The Big Day:
The alarm went off at 4:30 and I got up and showered. We were out the door by 5:30 and we stopped at McDonalds on the way so Tom could get breakfast (I was on the 12 hour no food diet). On the way to the hospital a car almost hit us. Tom was so mad. I told him not to ruin the most exciting day of our life with anger (heehee, I am good like that). We pulled up at the hospital and the parking lot seemed deserted. I posed for a final pic outside.
Then, when we got to the hospital, they did some blood work and urine tests. Unfortunately, my blood pressure was high again and there was protein in my urine so the nurse said I might not get to go to the postpartum unit after my delivery. I was really upset at that because I had toured the postpartum unit, my mom worked in it, and she was scheduled to be my nurse that night. They hooked my up to some IVs and equipment to monitor the baby. I was having some contractions which seemed to suddenly have gotten stronger. I wondered if maybe I would actually go into labor after all? Tom had to get dressed up in the hospital gear which we called his smurf suit.
My mom came in to say hi. She had some classes she had to take at the hospital that day so she couldn’t stick around but we were instructed to call her cell right after the delivery. You are only allowed once person in the special c-section delivery room anyway. At this point, I was not really that nervous, just excited. Then, they wheeled me into the operating room. Tom had to wait in the hallway while they prepped me. This is when I got scared. The anesthesiologist had me sit on the edge of the table while he got ready to do the spinal. It took him awhile because he had difficulty getting it in my spine. I was getting more and more scared without Tom there. Then they laid me back on the table and put a drape up so I couldn’t see what they were doing to my stomach. Dr. Russell came in and the staff did a “Time Out” where they asked me my name and why I was there and then they each repeated it. Very odd. Tom came in then and sat next to my head. Suddenly, right when Dr. Russell was beginning the surgery, I started feeling very nauseated. I really thought I was going to throw up and I started panicking. Then I found it very difficult to breathe so I started repeating over and over that I couldn’t breathe and I was going to throw up. It scared Tom a bit and he kept saying to the anesthesiologist “she is having trouble breathing.” That was seriously one of the scariest moments in my life. But then Dr. *Forgot Name* injected me with some drugs and I felt much, much better. Apparently, my blood pressure had dropped suddenly due to the spinal and that causes nausea. Anyway, I felt a lot of tugging going on in me. Dr. Russell said that the baby was really big and that there was no way I would have delivered naturally due to how she was placed. I also remember him saying that the placenta was very large. Suddenly, after a very big tug, Ellie was out. The doctor told Tom to take a picture and OUR DIGITAL CAMERA RAN OUT OF BATTERIES!!! Luckily, we had a cheap old disposable that we used. I was so frustrated because I wanted to see Ellie, but they took her to a part of the room where I couldn’t see and started cleaning her up and suctioning her. At this point, I still hadn’t seen her so I kept asking Tom how she was and what she looked like. I just felt so, so, so happy. And when she started crying, words cannot even describe… What seemed like forever later, they brought her to me for a quick family photo. Ok, when they first handed her to me, I was a little loopy from the drugs. I was on my back holding her and they were going to take a picture so I LET GO OF MY NEWBORN so I could take of my glasses! Tom and the anesthesiologist dived in and grabbed Ellie before she rolled right off me. We did get the family photo, though, sans glasses.
Then Tom and the baby were off to the nursery and I was wheeled away to recovery. I was in recovery for a little over an hour. I used that time to call my Dad in
My recovery at the hospital was pretty uneventful. My mom was my nurse the first night and I was so thankful to have her there. I thought it might be weird having my mom checking my hoo-ha, but it wasn’t at all. She took excellent care of me. Because I was at her workplace, I wanted to make sure I did her proud. I made a point to be very friendly to all the staff and to not complain. I also followed my mom’s advice to start walking as soon as possible and to not hunch over.
Ellie was like a little mystery to me at this point. I was so unsure what to do. Since it was difficult for me to move around, Tom handled all of the diaper changing while we were at the hospital. We also put Ellie in the nursery at night so we could get some sleep, but they brought her to me every 2 hours to nurse. If it was more then two hours, I would lug myself out of bed and go get her because I had it in my mind that my child would starve to death if I didn’t nurse her right at the two hour mark!
