I believe the last words of my post last Friday were "I think I've had enough fun for the day."
Auspicious.
I finished that post around 2:45, after which I swept and mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned the kid's bathroom, and picked up around the house. My dad was flying in that evening and we were going to leave around 5:30 to pick him up, hence the cleaning and such. Then I decided to sit down and rest.
As I mentioned in my Friday post, I had been having contractions off and on all day, but nothing consistent or strong. I hadn't really worried about them. But once I sat down the contractions started coming on, stronger, harder, more consistently.
Dang it.
So I got up and started walking around, thinking that this diversion would put an end to them. Nope. I tried sitting in a different chair. No change. I tried drinking a bunch of water. (Dehydration can cause contractions, right?) They kept coming.
At this point Lance was home and probably wondering what was up with his crazy wife. Luckily, he didn't say anything to that effect.
Just before Lance came home my dad called to let us know his flight had been delayed. I thought this was good, because that would give me some more time to rest and stop these dumb contractions. Then I laid down, because even though the contractions were about 6-9 minutes apart, hard, and lasting at least 30 seconds, I was still under the delusion that this wasn't really labor.
But a little while later, while Lance and I were discussing who would go pick up my dad and who would stay home with the kids, reality struck. I was in labor. It wasn't going away. I was having this baby. And soon.
So I called my doctor, who was of course not in the office (it was after 5pm on a Friday, after all), and left a message with his answering service. Then I took a quick shower, because I had been hot and sweaty all day and if I was going to have a baby who knew when I'd next get to have one? By the time I had dried my hair the on-call OB/GYN, Dr. Harrison, called me back, agreed that I was in labor, and told me to come to the hospital.
By this point the boys were already in bed. So we called our neighbors and friends down the street, the Polmateers, and they were only too happy to come and sit while we went to the hospital. Shannon and his son, Austin, soon arrived. (Austin only came to see if he could get me to tell him the baby's name, which cracked me up even though I wasn't feeling exactly great. It didn't work - he had to wait just like everyone else!) Shannon and Lance gave me a priesthood blessing, which calmed me down a bit and allowed me to even start feeling excited about the whole thing.
(Side note: to be perfectly honest, for the previous week I had been feeling kind of anxious about having Cole. Not that I didn't want to. Not that I had a choice! But who wouldn't feel a little scared about having major surgery?)
As we were getting into the car my dad called, and we let him know that we wouldn't be able to pick him up because this pesky baby had run out of patience. Could he get a rental car and come home to relieve the Polmateers from their babysitting duty? Of course my wonderful dad said this was no problem. (Thank you, Dad!)
So... we drove to the hospital. I didn't even have to tell Lance where to go this time, like I did when I was having Josh. (Sorry hon - I just had to tease you a little. It was just so stereotypical!) Lance dropped me off at the entrance, parked the car, and then wheeled me up to the 5th floor. Since I had done my pre-testing that morning we didn't even have to register or anything. (So nice!) The nurses in labor and delivery were expecting me and we got right to work.
I changed into a 'lovely' hospital gown, got baby monitors strapped on to my contorting belly, and endured an IV being stabbed into my hand. The nurses did pre-op nursing stuff, Lance and I chatted, Dr. Harrison came in and introduced herself, and I contracted for about an hour and a half. Finally, it was time to get things rolling!
Lance (now dressed in blue scrubs) had to wait in the lounge while I got prepped in the operating room. The room was quite cold and I think my adrenaline was kicking in, so I started shivering quite a bit. This made me even more nervous for my spinal block (Getting a rather large needle put into my spine while I'm shaking? Not so much...), but the nurses and anesthesiologist were so great and helped me through it. It didn't really hurt all that much, although of course a contraction started right in the middle. The medication kicked in fast and I soon couldn't even sit up by myself, let alone feel or move anything from my armpits and down. (Talk about a weird sensation...)
The nurses and doctors were all very kind and kept talking to me and asking me questions. I think they could tell I was still a little nervous. (This is a far cry from when I had Josh - everyone in the OR basically ignored me. Rude.) Lance was called in and they finished prepping me. At this point I was interested to note that Lance was the only man in the room. (For a few more minutes at least!)
