A Baby Story

** For the record, I started this back on the 3/15**

I thought while everything is fresh in my mind, now would be a good time to write about Carson's birth story. I'm still on painkillers so Adam might suggest that I wait until I have ALL my mental faculties, but well, I think they're all there!:)

After MANY weeks of really thinking that Carson could arrive at any time (and having the house stocked with all the necessary diapers and baby loot!) we scheduled a c-section on March 8th. My doctor came back to work just in time (the week before) and I chatted with her that week about how many frank breech babies she delivered had done vag deliveries and such. She got this really smirky grin on her face when I brought up the subject and said "if you were measuring like 34-35 maybe I'd consider attempting one, but with you measuring 42 and looking so large, NO WAY." And I really didn't want her to anyway, my recoveries have been so much easier with c-sections than my vag with Justin. NO WAY did I want to go through THAT torture again. So a planned c-section it was.

After dropping Justin off at school and Spencer at a friend's house for the day, we headed up to the new OB wing of Bergan Mercy ('my' hospital, where I work "VERY part-time"). They opened this new OB area at the end of January, so it was fun to have everything so shiny and new! We were brought to a beautiful room, one that they deem as one of their c-section rooms where they had me both before and immediately after the section. It really was pretty. They hooked me up to the monitors and said the same thing that I remember hearing with Spencer's birth, right before his c-s--"Wow, you're having a lot of contractions, can you feel those?" Yes dear nurse, I can. Some were really quite painful, but they had been all along so it wasn't really anything new. I did, however, get to see a contraction last nearly 5 minutes--something I hadn't seen in all my twice a week non stress tests over the past couple months. Crazy. Anyway, I digress. My nurse was awesome, very clearly had been doing L&D a long time, and as I decided over my 4 day stay at the hospital, a great nurse really does mean so much. SO. MUCH. I had a few where I was just like, eh...and others were just SO great. Anyway, back to great nurse Tracy. She got my IV great (didn't even bruise me or anything, and THAT says something with my veins!) gave me a great bath after the c-s (which is SO needed after all that iodine and stuff that they put all over the place), she was just lovely.

In the c-s itself, it was interesting. Having done this before I suppose I had an "idea" of how I thought things would go. But it was different as every experience is, I suppose. I went in the OR and the CRNA was in there, a nice guy who I've worked with before on my floor at work. The anesthesiologist was there right away too and they started to work on my spinal block. The anesthesiologist asked me if I had had a c-s before (which I said yes) and then asked if I was nervous (which I said yes, duh) and he immediately said, "Well we'll take care of that." This worried me more, thinking what were they giving me, how much are they giving me, I don't want to miss my baby's birth because I'm so dopey! The next thing I knew I looked over and the CRNA was giving me propofol--as in, Michael Jackson's OD propofol. I knew it from it's milky look in the syringe. Dang, I thought. I hope this doesn't knock me off my rocker. I instantly felt, well, weird is the best way to describe it. Bizarre. Not sleepy, just well, really loopy, drowsy but not. Strange stuff. Then the CRNA went to work. It took him quite a while to numb me up, the anesthesiologist was giving him a hard time I think. He poked me good several times (and I have 3 bruises on my back to prove it) all the while the anesthesiologist was there the whole time. He must've been last time with Spencer, but I only remember him being there at the beginning (and it was the same anesthesiologist, I remembered him!). This time around he was watching Carson be born, making wise cracks with everyone else in the room about his size, about how I was going to instantly going to lose 20 lbs (to which I said "awesome" and everyone in the room busted up laughing). During the whole thing I couldn't feel pain, but strangely enough I could feel people touching my feet (Adam said it was the surg tech). And I could feel a ton of pressure as they tried for quite a while to get Carson out from being stuck under my right rib. That is, his HEAD from being stuck under my rib. I heard my doctor huffing and puffing (Adam later commented that it's a good thing my doctor was the one doing this delivery and not simply the resident who was assisting because my doctor is "sturdy" and the resident probably wouldn't have had the strength to get him out. Freaky. REALLY.) That whole head being stuck under my rib thing has caused me significant pain, which I wasn't expecting. They told me it was as if he was holding onto my rib or something! Anyway, they got him out, the resident ended up sewing me up (which I was NOT happy about, I specifically told the resident I didn't want her sewing me up, yes, I can be vain about certain things and this was really my only main request....mostly because doctors haven't been able to see my previous scar, the way I healed up so great from my doc sewing me up last time. I wanted history to repeat itself. But I think my doctor was truly wiped out from getting him out and she needed the resident to sew me up at that point.). But actually I think I'm going to heal up just as nicely, maybe I needed to scare the resident or something in making sure she was meticulous in the way she sewed me?:) Anyway, I was doing fine, wasn't feeling nauseous (I barfed on the table last time, right at the beginning of the surgery) and then I realized that there were a lot of people in working on Carson. A lot. Adam had been taking pictures and came back and sat down next to me. I knew that it all wasn't "all right" because when I asked him he put on his Adam-no-big-deal-but-it-is voice, so I worried. Then a NP came over to me and said Carson needed to go to the NICU for a bit to be monitored, that his breathing wasn't quite right and that he should only be there for 4 hours or less and then I could see him/hold him up in the newborn nursery. I sent Adam off with them as they moved Carson next door to the NICU. Adam said he looked like a giant compared to all the tiny babies in there. He also said that he was the only kid making noise (and lots of it!) and that they quickly asked if Carson could have a pacifier. Funny. And luckily I was ok with that. Adam took some more pictures and came back with me to my room. We stayed in there for a while, maybe an hour and half, while I started to regain feeling in my toes and legs and such. My nurse shut my lights out and we called my mom to tell her the good news. I just relaxed, it was nice to have quiet and darkness in my room after surgery. It will change the way I look at the surgical patients I care for I think.

