Alleusion

Some people have been asking for the details surrounding Emily's birth, so I'm pretty much posting it where ever I post regularly.

March 20-21 : Hospitalized due to unexplained bleeding.
March 22 : Back in hospital for more bleeding. C-section scheduled as the risk of rupturing the previous c-section scar was too much for me to deal with at the time.

March 25 9am : DH and I arrived at the hospital and began the admission process. They told us there may be a slight delay as there had been some births pushing things back, but I should be ready to go by noon at the latest.

11am : OB comes in and we discuss payment arrangements. DH's parents offered to pay for the surgery, which was a godsend, as otherwise it would not have happened. Spinal block person came in to discuss payment and look at my back.

11:30am : Nurses take me back to the OR and get me on the table with the heart monitor leads and into position for the person to come in and do the spinal. Another nurse comes in and says there's an "issue" with the spinal person and to wait a moment. Apparently we waited too long, as the person all of a sudden had a prior engagement at noon and couldn't do it. Surgery was pushed back to 3:30pm. Well, 3:30 came and went. There was a shift change at 4, so we had to wait for the new spinal person. So, about 4:30, they took me back again and got me all hooked up. Then the spinal person comes in and says the doctor had a "thing" and wasn't back yet, but he'd let us know when it was okay. So back to the prep room I went.

They finally came and got me and started the fun spinal block. Well, I guess that the place he needed to stick the needle in wasn't where he thought, so he had to keep poking at me to find the right spot. After about 6 pokes, he finally got it in. They got me lying down, catheterized and draped.

Almost immediately, I started to have reactions to the spinal. My blood pressure dropped, which as I'm told is normal. It went down to 53 / 27. My heart rate during this was almost 180. I couldn't breath, and was starting to panic. They gave me something in the IV and blood pressure stabilized. They brought DH in and started the surgery. Twice more during the c-section my blood pressure dropped. Apparently, this is not normal. The spinal guy kept saying I must be really sensitive to the medication or something and had to keep giving me a shot of something in my IV to bring my pressure back up. DH was getting worried, I was freaking out because I couldn't breath.

I felt them pushing on the top of my stomach and heard someone say "I feel a bum". Next thing I hear is a cry and someone else said she wasn't even out yet and she was crying. They pulled her the rest of the way out, and did whatever it was they had to do with her. DH went over to be with Emily and I had to keep telling him to take pictures. He said she was all goopy and such and I said I didn't care, I wanted pictures.

About this time (as they're putting me back together), the surgical assistant comes waltzing in the OR. I had no idea he was missing for the majority of my surgery. Looking back on this, we're kind of ticked, because we had to pay him anyways. He kept saying his pager never went off and said where he was, etc. The doctor was ripping him a new rectum and I found their conversation somewhat amusing. My MIL said that his absence was causing pandemonium at the nurses station. She said, one of them would walk past her all calm and smiles and the second they turned the corner she could hear them frantic and rushing around. I would not have wanted to be in his shoes when everything was all over and he had to explain himself. He did of course show up to collect his payment very promptly after I was in my room.

So that's pretty much it. She came into the world at 5:37pm Eastern time on March 25, 2008. She weighed in at 8 pounds 3.9 ounces, 50 cm long (roughly 19 1/2 inches) and had a good healthy cry. I stayed in the hospital only 48 hours, as I felt I could recover better at home, rather than somewhere where they kept waking me up every hour to get my blood pressure. My iron did drop from the previous low of 8.3 to 7.8 and according to the lactation consultant I saw today, I'm really pale. We're having some breastfeeding issues which were in large part due to latching on. I'm also not producing very much just yet, but I'm pumping now in hopes it will increase production. We're under orders to suppliment with formula until this happens. She now weighs 7 lbs 11oz and is doing well. She sleeps alot! I'm still in a ton of pain and the extra strength tylenol I'm taking really isn't helping much, but it's better than nothing.

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