After my first was born, I wrote up the birthing experience more for her sake than for my remembrance. I would be remiss if I didn't do it for this baby too.It's been two weeks now since Nicole was born. She's such a good baby! I just can't even believe it's been 2 weeks already but I can't imagine my life without her already. She's just so special!
So...the delivery...
Let's see. Tuesday the 17th I woke up and knew something was different in my body. I felt crampy and somehow more tired. I could tell labor was coming. I didn't have much going on that day so I did a few things around the house but around noon, started craving tamales. So I spent the afternoon making a big batch of them. It was a good thing because they fed us and many relatives for about a week after I was out of the hospital. And I love me some tamales!
I thought I might end up in the hospital Tuesday night which would have been okay. My mom came that afternoon to watch Natalie so we had that covered. But, it didn't happen. I didn't sleep well though and spent most of the night tossing and turning with nightmares. I was pretty worried about the surgery. I'd even had my brother-in-law come and give me a blessing a week prior to the surgery just to help calm my nerves. After the blessing I did feel better but I was still pretty nervous.
Todd and I got up at 4:30 the morning of the surgery and left the house at 5:15 AM and checked into the hospital at 5:30 while it was still dark. It was very cold and there was ice still on the ground. I remember because I was worried I would slip getting into the hospital since I was wearing my Crocks because they were the only shoes that fit over my "Flintstone Feet" which is what Todd was down to calling them at this point.
By this time, I could definitely tell I was in the early parts of labor and my contractions were coming ever 5 minutes and while they weren't killing me, they made me stop and take deep breaths for a second until they passed. We went into a recovery room where I changed into a gown and laid on the bed to be connected to all of the monitors. Sure enough, the contractions were registering nicely on the monitor and the baby was looking good too. We were in that recovery room for about an hour until it was time to go get the spinal anesthesia.
I walked down the hall into a large operating room that was very cold. It was full of nurses and there was a long table in the middle of the room where they directed me to sit. I'd been so hot for so long that it felt sort of good to be in such a cold room. I sat down on the table and the anesthesiologist came in and started explaining what she was going to do and how it would feel. There was a nurse that sort of freaked me out because she said she'd be right there with me the whole time and she stood right in front of me and took both of my hands, as if I was going to need a whole lot of moral support. The thing was, they didn't let Todd come in that room for some reason and it would have been very nice to have him there instead of that freaky nurse.
Anyway the anesthesiologist told me that I would feel a sort of pinch but if I felt like a sharp shocking feeling go up and down one side then I needed to tell her right away. That scared me. The whole thing was pretty awful - the coldness, the anticipation, the lack of anyone I actually know to be there with me. Finally I felt the shot and it hurt quite a bit less than I thought it would and it was over before I knew it. Before I even laid down my legs were going numb.
They laid me down and I was paralyzed before I even knew it! And it was the strangest feeling. I've had an epidural before but this was nothing like that! I was paralyzed from my diaphragm all the way to my toes and breathing was difficult - like I had to be conscious of my expiration every single time. It was terrible!
My anesthesiologist was awesome! I started to have the weirdest panic attack and crying and stuff. I was panicking about breathing, and felt suffocated and claustrophobic. She just kept dabbing my forehead with a cold cloth and talking to me and it helped calm me down so much. I was so grateful to her. I've never been so scared in my whole life!
The doctor allowed Todd to videotape the whole surgery but he said the angle wasn't great. He did get most of the surgery. I felt a lot of pressure during the surgery as they were pushing my uterus down and pulling out the baby. I guess my water broke in a gust, sort of like a geyser and everyone laughed. Todd said he got it on video (I haven't watched it yet). Then, I saw them pull the baby out and they showed her to me. She looked bigger than I would have imagined but maybe I was just really out of it. It took a long time for them to sew me up and it was very uncomfortable because they kept pushing on my belly and I could just feel this really heavy pressure and I couldn't wait for it to be done.
I don't know what happened then but they must have given something to me to knock me out. Todd said I was out for about an hour during which time they bathed and dressed Nicole and who knows what else. They brought her to me in the recovery room just like they did Natalie. We had no trouble with breastfeeding and she latched on really good right away. We were in the recovery room for a long time, I remember. I guess they were monitoring my vitals and wanted to make sure I was okay before letting me go to my room.
With my catheter, I started dumping fluids almost immediately. I asked for a water retention pill and it helped me get rid of tons of water within the first day or two. I immediately felt lighter and in the three days I was in the hospital, the swelling in my ankles and feet went down so much and it felt so much better!
Nicole was slightly jaundice but not so much that they wanted to put her under the lights. We had to just monitor her during our stay. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz when she was born and within the first couple of days had lost several oz and was down to 6 lbs 18 oz (?) before we left.
She slept pretty good in the hospital which was good because for two of the three nights we were there, I was alone with her in my room all night. Natalie was sick and Todd wanted to be home with her so we let my mom go home so he could be with her. We did great though. Nicole was a great baby from the day she was born and didn't give me much trouble those nights.
Lakeview Hospital was a fantastic place to deliver as I fully expected! During the time we were there, I think there were ony 3 or 4 other deliveries so we got really good care. The nurses were so attentive and very friendly. I was so grateful to them; they made my visit almost like a holiday!
All in all, this delivery was leagues better than my first one. My expectations were high for disaster but everything turned out so much better than I had even hoped. I'm so happy that it's done now and my beautiful baby girl is an angel. I'm so lucky!
In the recovery room
