Birth Story/Hospital Stay Part 1

Day before C-section (7/14/16)

Remember when I wrote that I felt totally unprepared for a baby? Well after finishing up work I then rushed around the house cleaning a bit, putting together the pack n play, and washing some more clothes. Just doing that really helped me feel a bit better about Wes' arrival the next day. We decided to go out to dinner and ice cream as our last night as a family of three; unfortunately Izzy drank way too much water at dinner and peed her car seat heading home for the first time (great timing!). After she went to bed I headed to Target to buy diapers and pack n play sheets. I also packed my hospital bag, wrote an email to my mom about Izzy's schedule and we finally hit the sheets at midnight.

C-section day (7/15/16)

CP and I were up early and both helped Izzy to get ready for school. We asked her what she wanted to name her baby brother- her answer "poopy butt!" (Her go-to answer these days.) As we headed into the hospital, we were even more relaxed than last time. We arrived to find that the OR was running behind and we would have to wait. No biggie but I'm certainly glad that this didn't happen with Izzy!

Once I am in the OR the numbing agent hurt more than I remember but the spinal block quickly flooded my legs. I got nauseous quickly- just like last time- but knew it would happen and the doctors were quick to push medicine to make me feel better into my iv. The surgery started around 10:20 and CP came into the room.

Wesley was born at 11:10am weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces- same as Izzy! But instead of her beautiful cry, he made more of a gurgling sound and had to be suctioned A LOT. I started crying in relief once he was out. Finally CP got to hold him and Wes gurgled/cried most of the time. Unlike last time when the anesthesiologist made conversation to keep my anxiety down, the anesthesiologist this time was silent and boring.

With Izzy the fast part was getting her out and the longer part of the surgery was stitching me back up. Just getting Wes out took the doctors almost an hour and it would take them over an hour more to get me closed up. I had lots of scar tissue from the previous c-section that my doctors had to remove, along with bladder adhesions (my doctor didn't touch these because it would just come back with this surgery anyway) and lots of blood loss. Because of the scar tissue from the first c-section, my doctor decided that she needed to cut a different, thicker part of my uterus for the surgery so that is part of the reason the surgery took so long- it required the doctors cutting through more layers and stitching back up more layers. Towards the end of the surgery, I definitely started to feel more of what they were doing but kept thinking that it would be over soon so I didn't say anything.

Over two hours later, surgery was finally over. I didn't have as much teeth chattering and shaking as with Izzy which was a nice change. Before I was wheeled out of the room, my doctor came over and told me that the surgery "was complicated." I was then moved to the recovery room where my parents could come in to meet Wes! He was sleepy after all of that crying in the OR so he wasn't really interested in nursing. My sister and brother in law were able to get a few pictures with Wes before he was put under the warming lamp because his temperature was a bit low. I had to kick my sister and BIL out after a while because I was exhausted from a tough surgery. My doctor also had to give me a medication in my butt because I think that they were worried about my bleeding? (It's a little hazy now) Finally Wes went to get cleaned up in the nursery and I headed up to my room.

Unfortunately, the NICU team came in with Wes quickly to tell us that his oxygen levels were low so they were going to run some tests. He got an Xray to see if he had fluid in his lungs which was negative. Since Wes wasn't around to breastfeed I asked for a breast pump and surprisingly, I was able to pump 10 ml the first time! I then start to pump every three hours to try to get my milk to come in as soon as possible. I also got compression boots to try to manage the fluid in my legs (and to prevent blood clots).

That afternoon my parents stopped by with Izzy and she looked sad and confused that when she came into the room. "Why you in bed Mommy?" Her mood quickly turned around when we told her that she had gifts from her baby brother Wes. Siblings with all of their vaccinations are allowed into the NICU so CP took Izzy down to meet Wes. I guess she held his hand and sang him "Happy Birthday." (I so wish I had seen this). After about five minutes she was bored.

That night I wanted to see Wes, so a day earlier than usual, I got out of bed and into a wheelchair in order to head down to the NICU around 8pm. I got some skin to skin time and Wes curled up on me. Unfortunately, his breathing was rather rapid the entire time- it was obvious that he was working very hard. His O2 (oxygen) level started at 60% (you want it as close to 100% as possible) when he got to the NICU and had decreased to 43% despite Wes being on a cannula (the tube up his nose). He also had a feeding tube down his nose since they didn't want to give him bottles or boobs while he was working so hard to breathe.

Finally at 10pm I was exhausted and headed upstairs. Every three hours I would wake up CP to get the pump supplies ready, pump, then have CP clean the parts, call the nurses station to have them take the milk down to the NICU (at this point I had very little), then go back to sleep. This repeated all night long.

To be continued...