The Arrival of Levi - Part #2

Once the c-section was scheduled in, I went on an absolute starvation diet. Since I had had a light lunch (and I actually gave over half of it to Rich...so then I REALLY wished I had chowed down!), I had to wait 8 hours from when I ate, which was noon. I was not allowed to have ANYTHING...food, water, ice, even gum or mints. Of course, nothing makes you more thirsty than being told, "You can have nothing for the next 5 hours!" 

I thought I'd be more nervous, but I wasn't. As the time drew closer to surgery, I sent Rich to grab a quick bite of supper so he'd be stable with blood sugar for the surgery. I lay there, trying NOT to be jealous that he was feasting while I was starving. Around 7:30, when I was supposed to be getting prepped for surgery, we were told that there was a woman in labor next door to me that had been pushing for 2 hours and was nearing that "emergency c-section" stage of the game. I totally understood but was still a bit bummed that we'd have to wait. Our hospital has 2 O.R.s specifically for c-sections but they always keep one open when doing a "scheduled" c-section in case of an emergency, so this emergency c-section would tie up the "open" room. Time ticked on. Of course, as luck would have it, I started to contract every 2 minutes right around 8 p.m. It became quite uncomfortable as they came crashing in one on top of the other and growing in intensity with each minute. Especially disheartening is when you know you are contracting and it will NOT yield a baby. I grew nervous b/c if I progressed rapidly with him still breech, we were in danger of the cord being delivered. The nurse came in and quickly gave me meds to STOP contracting - a first for me. At this time, I also started to become increasingly nauseated. My 39 weeks of nausea was getting OLD, and I knew I was going to continue to feel nasty until I was allowed to drink or eat something. When my stomach is empty while pregnant, I start to vomit repeatedly until I can pop meds and some crackers and water. That wasn't an option. Finally, after ANOTHER emergency c-section that went ahead of me, we were prepped for surgery. Rich was given his scrubs and I was escorted to the O.R. It was a little after 10 p.m. Walking to the O.R. was one of the weirdest feelings in the world. I felt like it was a cross between a bad dream and a television show. I have NEVER had surgery...in fact, the only times I've ever been a patient in a hospital is when I had Cae and Matty, and I had certainly never seen an operating room except on t.v. As we walked into the room, I was starting to get nervous. Seeing such a sterile, COLD (holy cow, was it FREEZING in there!), huge room with a bed in the middle, bright lights, and tables of sharp looking instruments started to make the heart pound. Maybe I wasn't as "mentally/emotionally prepared" as I thought? 

Thankfully, my doctors (there were 2 in there), nurses, and anesthesiologist was AWESOME. I almost giggled - they had their own music playlist going, and I got my spinal block to the Black Eyed Peas singing. Later it went to Taylor Swift and when they were delivering Levi, it was Sarah McClaughlin's "I Will Remember You" crooning (actually caught part of it on video when Rich videotaped Levi being pulled out). Thankfully the spinal block IMMEDIATELY started making me feel all warm and cozy - I could hardly get fully on the table before everything went numb. The nerves started to calm and they continued to prep for surgery while I waited for Rich to come. Just as the nurse said, "if you start to feel nauseated..." I immediately felt like, "OH NO! I'm going to HURL!" She barely got the puke dish there in time. I threw up twice before the rapid injection of anti-nausea meds kicked in. Funny thing...right before my surgery, they gave me this NASTY stuff to drink that was supposed to keep me from vomiting. Guess what I threw up? Yep...those meds. :-) They started to infuse my I.V. with stronger anti-nausea meds...but the bad side effect was that they made me SUPER tired and loopy. I almost fell asleep before Rich came in. I could tell he was nervous - he doesn't do well with needles, blood, etc... so this was totally out of his league. I kept telling him in the room before they took me away, "Babe, PLEASE don't look. Don't stand up or anything...they will tell you when Levi is ready to come out so you can capture that but don't look!" 

Then, as soon as Rich was seated, the procedure began. My last worry melted away when they cut into me and I felt nothing but what felt like someone rubbing my stomach. It seems like it didn't take very long at all before they had him. He was so far up that they were REALLY tugging to get him out - I thought I was going to fall off of the table! they finally got him out and we heard this tiny little squeak of a cry...then silence. It was 11:04 p.m...just 56 minutes away from being born on my beloved aunt's birthday! ;-)

They brought Levi past us and showed him to us briefly before taking him to the warmer that was still in my line of vision. He looked so different than my other babies b/c he was covered in blood and so still! We asked, "Is he okay?" b/c he was so very limp. As he lay there on the warmer, unmoving, I started to get a little nervous but no one was rushing, no codes were being called (like what happened with Caelynn's arrival)...then they brought out a little oxgyen pump, covered his mouth with the mouth piece, and started pumping air into him. I wanted to cry seeing his little chest rise and fall...and then we saw him start to twitch and then the crying started. :-) Such a beautiful cry! He didn't stop for quite some time - he was MAD! :-) I felt such relief and such overwhelming fatigue that I closed my eyes and dozed off until they had him all cleaned up. Then they brought him over and let Rich hold him while I rubbed his cheeks and gave him kisses. During this time I also threw up again once or twice - blast this cursed sensitive stomach of mine!

Soon it was time for him to go to the nursery for all of the fun stuff like weighing him, cleaning him up more fully, and getting a small feeding since I couldn't nurse him until after I made it through recovery and was back in my room. That was probably the hardest part of having a c-section. I missed being able to hold my baby right away, but I was so thankful that they let Rich go with Levi so at least one of us was still with him! My secret worry during the c-section was that his lungs wouldn't be quite stable enough and thus have to go to the NICU as some babies do. Praise the Lord that Levi was healthy and well!

After the final stitch up on the inside and being "glued" on the outside, I went to recovery, where of course I threw up a few more times and also slept. I made it back to my room and back to Levi around 1 a.m. or so. That time of seeing him was so sweet! 

I won't bore anyone with the recovery part of the c-section. That Saturday was hard - I felt really lousy and wasn't able to move my legs or feet for quite some time and when I finally could and they had me try to get out of bed and on my feet, I wanted to punch someone. By the next day, though, I felt MUCH better. I was by myself a lot of the day while Rich went to pick up our kids and took care of them before coming to visit so I was on my own more with taking care of Levi. By Sunday, I wanted to go home. I was actually medically cleared to leave, as was Levi, so we went home a day earlier than scheduled. I don't rest well in the hospital. It's bad enough being up so often to nurse a baby but when you finally get to sleep, only to be interrupted by a nurse or orderly to get blood drawn or check on the baby, it makes resting almost impossible. 

The past 2 weeks have been super busy with going from a family of 4 to a family of 5, recovering from a c-section (still recovering from that! Wow, is THAT a difference from a natural delivery!), and just trying to readjust and get back into some semblance of a schedule again. The Lord has been so good to us, and we are so thankful for our newest addition to our family! :-) The kids have been great with him and we are slowly all adjusting to being a family of 5, with three kids ages four and under! ;-) In 2 more days we add a puppy to the mix - will blog on that later! ;-)