P-man's Birth Story

Birth Story

We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 a.m., and they began prepping me for surgery. It took them three pokes to get my I.V. started...OUCH! I started getting a little apprehensive about surgery since my first experience with W was awful (you can read W's birth story here: W's Birth Story). However, I started feeling a lot better after discussing all my worries with the anesthesiologist. After drinking that awful drink, etc it was time to walk back to the O.R. We started walking back, and was able to give W a hug and kiss before he became a big brother...I was a crying fool during this time. Got back to the O.R. and they started my spinal. It took them about 10-15 minutes to get it in. I had no issues with this whatsoever, and actually could breath. They gave me a little lesser dosage than the average, just because I'm pretty short, which helped the spinal stay where it needed to. I did get claustrophobic as my lower half was going numb, and got a little anxious. With the music blaring and all the staff (including my OB) singing along, I started feeling a lot better. I did feel a lot of tugging, etc, but overall felt really good. I didn't have much scar tissue from my first section, so it only took 15 min. into delivery to deliver P-man. They got him out, I heard clear fluid, and his blaring cry was the best sound in the entire world. After they got him out of my uterus, my doctor immediately gave him to me to kiss him a few times before tossing him over to the nursery staff. He was beautiful, and I was bawling a ton during this time. After doing his APGAR's, which were 8 and 9, the handed him over to my hubby, and he just kept P-man's head right by mine the entire time. The only time in the O.R. P-man wasn't by my side was during his initial assessments after he was delivered and when they weighed him. They finally got me all put back together and I was wheeled to the recovery room. My experience during my csection was awesome. I never had any issues with having any difficulty breathing, and never once got nauseated. While in recovery, P-man got to stay with me the entire time, and they brought a nursery nurse and warmer to my bedside. They did his first bath, vitamin K shot (not fun for mommy), eye gel, etc all in front of me while I was recovering. I even got to nurse him ASAP (with the help of Jesse...he had to hold him for me), and he latched for a good 30 minutes. I couldn't really hold him due to my shakes (which were resolved with a little help from demoral). I was in recovery for about two hours, and I was finally able to go to my room. I was there for three full days and two nights. My pain was managed by Motrin only, and I wasn't in severe pain. I'm very thankful for a great experience. Even though it wasn't a VBAC like I hoped and dreamed, it was still a very beautiful and moving experience for both my hubby and I.

Birth Video *graphic*

W's Birth Story

So, with all this talk about W. I thought it would be neat for me to post his birth story. Enjoy!

W arrived on May 21, 2007 at 9:47 p.m. via c-section. His arrival was quite eventful. I pretty much had a normal pregnancy. I did have to supplement progestrone in the beginning and was on Zofran for the all-day sickness. Anywho, I was induced at 8:00 p.m. on May 20, 2007. I was given one round of cervidil and the contractions started to come on. I was in labor for 12 hours and I finally asked for vitamin E. I was progessing pretty good, 1 cm an hour. The doctor broke my water during the morning hours, and W handled all my contractions extremely well. Even though I finally dilated to seven (at 6:00 p.m), his head was only at -2 station. I dilated to eight the next hour, and his head was still far up there. My epidural was starting to wear off, and I declined to get more, because I wanted to make it easier to push. Around 8:30 p.m., I stopped progressing, and the fire alarm went off. Now, labor is already stressful enough, and now we have a FIRE?!?! My O.B. comes into my room wearing surgical scrubs, and I knew my hopes for a vaginal delivery were shattered. Thank god the fire turned out to be a "false alarm". Jesse and I just broke into tears when we heard "c-section" come out of my doctor's mouth. I've never had surgery before in my life, and I was so scared. However, I was so anxious to see my little boy, knowing I've been in labor for 24 hours. I was wheeled into surgery alone, and was given a spinal. That was the worst experience in my life. The spinal went up too far into my chest, and I felt as if I couldn't breathe. I started screaming, so of course I could breathe, but it didn't feel like it. So, they gave me some "oxygen" to calm down, and they progressed with the surgery. Jess kept stroking my forehead, and I could feel some tugging, but it never hurt at all. Finally, my doctor said he'll be here in just a few seconds. Then, I heard the loudest cry, and of course DH and I were bawling our eyes out. Jess went over to see him, and I was given a dose of "happy medicine" to help me calm down a bit. I was starting to get a little worried when I didn't see W right away. I guess his first APGAR score was at 7, and he was having difficulty breathing. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, and was 21 inches long. Jesse followed W into the nursery. They finished up my surgery, and wheeled me into recovery. As I was "recovering", W's pedi came in to tell me how he was doing. He had a Pneumothorax, and a fever (I gave him one, since I spiked a temp. at the end of delivery). A Pneumothorax is a sudden collection of air or gas in the chest that causes the lung to collapse in the absence of a traumatic injury to the chest or lung. So, they were giving him chest xrays. His pedi told me if it was severe enough on the xrays, they would have to give him a chest tube. Thank god it wasn't that bad. W didn't even have to stay in the NICU. However, he did stay the night in the Continuing Care Nursery, and I couldn't see him until 12 hours later. W overcame all of his problems the night before, and was able to stay in our room until we left on Thursday, May 24th.