If you've never had a c-section, let me tell you: it's weird. Really. You're completely numb, so you don't feel any pain. But you can feel pressure and when they move things around. Very weird.
It took less than 15 minutes for Cole to be born. At first everyone let out "Whoas!" because they thought he would weigh a lot because of his chubby cheeks. (We know better than that now!) As soon as he started crying so did I. I couldn't help it. I was just so relieved and happy and sad and totally hormonal. Lance left my side to be with Cole, leaving me in the capable hands of the anesthesiologist.
It took the doctor another 30 minutes to sew me up. While she was doing this I started feeling nauseous and was soon in need of a basin. This was especially annoying because I had specifically had the anesthesiologist give me some anti-nausea medication. Oh well. My pregnancy began with throwing up so it was fitting that it would end with it as well!
I was soon in recovery, which was very, very boring. Recovery room is a rather grand title for it; it looks more like an overgrown medical supply closet. Oh well. All I know is that the nurse was zealously friendly and somewhere in the background was a radio playing country music. It was around 11:15 and I was starting to get really tired. Lance eventually came in and we waited until I could be released. (I had to be able to lift my legs to a certain height and have good vitals.) He showed me pictures of Cole on the camera, which made me feel kinda bad that I hadn't held him yet.
We didn't get into my post-partum room until 1:30am. I finally got to hold Cole for the first time. Even though I was tired and shaky and starting to itch all over (a lovely side effect of the spinal block) I was so happy to hold that little boy! Exhausted, but happy.
Even though it was a little unexpected, and having a c-section isn't the greatest way to spend the evening, it was a fun way to end the day. I'm so glad you're here, Cole - I love you!
Auspicious.
I finished that post around 2:45, after which I swept and mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned the kid's bathroom, and picked up around the house. My dad was flying in that evening and we were going to leave around 5:30 to pick him up, hence the cleaning and such. Then I decided to sit down and rest.
As I mentioned in my Friday post, I had been having contractions off and on all day, but nothing consistent or strong. I hadn't really worried about them. But once I sat down the contractions started coming on, stronger, harder, more consistently.
Dang it.
So I got up and started walking around, thinking that this diversion would put an end to them. Nope. I tried sitting in a different chair. No change. I tried drinking a bunch of water. (Dehydration can cause contractions, right?) They kept coming.
At this point Lance was home and probably wondering what was up with his crazy wife. Luckily, he didn't say anything to that effect.
Just before Lance came home my dad called to let us know his flight had been delayed. I thought this was good, because that would give me some more time to rest and stop these dumb contractions. Then I laid down, because even though the contractions were about 6-9 minutes apart, hard, and lasting at least 30 seconds, I was still under the delusion that this wasn't really labor.
But a little while later, while Lance and I were discussing who would go pick up my dad and who would stay home with the kids, reality struck. I was in labor. It wasn't going away. I was having this baby. And soon.
So I called my doctor, who was of course not in the office (it was after 5pm on a Friday, after all), and left a message with his answering service. Then I took a quick shower, because I had been hot and sweaty all day and if I was going to have a baby who knew when I'd next get to have one? By the time I had dried my hair the on-call OB/GYN, Dr. Harrison, called me back, agreed that I was in labor, and told me to come to the hospital.
By this point the boys were already in bed. So we called our neighbors and friends down the street, the Polmateers, and they were only too happy to come and sit while we went to the hospital. Shannon and his son, Austin, soon arrived. (Austin only came to see if he could get me to tell him the baby's name, which cracked me up even though I wasn't feeling exactly great. It didn't work - he had to wait just like everyone else!) Shannon and Lance gave me a priesthood blessing, which calmed me down a bit and allowed me to even start feeling excited about the whole thing.
(Side note: to be perfectly honest, for the previous week I had been feeling kind of anxious about having Cole. Not that I didn't want to. Not that I had a choice! But who wouldn't feel a little scared about having major surgery?)
