On Tuesday April 2nd, 2013…we had quite the day.I was scheduled to go for a visit at my OB ’soffice and likely be induced that evening, but they kept calling and changingthe time we needed to come in. So finally, I went to my OB ’soffice at about 1:30 to get checked while Kyle dropped Gus off at our friend’shouse nearby. As I suspected, I was still just a little over 1 cm dilated, sothe foley bulb was still a go. Since I knew they weren’t in a rush for me inL&D, I waited in the lobby for Kyle to get back
We got settled in our room and changed into the glamoroushospital gown, and I was hooked up to all of the monitors. Since I was Group BStrep positive, they started my antibiotic as well.
Around 6:00, my OB came byand checked all of my vitals and then got everything prepped. She placed thefoley bulb and gave us instructions for the evening, including that I could goahead and eat a full meal, which I was happy to hear because I did not want togo all night and most of the next day without eating. Labor and birth is aphysically taxing process, and doing it without fuel seemed awful. So Kyle wentacross the street and got us dinner and dessert from Cheesecake Factory!
At about 9:30, I was in the bathroom getting ready for bedwhen a nurse came in and the room phone simultaneously started ringing. Shesaid it was the doctor and for Kyle to answer the phone, and then she turned tome and asked, “When was the last time you ate?”.
I knew right then I was going to have to have a c-section.The only reason she would be concerned as to when I had last eaten was if I wasgoing to have to have some type of anesthesia. And anesthesia meant ac-section.
With my IV pole in hand, I got over to the bed where Kylewas on the phone with my doctor. I looked up at him and mouthed “C-Section?”,and he looked at my sympathetically and nodded yes. I put my head in my handsand started crying. I quickly tried to compose myself to talk to the doctorafter Kyle finished.
I took the phone and she said you know, we’ve been watchingyour strip (the contractions and baby’s heartrate), and in betweencontractions, everything looks gorgeous, but every time you have a contraction,his heart rate goes down. The concerning thing is that the contractions I washaving were very mild, and if the baby wasn’t handling these very well, therewas no way that he would handle the “real” labor contractions with Pitocin thatwould follow the next day. She said she was extremely surprised that this washappening because in the past weeks, his biophysical scans in the office tookno time at all because everything looked so healthy (plenty of amniotic fluid,healthy placenta, great movement from baby, etc.), and she had no reason tobelieve that he wouldn’t tolerate contractions…and is why she thought I wassuch a good candidate for the foley bulb.
After I got off of the phone, the charge nurse (my nurse washelping with another surgery) came in and put her arms around me and heldme…just like my mother would have done if she were there, and she just let mecry for a few minutes. Then she said, you know, this happens sometimes. Andthen she said probably the best thing that anyone could have said to me.
She said, you know what my birth plan is? I said, no. Shesaid, my plan is to help deliver babies that can read and write when they areyoung children. You see these dips in his heart rate? Every time that happens,he loses a little bit of oxygen. Have you ever seen little children and justthought, you know, something just isn’t right with that child? Well, I wouldalmost guarantee the problem is that that baby was deprived of oxygen duringlabor and delivery. I really respect your doctor and if she thinks that this isimportant enough to come in this late at night to perform the surgery, thenit’s something that definitely needs to be done.
Although my fears about having a c-section weren’tnecessarily diminished, it confirmed that delivering via c-section was in factthe best thing that we could do for our baby.
My doctor was in my room by about 10:00. She said that sheconsidered just taking the bulb out and letting me rest, and doing thec-section in the morning, but there were already several surgeries booked forthe morning, so we needed to do it that night.
The anesthesiologist came in afterwards and introducedhimself, and again, asked when the last time I ate was. He was a very nice,personable doctor and admitted that having the procedure so quickly after I’deaten wasn’t ideal, but that we could manage anything that came up during thesurgery.
