Baby Joe's Birth Story Part Three

Baby Joe's birth story is a long one, so I'm going to break it up into parts. If there are crazy misspellings or words that just plain don't make sense, forgive me- I'm a new mommy!

You can read Part One here and Part Two here.

Part Three

The anesthesiologist soon came in to ask me a bunch of questions. The nurse came in and gave me a nasty drink for my stomach. She said to pretend it was a margarita. That didn’t help! I had mom take one last picture of Ryan and me and soon I was wheeled off to surgery at 8:30 a.m. while Ryan went to wash up and get some O.R. scrubs on.

I was surprisingly calm. Perhaps because everything was happening so quickly I didn’t have time to be scared. I went somewhat emotionally numb and thought of being wheeled to surgery as something as routine as going to ultrasound or to the lab.

However when I got into the actual O.R. I got nervous. There were people already there waiting for me and I couldn’t tell who they were since they were all in scrubs and face masks. My doctor was in there and it just felt awkward that everyone was there waiting around just for me. I was transferred to the operating table and had to sit on the edge while the anesthesiologist administered the spinal block. He said it would feel like a bee sting when the needle entered my back. It hurt, but wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Then the strange feelings started. I felt a zinging sting shoot in my private region and I let out a little shout. “Where do you feel that?” he asked. I think I said, “In my crotch!” Sigh… face palm! I can’t believe I had said that out loud! Then the shooting feeling went down my right leg and then my left. They laid me down and I waited for Ryan. I looked down at my feet and tried to move them. It was the weirdest feeling. My brain was convinced that I could move my toes but they weren’t budging.

Soon Ryan came by my side. They put up the blue curtain at my chest and gave me oxygen and put some heart monitors on my chest. Then I heard someone say they were scraping sharp objects on my belly. I didn’t feel a thing. Before I knew it they were warning me that I’d feel a bunch of pressure (which I didn’t) and then I heard the nurses say “Here he is!” at 8;52 a.m. and I heard his little cry. Tears filled my eyes and dripped down my face. Ryan left my side to go see our son as they worked on putting me back together. He got to cut the cord, which made me so happy that he got that experience. I heard the nurses say “Keep crying, keep crying!” to our baby. I didn’t have a chance to get too worried because I started getting the shakes and they put a warm blanket around me. The nurses kept saying, “Hi little peanut!” and my doctor said, “That ain’t no peanut- that’s a Brazilian nut!”

Then the moment I had waited 9 months for had finally arrived. The nurse brought my son over to me and I got to gaze upon him for the first time. My first thought was, “Oh my goodness, he’s so cute!” He was perfect in every way. Then he was whisked away to my hospital room and Ryan went with him. I was still being stitched up when the nausea hit. A nurse held a bowl next to my head and I threw up- a lot.

I was finally wheeled out of the O.R. and back to my room. My parents and Ryan’s parents got to see Joe for a few minutes while they weighed him and did his footprints. They were leaving the room as I was wheeled in. Now, even though I was pretty upset that I had to have a c-section, I have to thank God that the hospital I was in is very pro-mother, pro breastfeeding and stresses the importance of bonding. Some hospitals won’t let the mother see or hold her baby for an hour after her surgery. Not this hospital. I didn’t have to go to a recovery room- I recovered in my own hospital room. No visitors were allowed- it was just Ryan, Joe and me. I got to hold my son minutes after I was wheeled back into my room.

It was an amazing feeling to hold Joe for the first time. I had imagined what he was going to look like and he was much more handsome than I ever envisioned him to be. Here was this new little person who I had never seen before, but I was so in love. It’s like I had known him forever.

Another blessing with this hospital is they stress the importance of breastfeeding. It was less than an hour after he was born that I breastfed him for the first time. I was a little nervous since everywhere I had read stated how it can be a great challenge to breastfeed for the first time. The nurse also warned me it may be even harder for me since I had a c-section and because the mag that was pumped into me was in Joe’s system as well, which makes him really sleepy. But for all the challenges I had gone through, breastfeeding actually came pretty easy for Joe and I. It took a couple tries to get a good latch-on, but he picked it up fairly quickly. It was such a natural relaxing feeling to feed my son with my own body.

Ryan and I spent the rest of the hour holding our son. We were quiet, tired, and beyond happy. The nurse took our first family photos.

Before I knew it, my hour of recovery time was up. My mom came in to keep us company. That’s when the nurses came with my first meal. Of course it was just popsicles, broth and jello, but since this was Thursday and I hadn’t eaten anything since Tuesday afternoon, I was grateful for any kind of food! I ate part of my orange popsicle and I guess my stomach couldn’t handle that because I vomited everywhere. It was pure orange liquid. It got all over me, but I was so tired and out of it with the pain pills that I didn’t even really care.

The nurses gave me a new gown and cleaned me up. The magnesium I was on had pretty much stopped my bowels from working so I wasn’t quite ready for food yet.

After that ordeal I was so dead tired. I just wanted to sleep but then the breast feeding consultant came in. She was right on time because Joe was ready to eat again. I, however, was NOT wanting to breastfeed at that time. I was falling asleep in the middle of sentences. I asked her if she could please come back later. She reminded me how important it was to nurse frequently to get a good start. I suddenly got a surge of adrenaline and sat up to feed Joe. The consultant showed me all the different nursing positions and made sure he was latched on well. She also showed me how to express colostrum to rub on his lips to get him to feed. The consultant didn’t have to stay long because Joe latched on well and was feeding perfectly.

I finally got a good long nap in while Ryan introduced Joe to his grandparents. The rest of the day was filled with visiting, lots of picture taking, and holding our bundle of joy. It was the day that forever changed my life and I was still in shock that it had come so soon!

I was so happy and content. But then I faced a new challenge- my very dangerously high blood pressure that stubbornly refused to go down.