As we were getting into the car my dad called, and we let him know that we wouldn't be able to pick him up because this pesky baby had run out of patience. Could he get a rental car and come home to relieve the Polmateers from their babysitting duty? Of course my wonderful dad said this was no problem. (Thank you, Dad!)
So... we drove to the hospital. I didn't even have to tell Lance where to go this time, like I did when I was having Josh. (Sorry hon - I just had to tease you a little. It was just so stereotypical!) Lance dropped me off at the entrance, parked the car, and then wheeled me up to the 5th floor. Since I had done my pre-testing that morning we didn't even have to register or anything. (So nice!) The nurses in labor and delivery were expecting me and we got right to work.
I changed into a 'lovely' hospital gown, got baby monitors strapped on to my contorting belly, and endured an IV being stabbed into my hand. The nurses did pre-op nursing stuff, Lance and I chatted, Dr. Harrison came in and introduced herself, and I contracted for about an hour and a half. Finally, it was time to get things rolling!
Lance (now dressed in blue scrubs) had to wait in the lounge while I got prepped in the operating room. The room was quite cold and I think my adrenaline was kicking in, so I started shivering quite a bit. This made me even more nervous for my spinal block (Getting a rather large needle put into my spine while I'm shaking? Not so much...), but the nurses and anesthesiologist were so great and helped me through it. It didn't really hurt all that much, although of course a contraction started right in the middle. The medication kicked in fast and I soon couldn't even sit up by myself, let alone feel or move anything from my armpits and down. (Talk about a weird sensation...)
The nurses and doctors were all very kind and kept talking to me and asking me questions. I think they could tell I was still a little nervous. (This is a far cry from when I had Josh - everyone in the OR basically ignored me. Rude.) Lance was called in and they finished prepping me. At this point I was interested to note that Lance was the only man in the room. (For a few more minutes at least!)
If you've never had a c-section, let me tell you: it's weird. Really. You're completely numb, so you don't feel any pain. But you can feel pressure and when they move things around. Very weird.
It took less than 15 minutes for Cole to be born. At first everyone let out "Whoas!" because they thought he would weigh a lot because of his chubby cheeks. (We know better than that now!) As soon as he started crying so did I. I couldn't help it. I was just so relieved and happy and sad and totally hormonal. Lance left my side to be with Cole, leaving me in the capable hands of the anesthesiologist.
It took the doctor another 30 minutes to sew me up. While she was doing this I started feeling nauseous and was soon in need of a basin. This was especially annoying because I had specifically had the anesthesiologist give me some anti-nausea medication. Oh well. My pregnancy began with throwing up so it was fitting that it would end with it as well!
I was soon in recovery, which was very, very boring. Recovery room is a rather grand title for it; it looks more like an overgrown medical supply closet. Oh well. All I know is that the nurse was zealously friendly and somewhere in the background was a radio playing country music. It was around 11:15 and I was starting to get really tired. Lance eventually came in and we waited until I could be released. (I had to be able to lift my legs to a certain height and have good vitals.) He showed me pictures of Cole on the camera, which made me feel kinda bad that I hadn't held him yet.
We didn't get into my post-partum room until 1:30am. I finally got to hold Cole for the first time. Even though I was tired and shaky and starting to itch all over (a lovely side effect of the spinal block) I was so happy to hold that little boy! Exhausted, but happy.
Even though it was a little unexpected, and having a c-section isn't the greatest way to spend the evening, it was a fun way to end the day. I'm so glad you're here, Cole - I love you!
2 comments:
Hey! Dr. Harrison was my doctor with Logan! Although she didn't end up delivering him, cause she left out of town for a conference the morning my water broke.
You are making me really nervous to have another baby, since I also have to go the scheduled c-section route. Not looking forward to it at all! I hope you recover really fast, and have no problems whatsoever!
Ah the wonderful nausea during the c-section. That was me with Jase several times during (I even got 2 anesthesiologists) the c-section. With Meghan it wasn't until after the recovery room. And thankfully I was never really itchy afterwards.
Hope your recovery continues to go well and that you feel more yourself soon (just the normal exhausted-I-have-a-newborn-stage).
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