Actually, it wasn’t the thought of being cut open thatscared me; it was primarily what my reactions to the drugs would be. I hadseveral women tell me that they were so loopy and disoriented during and aftertheir c-sections that they had to have people show them pictures just to jogtheir memory of their child’s birth. Being that I had eaten so close to thesurgery, I was really concerned about the level of medication they would haveto give me or if I would be vomiting all over the floor. About 30 minutesbefore we went back to the operating room, I was given this little 3 oz. drinkthat tasted like unsweetened limeade concentrate. It helped my stomach digestthe contents a little more quickly. And then they followed with a dose ofReglan directly into my IV. I did have a (normal) reaction to that…I startedgetting hot and sweating profusely. Kyle grabbed a piece of paper and startedfanning me. It was then that I started getting really nervous.
Soon after 11:00, the nurse walked us back to the OR. Theyhad Kyle sit outside in the hallway until I was prepped and they were ready forhim. I sat up on the table…and I was shaking. The anesthesiologist came overwith his kit and asked if I was shaking because I was nervous, and I said yes.Trying to reassure me, he said there’s nothing to be nervous about! The nursesaid, you’re nervous about the unknown, right? I said yes. The anesthesiologistsaid, oh this is quick. You’ll be holding your baby in no time. That statementactually made me feel better.
The nurse helped me roll my back over to give the doctoraccess to my spine, and he said okay, this is the worst part (the numbing). Andit did burn, but after that, I didn’t feel a thing…just my legs getting warmand heavy. They laid me on my back and finished prepping me. Not too long afterthat, Kyle came in with his scrubs on. I have to admit, he looked rather cutein his scrubs ; ) Then the actual surgery began. We smelled a burning scent,and Kyle asked “What’s that smell?”. The anesthesiologist said, “you don’t wantto know”. I knew exactly what it was…it was my skin/blood vessels beingcauterized as I was being cut open, but I wasn’t about to tell Kyle that.
At 11:28 p.m., my OB heldup over the drape one of the longest babies I had ever seen. And he cried. Nota fussy newborn cry. A deep, strong, “I’m here to conquer the world” kind ofcry. It was beautiful. Carson Ross Blair was here.
They had Kyle go over to the warming bassinet where thetransition nurse was going over the baby’s vitals and doing her assessments.When she did the Apgar, she noted that he was a 9/10…and of course Kyle asked,“well why isn’t he a 10?”. Apparently she gave him a perturbed look and let himknow that 10’s are rare, and that
Kyle kept walking back and forth in between the baby and me,giving me updates. Finally, he was able to bring Carson over to me. He was a perfectlycontent, little bright-eyed bundle. Kyle put Carson ’s face up to mine, and I’m not surethat I’ll ever forget that first feeling of his soft skin and warm breath on myface. The anesthesiologist played photographer for us.
It took about 20 minutes for them to finish putting me backtogether, and while doing so, my OB told me that the baby had still been veryhigh in my uterus and that his umbilical cord was loosely wrapped around hisneck once, so even if he had tolerated the contractions, I would have likelyhad a very long, hard labor, and possibly ended up in the OR anyway.
I was finally wheeled to the post-op recovery area. The only side-effect I had from the anesthesia was that the top half of my body was shaking really badly. The same thing happened when I had knee surgery. Because of that,I couldn’t hold Carson right away, but I did get to relish in watching Kyle look over into thebassinet and talk to him. It was a sweet moment. Finally, I stopped shivering enough that I felt comfortable holding him. He was perfect…and acting hungry.So, I figured it was as good of a time as any to give breastfeeding a try. I’ll be darned if he didn’t latch immediately! He didn’t eat much or well, but it made me feel awesome that despite being brought into the world unnaturally andbeing away from me for quite some time, that he knew what to do.
The transition nurse came back to finish her work withCarson…vitamin K shot, blood sugar check, etc. Then we were all wheeled off toour room on the post-partum floor. Apparently we had one of the nicer, bigger rooms. Kyle was just excited that they sofa turned into a twin-sized bed and that he wasn’t going to have to sleep in a chair.
There’s much more to this story, but I’ll save it foranother time.
*I apologize for any spelling, grammatical, or formatting errors. I did the best I could in between marathon feeding sessions, laundry, and snuggling my baby.
*I apologize for any spelling, grammatical, or formatting errors. I did the best I could in between marathon feeding sessions, laundry, and snuggling my baby.
