Becoming a mommy part dos

Here's the first part of our birthing story if you missed it.

I had always imagined having baby boy with as minimal interventions as possible in a hospital setting. It turns out that the only thing natural about my labor and delivery was my water breaking and that could have been caused by the membrane sweep I had done during my 39 week visit that previous Monday. But it was still natural-esque. After that pitocin was used to trigger contractions and my body never really embraced going into labor. Baby boy didn’t want to leave and the doctor said that it seemed that his head and my pelvis did not seem like a good fit, making a c-section my option after 33 hours of labor. I then started getting prepped for delivery. My epidural dosage was upped from the regular numbing to c-section level of numbing. The medicine from the epidural caused  shaking that continued to intensify. We played the cold, not cold game from my pelvis up my rib cage along with pinching my arm and my abdomen. Somewhat nerve wracking as I wanted to be certain that I was numb. And I continued to dry heave/vomit throughout this process. I was wheeled into the OR by myself. Sean had to stay behind for some reason. My arms were violently shaking and they wanted me to put my arms straight out by my side. They kept telling me to put them there and I tried to share that I had limited control as I wasn’t voluntarily moving my arms like that. Plus, I needed to vomit and they weren’t listening to me. They showed me this big clamp that they had used to pinch my abdomen twice without me being aware. I hadn’t felt a thing. Good. The drape started right below my shoulders and that was all I could see. They brought Sean in and he sat behind me.

Then the surgery started. I felt random pressures and then I heard the sound I had been waiting for, my baby boy crying. He cried and cried and cried. Sean got to go over and see him and take pictures. He saw him get weighed at a whopping 8 lbs, 9 oz, swaddled in 3 blankets with a hat on and then he got to hold him. Fortunately a nurse took pictures of him holding him for the first time, with Sean wearing all his surgery gear. Then they brought him over for me to hold. All I could see was his face but I was so glad to hold my baby finally. Until the wave of vomit hit again and I had to beg someone to take him back because I was going to puke. Apparently the epidural meds and my stomach are not the best friends.  Sean left with our baby boy and our little man had his first paparazzi appearance in front of both sets of grandparents. He even managed to get one hand free and appear to wave at them. He also opened his eyes briefly. This was a shocker that we didn’t realize until later as our baby kept his eyes closed for most of the following week. I had to stay in the OR while I got put back together. I was concerned that something was going wrong as they were continuing to monitor my bp. It runs on the lower side of normal to begin with and epidurals lower bp, so I had to get medicine to raise it up. When I finally made it to recovery I saw a beautiful sight, Sean wrapped in blankets with our baby on his chest.

 A side note, when we took our birthing class the first question I asked was, “what was the protocol for an unplanned c-section?” Strange how that was answer I needed for my birthing experience. I told Sean that he was to do skin-to-skin  in the unlikely event that we needed a c-section. Good thing we covered all our options.

Once I got situated in the room, I got to hold him again. I started taking off his blankets and his hat to look at him. He has dark hair which was surprising as neither Sean nor I had dark hair when we were first born. His fingers and toes were so long and his feet were big. He was the perfect baby size. A nurse came in and instructed me in how to breastfeed. I thought it went ok, but little did I know that this would be something we would struggle with for the next several days. The nurses came in and did the uterine massage and kept assessing how much I could move my legs. The left was definitely more affected than the right but I kept trying.

 By around 2 am we made it to our room on the 6^th floor and got settled in. Sean went with Matthew to the nursery for his bath and his vaccination shot and a vitals check. He then had to go to the cafeteria for my liquid diet food items. Jello and Italian ice were big deals. Thankfully the dry heaving had stopped in the OR. We then attempted to sleep and feed throughout the night. I remember being woken up at 6 am by a nurse telling me that she had to give me a shot. I was like just give it to me and let me sleep. Around 9 in the morning Sean’s parents came to meet him for the second time and I got to introduce them to Matthew Christopher.  He had been nameless when they first saw him. Shortly after they came, a nurse asked if we planned on having him circumcised, which we did. They took him by himself for that procedure and he was gone for an hour. During that time my parents and aunt arrived. I was excited to see them, but more excited when Matthew would return to introduce them to each other. Who knew that the room was going to get a whole lot crowded for the next hour. My room phone rang and it was the birth certificate people calling. Her questions started out being related to the birth certificate, like place of birth for Sean and I, my maiden name, but then got strange, asking if we received WIC, what was our highest level of education, when was our first prenatal and last prenatal appointment. During this time, Matthew came back to the room with a nurse who was waiting to educate us on his care. The photographer came as well to take pictures. We got educated and started pictures when the lactation consultant came to stop by. The pictures were beautiful, especially the two with Sean. That alone determined that we were purchasing the CD. See, don't they melt your heart?

After that we cleared the room and asked for the lactation consultant to come back. The nurses had me out of bed and sitting in this upright chair with no arm support. It was for visitors, not patients. Thankfully the lactation consultant came and went in search of a rocking chair with arm support and an ottoman. She was a true blessing throughout our stay as it turned out I needed to pump manually and then use a shield to nurse. Quite a process for something that I thought would be so natural and easy. My parents and my in-laws came back to visit later in the day along with Katie, Jaci and Jessica. Overall, the day was exhausting and exciting as I was thrilled to introduce Matthew to my family.