silly baby's arrival

12-6-12, 5:30pm

The urine test yields bad news, news of protein levels much too high.  I wanted to be told to go home, rest, drink water...I was actually told; induction? or csection?

It's a little funny.  Induction and csection were the furthest from my "plan." I don't like doctors and hospitals and interventions and needles and all that.  I was planning on staying home as long as possible, then arriving at the hospital to finish laboring and have a natural, non medicated, delivery.

6:30pm

I picked induction.  However, I knew that would only happen if the doctors could flip the baby.  Baby flipping ain't fun.  My doctor and another got an ultrasound machine and got to work trying to push baby's head out of my ribs and baby's butt out of my pelvis.  Wow, that was painful and it didn't at all work, baby wanted nothing to do with being in a different position.

7:00pm

Baby picked csection.  I'm not thrilled, but I'm keeping it together.  I ask if she will be the one preforming the operation and she says she isn't the one on tonight, but she will stay for me, well there is some good news.  Jim asks about the time frame.  "We just have to call the anesthesiologist and get an operating room ready, we should be ready to take you back in 20-30 minutes."  Oh this is getting real, fast!  Jim sends a few text messages and I get wheeled away.

getting wheeled away

I can't remember all that happened.  My head was spinning and I was suddenly surrounded by a lot of people and the operating room was cold and refreshing.  I remember keeping my eyes shut while they prepped the epidural, I didn't want any part of seeing any of that.  Tears welled up in my eyes, I focused on the button of the nurses jacket in front of me, I tried so hard not to shake or move, this part wasn't fun and I found myself apologizing over and over for crying.  Eventually my legs started numbing and the nurses tipped me over and centered me on the operating table.  Who painted clouds on the operating room ceiling?  Not even fluffy white clouds are going to calm me. 

7:50pm

I ask what time it is, I'm happy to hear it's 7:50.  8 is my favorite number, so I'm happy baby will be born in the 8:00 hour.

That epidural and spinal are no joke, all feeling lost and no ability to move as much as I thought about wiggling my toe, I just couldn't...so strange. What was moving were my teeth and hands, the shaking was so hard to control, not cold shaking or nervous shaking, just a side effect of some medicine shaking.  Jim arrives in his new attire and sits down on a stool next to my head.  I try to coax him into looking at what's going on, but he won't do it, he stays to the right of my head and asks 100x if I'm okay, while the anesthesiologist stands to the left asks 100x if I feel anything.  I'm good, well as good as can be expected.  Maybe I'm even getting a little excited. 

"Okay, you're going to feel some pressure."  This "pressure" they speak of has NOTHING on the pressure needed to attempt to flip a baby.

I hear my doctor say "No one say the gender, it's a surprise, dad will announce.  Okay dad, here is your baby"

It felt like it took Jim a century to determine that it was a GIRL!!! Finally, he managed to get the news out.

8:05 is called out as the time of birth.  I can see Jim and Baby Lydia off to my right.  Lydia is getting cleaned and measured and poked and prodded.  She is born almost 3 weeks early, but she is in great shape.  I felt awful for having to deliver early.  It wasn't Lydia's fault, it was my body was saying it was all done.  Luckily she was ready enough.  Lydia, Jim, and our favorite baby nurse, Jamie all leave for the nursery to continue harassing Lydia.

so far, this is my favorite picture of her

I'm left to be put back together.  As I'm being sewn back up the doctors carry on the conversation they were holding before the arrival of our child side tracked them....back to talks of Kate Middleton.  Chatter about DJs with bad accents and tough cases of morning sickness, I even join in the conversation.

Before long my doctor says goodbye and some nurses wheel me off to a recovery room.  I get hooked up to some IV meds and wait for Jim and Lydia to return.

meeting Lydia 

More on recovery at a later time...