie, ha ha! But really, chances of that are very, very slim. ;-) }
Sweet Baby Bethy was 7lbs, 5 oz and 18.5" long. She didn't have as much hair as the boys, but at least she had hair! I had this weird fear through the entire pregnancy that my girl would be a bald, fat baby. (Of course, I would love her... the boys would just make fun of her all her life!)
After I was all emptied out and stitched up, we headed into the post-op room for an hour or two then into my recovery room.
The next few hours were horrible. Usually, I feel fine and awake after surgery. This time, because I lost so much blood, I was dead. (Not literally. That could be taken wrong in this situation!) I could barely keep my eyes open let alone be alert and happy to see our visitors. Thankfully, they were only there to see the baby!
After the flood of family left, I started throwing up every half hour or so. OUCH. OW. OW. OW. There are not enough drugs in the world to cover up that pain!
The nurses helped with some anti-nausea meds and I think I slept for the rest of the evening.
My first nurse was kind of a jerk about not letting us fall asleep while holding the baby. I get it, but come on! The nurses after her were totally cool about it and even encouraged Bethy to sleep with me at night.
Speaking of night, we decided to have John go home to sleep because poor Hugo was neglected all day and I had plenty of help at the hospital. Let's be honest, those plastic couches aren't that comfortable either! If I could do it over again, I would have John stay with me the first night because I was still chained to the bed and needed lots of help from the nurses. I hate bugging them, but I did!
My nurse both nights at the hospital was a sweet older Asian lady who I could barely understand. At first, I was kind of irritated that we couldn't communicate well. I was also irritated that she would wait for me to ask for pain meds - as though 14 hours after my surgery I might want to skip a dosage! But, over the next couple nights I grew to love her. She helped so much with swaddling and changing Bethy and making sure I was comfortable those nights John was gone.
I didn't get out of bed and unhooked from everything until 4am the next morning. I know, poor timing. But I was awake anyway! I was also very thankful to get that part out of the way because my next nurse was a man. Super great, nice guy... but that would have made my least favorite part of the process even more awkward!
The entire weekend at the hospital was kind of a blur. I didn't get pictures of all our visitors, but here are a few:
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| Big brother James |
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| Big brother Nate (and Great-Grandma Ford) |
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| Cousin Kenley (and Dannie's hand!) |
My sister Tonia also drove up on Friday. It especially meant a lot that she was there because she had to leave early and could only see the baby for a few minutes.
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| Bethy meeting 2 month old Baby Shepherd |
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| Gracen - I have lots of pictures of Gracen holding B. She sure does love those babies! |
My parents took James and Nate Thursday-Monday and John's mom took the boys Monday-Friday. {We have rock-star parents!} Normally I would try to stay at the hospital as long as possible, but since the house was empty, we decided to go home Sunday afternoon.
Man, we did NOT realize what a hassle that would be! Everyone and their sister decided to go into labor Saturday night and Sunday - leaving the doctors and nurses BUSY. Bethy was cleared to go home in the morning then we literally sat and waited all day for the on-call doctor to clear me. I'm not sure how many episodes of Pawn Stars we watched that day, but it was ridiculous.
Finally, around 7:30pm - right in the middle of shift changes and chaos, we were free to leave.
Baby girl made this bizarre face the entire time we walked from our room to the car. Looks like a weirdo!
First car ride - First to Walgreens for some much needed Percocet or Vicodin or something, then home... where all the fun begins!
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