One thing's for sure, I needed to get my nails done before I did anything! Since Chris was home, I asked him to look after Nathan for an hour while I went to the nail salon. On the way there, I decided to go ahead and phone the doctor to get her advice. I really did not want to go into labor over the weekend and have to have the delivery performed by a doctor that we did not know.
I told the nurse about the type of cramping that I was experiencing and that it had not changed since the day before. After speaking with the doctor, she advised me to go ahead and go to the labor and delivery area of the hospital and to not eat anything else. I was already at the nail salon. So, I went ahead and got a pedicure. I also phoned Chris to let him know to get his things in order and ready to go.
When I came home, we got everything together. My parents stopped by to pick up Nathan, and Chris and I headed to the hospital. On the way there, I began to feel my uterus contracting. So, the contractions were getting stronger.
Upon arrival to the hospital, we were ushered into the triage area. My cervix was checked and found to still be at 1 cm. I was hooked up to a monitor that showed that my contractions were steady at 2-3 minutes apart. The nurse phoned the doctor who decided to go ahead with a c-section delivery.
We had to wait until 6 or more hours after I ate breakfast to begin the c-section. I had last eaten some cereal at 9:30. So, we could not be scheduled until after 3:30. We also had to wait for the doctor to finish seeing her scheduled appointments. Her last appointment was scheduled for 3:00, but she was running later again. There was also an emergency c-section that delayed all of the scheduled c-sections. So, we did not get into the OR until around 5:00 pm.
They began by walking me from triage to the OR. They separated Chris and me at this point, which really upset me. I had to walk into the OR and sit on the table all by myself. I was beginning to panic, while I looked around the room. They had some scary looking instruments sitting out. The staff were busy counting things and checking things, but they did converse with me. They even tried to lighten things about by joking around that the OB had already done another c-section that morning - so she knew how to do them. This is funny to me now, but I was too nervous to laugh then.
The anesthesiologist gave me the spinal right away and told me how to lay down quickly. I immediately got really nauseous for about 5 minutes. They said it was normal and would go away. Then, I felt a warm numbness spreading over me, beginning at my waist. At this point, I became very relaxed. I liked the feeling of the medicine moving through me. I did not care anymore that a million people were standing around my naked body or that they were about to open me up for surgery while I was awake.
The OB did an ultrasound and made sure that I was numb. Just when I thought they had forgotten about Chris, they ushered him in. He did not get very close to me the entire time, as he stood up and watched everything that the medical team did to me. He was fascinated by it all and never once faltered from seeing them cut me open!
When the OB was lifting the baby out, I remember hearing her say that he did not have hardly any hair. She wasn't kidding. He came out looking pretty bald! Then, he was brought near me for a few seconds. He was white and slimy-looking. I didn't see Nathan born before b/c I was sedated. So, I had never seen anything like this.
At this point, the baby was making a strange sound that was not quite the cry that I was expecting. Chris came back over from the baby's side and looked queasy. I remember that they made Chris sit down on the floor. Something was not right with the baby, and Chris wasn't taking it too well.
I couldn't move off of the table and was now extremely intoxicated by the sedative that they gave me once the baby was born. They brought Benjamin over and told me to kiss him. He was all cleaned up. Then, they took him away to the NICU, along with Chris. If I had blinked, I would have missed seeing him! I felt powerless that this was happening all over again, just like with Nathan.
I was left behind with the surgeon, tech, my nurse, and the anesthesiologist. They had to complete the second part of the surgery (closing up my body). Then, I went on to the recovery room for what seemed like forever! After spending the required amount of time there, I had to remain in recovery, waiting for a hospital room assignment. The hospital was very busy on this day. The nurses later told me that full moons bring in a lot of moms ready to give birth. Worked for me! I never read that full moons can cause labor. I only read about eating spicy food, taking castor oil, or walking a lot.
Once in my room, I found that the NICU was closed because of a trauma occurring to one of the baby occupants. So, Chris and I could not get in to see Benjamin. Also, I was on bed rest until morning, and they would not give me any food.
Chris did eventually get to go sit with Ben, but I did not get to see him until the next morning (just like Nathan). By 4:30 am, I was just about ready to sneak down there, but Chris would not let me, despite my anger and tears of frustration. I never went to sleep that night. I just watched the clock on the wall.
Things did eventually get better for us. . .
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