we arrived to the hospital on 10/10 at 8 a.m. with my c-section being scheduled for 10 a.m. i got all checked in to l&d, and after 4 attempts, the anesthesiologist got my iv in (apparently after fluid restriction for 8 hours, it made me pretty dehydrated and my veins were roly poly). my in laws and kids both came in to see me off to surgery, and we headed for the or a little after 10. one of the girls i was hired at the same time in with nicu came in and told me she was floating to ob and was going to be my baby’s nurse in the or, which was pretty cool!
once they wheeled me into the or (steve had to stay behind until my spinal was started) that is when i started getting very nervous. i couldn’t help it – tears started flowing. i was so afraid of something going wrong. with my history…i just don’t see how i could have helped myself. they did my spinal, gave me zofran which kept me from getting sick, then steve came in. before i knew it the curtain was up and they were beginning. he held my hand and took a lot of great pictures. i asked the doc to walk me through what he was doing…i wanted to know when he saw the baby’s head. before i knew it he came out screaming his little head off! the doc brought him around the curtain and held him up for me to see…all i could do was thank god that i could hear my baby crying…and boy did he cry. he didn’t stop for 30 minutes!! lol both steve and i were pretty emotional and it will be a moment in my life that i will never, ever forget.
ashtyn was born at 10:45, he weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 ½ inches long and is beautiful! i couldn’t stop crying…i was just so happy to hear him and see he was ok. of course they were teasing me in the middle of the surgery – i kept asking the respiratory therapist and baby nurse what his apgars were, how his palate was, his sats, if they were done w/cpap, etc. they said leave it to a nicu nurse to ask such questions while still on the or table…lol. ashtyn was having some tachypnea (high respiratory rate) at first and they had to give him mask cpap right away, but he was still able to come to my room. about 3 hours later they decided that since it hadn’t resolved he had best go to the nicu for observation. of course i was really upset, but knew it was for the best. fortunately, it resolved within a few hours…but he was kept overnight until his pedi saw him at 8:00 the next morning. i went over and nursed him every 3 hours, and he did great – and came back to our room for the rest of the hospital stay.
within 48 hours we were discharged and on our way home. his pedi knew he was in good hands because of my experience and that i knew what to look for if we were running into problems. i am recovering wonderfully from the c-section and my milk came in today. feedings are going great…he has quite the appetite. daddy and i are absolutely in love with him, and i’m so glad we had this baby together!
thank you god for this perfect pregnancy and little miracle.
question: we have a photo session scheduled in our home tomorrow for baby and they forgot to remove his umbilical clamp before we left. is there something we can use to improvise to remove it safely at home? i really don't want to drive back down to the hospital (and we are doing nakey photos) so i don't want that showing on his belly.... edit....oops, we got it! forgot about no medical advice... =d