About the time I was moved up to the postpartum floor, Carson was ready to be moved up to the floor too. I was relieved to hear that he was just fine, that he'd had a chest x-ray to check his lungs, which they deemed a bit "wet" but ok. Over the next day or so he hacked up some of the ick that he'd breathed in, but he was fine. I was told by my doc and his pediatrician that this was a common occurance of c-section babies and not to worry. And I trust his peds doc, she's awesome, so I knew he was fine. I spent the next few days there and left on that Thursday. The room was nice and new, all to myself, with its flat screen tv and nice bathroom for my daily showers. They brought me a packet of toiletries that included Crabtree and Evelyn goodies. And then they had the usual "naptime" where they "highly suggest" that we send our babies to the nursery so we can get a daily two hour nap (which I did), and the daily fresh warm cookies they bring around at 4pm--at the end of naptime. They gave me a list of services I could request for free, to choose between a pedicure, head/neck/shoulder massage (which was my choice), manicure, and some other massage options. Totally great. I got my money's worth out of this hospital visit!!:) I do think the best thing (and still by far my biggest complaint about delivering Justin at Clovis Community, back in CA) was that I could send Carson to the nursery whenever I wanted, no questions or complaints ever voiced by staff--and I DID! Moms just need time to recuperate after having babies, but especially after major abdominal surgery! Anyway, it was a great experience and I'm glad all went well welcoming our newest boy into our family.

Now, two weeks later, Carson is changing already! His hair is lightening up, more blonde to match his little blonde eyelashes and eyebrows. We'll see if we actually get to have a blondie kid! He's started to develop a little routine for himself, awake several hours in the evening just before going to bed for a 5-6 hour stretch, which is AWESOME. Never had a kid do that before, especially this young. He's a great little nurser, I'm glad that I've developed more patience in this regard since I didn't give nursing a fair shot with Justin and did with Spencer; I'm amazed at how much a few years of life experience changes a person's perspective on so many things, and breastfeeding is something I 'get' now and can appreciate the benefits for all. I think it has to do with being more comfortable with my body and what its designed to do.

I'm so grateful to be a mom. I love it. It's one of the best feelings in the world. Granted, it's the toughest job in the world, but I learn so much every day about life from my little ones and I'm grateful I have the opportunity to learn and grow from my experiences as a mom. Life is truly a blessing.