The Birth Story
Ok, so i’m feeling a bit better today so i’ll share in the details of Caitlyn’s birth. The whole way it went down has me freaked out for life, but the actual surgery and recovery went amazingly well until the last couple days then things started to fall apart for me a little.
On February 12th, we got to the hospital for our 7:30a.m. check-in time for the c-section. They got me in my gown, drew some blood for the typical round of tests and for the cord blood donation. Just after they hooked me up to the monitors, I was laying there and felt my head closing in for some reason. I was yelling, “someting is happening, this isn’t right, no no no no no” and then I was gone. I remember waking up to two rounds of smelling salts on the table. When I did awaken, I was surrounded by like 15 people in surgical scrubs, them rushing to put a catheter in me, an ultrasound tech watching the baby, and them preparing me for a “crash” c-section. I was sweating profusely and wondering what the hell just happened. Apparently when my heart rate dropped or blood pressure dropped, so did the baby’s… and after 7 minutes the both of us recovered, so they decided I was a go-ahead for a regular c-section, but I was first in line now instead of 3rd.
So they wheeled me into the c-section room a few minutes later. It was cold and small, the usual type of room. They wheeled me past my doctor and she said, “we missed you at the office this week”… well, I missed my appointment because I was at L&D for hours that night/morning. So they get me up on this surgical table which is really thin and cold. They proceed to do the spinal, which felt weird but didn’t hurt. A few seconds after that your legs get this warm tingly feeling and they lay you down. They start prepping me and things go well. Matt comes in, and my only concern at this point is making sure Matt gets good video and pictures.
So they begin cutting, and I’m feeling the usual pulling and tugging they do, and you then hear the usual gurgling and sucking of amniotic fluid and out pops baby Caitlyn @ 8:45a.m. (a whole 2 hours early!). The doctors said, “Wow she was at a funny angle”. I said, yeah she’s kinda been that way for a while… which is probably why I never dilated or anything!
So that all goes well, and they start stitching me up. At this point my chest is feeling really really heavy like i’m forcing myself to breathe. I had some crazy old woman behind me reassuring me that everything was ok and to relax and continue breathing… so I made myself aware that I was breathing and tried to relax.
Next i’m off to recovery, where I stay there for at least a couple hours. They bring baby in there for a while and my family start pouring in and they get to hold the baby for a minute and are then booted out and go home. Julie came in after they took the baby to the nursery, so she missed all the initial action. I had Matt walk her down to the nursery to show her the baby. She then left and came back a couple hours later after they put me in a room.
So… that’s that. My hospital stay was great. Matt stayed there the whole time, going home each day just to check up on the animals and stuff and then came back to suffer sleeping in the dread chair/bed they provide. I had practically no pain whatsoever. My recovery was amazing. I was mentally preparing myself for at least some pain! I was out of bed the same evening as the c-section walking around with no pain or dizziness, which you usually experience. I just remember with Chris and Andrew that first time getting out of bed was dreadful… you had to hold your stomach for fear that your guts were going to fall out onto the floor. I didn’t have that this time. My first two c-sections I had a vertical cut from the belly button down, and this time I had the “bikini” horizontal cut, which I think made all the difference for me. I’m 8 days out and my wound is pretty much healed up already. I do have a smidge amount of pain, but nothing motrin can’t handle. I haven’t even taken the Darvocet they provided me. It’s just not necessary and I don’t need the withdrawal or “come down” depression associated with narcotics right now. I already have a little bit of the baby blues, but I think it’s getting better.
We were discharged on Valentine’s day and went to visit my grandma and family. The first week at home has been hard though. Caitlyn has a mild case of jaundice, which doens’t require treatment… yet. She has also lost weight. She went to the doctors last Monday and she was down to 6lbs 14oz. When she was born she weighed 7lbs 7oz, and when we left she was 7lbs 1oz. It’s normal for babies to lose a little bit of weight, but the doctor thinks she lost a bit too much. So i’ve been paranoid all week about getting her to eat well. She is not a very good eater, a very lazy eater. She tends to fall asleep as soon as you put the bottle in her mouth.
The first night was awful. She wouldn’t sleep at ALL while in our room, she was soooo fussy. We had to give her her own room for the next night. So we moved the boys back into the same room with bunk beds, and Caitlyn now has a room, and amazingly she sleeps better. I think it’s because it’s dead silent in there, compared to our room which is noisy as heck with a fish tank, a loud fan and Matt’s phone constantly beeping for something.
Last night she slept “good”. She went from 1a.m. – 6a.m. without waking. She is not on any good schedule yet, which sucks…. I like predictability and hopefully she’s gonna adjust soon!
On Tuesday I started to not feel good. I was lethargic, and my heart rate was consistently in the low 50’s and even dropping into the 40’s. The only people that have heart rates that low are physically tuned athletes, and that is certainly NOT me! I went to the hospital on Wednesday night and they did a bunch of tests. They kept telling me that I left the hospital on Saturday and I was anemic… well thank you docs for letting me know that then. Apparently the anemia was causing my low heart rate. I left the hospital and went to Walgreens and got my prescription filled for iron tabs. Within hours of taking the iron tabs my heart rate returned to normal. I still feel pretty tired, but I guess that’s to be expected.
Well, I can’t wait for her to have her first milestones…. right now I’m just waiting for that first authentic smile. I think by 6 weeks that happens. She goes back to the doctors on Monday for a weight check, so hopefully she’ll have gained some weight by then!
