Post Eviction Notice

(These posts are going to be long and wordy- they're probably too much for the majority if you, but this blog is also documenting my life for the future!)

Wednesday night came and went...Thursday morning they woke me up at 6 am.  Removed the gel pack and a different doctor from my practice came in.  She made me cry.  lol.  It was early and she stuck this stick inside and broke my water.  The second most painful thing the whole entire trip to the hospital.  The part they didn't tell me- there was a string type deal being attached to the top of my baby's head.  They didn't say that it'd be bleeding when she came out or that there would be a scab there for the next few weeks.  Thanks for that one.  Anyways...yes, I cried.

The string deal monitored baby B (it's weird typing this now since the sex of our child was still unknown at this time), so it was necessary and I'm glad it was there.  Contractions started coming with the water breakage and the Pitocin in my iv.  I signed myself up for the epidural at 3 cm...the nurse in the hall said, "she's ready for the epi already?"  lol, yes woman I am a baby when it comes to pain, I want this to be as enjoyable of a process as it can be, and I will go ahead and sign up early before it's too late.  Now, get me my drugs!  The epi did not hurt at all.  A little pinch and a lot of pressure...but I felt golden.  Well, I was really numb.  Too numb actually, so my doc made us ease up on the dip.  That was OK with me though...I couldn't hold my legs apart for a cervix check.  Just FYI, I despise the feeling of not being able to feel your legs.  It sucked.  I felt SO weird.  I had snuck in a snack of orange jello before I was told I didn't get anything, not even ice chips, and what do you know...Miss Queasy Stomach strikes again.  I got busted for eating...lol...as it all came up.

Here's what you are really reading this long post for...contractions were coming at a steady pace and the baby's heartbeat was dropping at a steady pace.  This happens, I was told, but when it drops after the contraction it's a bad sign.  The heartbeat was dropping drastically...dangerously low.  My All Star nurse, Dina, kept coming in and trying different things to help the baby out.  C-section was obviously the last resort.  I was on oxygen, switching sides, laying flat, they even put a tube up there to get amniotic fluid flowing around the baby, but to no avail the heartbeat kept dropping.  They took me off Pitocin and the baby was OK for awhile, but the contractions weren't coming steady enough to progress labor.  Back on the Pitocin I went and back down the heartbeat went.  They were VERY calm...in all honesty, I couldn't see the monitors (partly b/c they were turned away and partly b/c I was drugged and slept ALL day between nurse/doc interruptions) and learned all these things in about 10 minutes.  Doctor B told me the next day that they tried everything known in medicine to avoid the c section...things they haven't done for years b/c once you get to that point, your efforts are pretty much a lost cause.

In walks my beloved nurse with a hair net...I knew that meant surgery...maybe she was going to go in on another lady's surgery, down went my bed rails...nope, that lady is me.  Me?  Waaaahhhhh.  Then came the tears, like a waterfall.  What was going through my head?  This:  "Why me?  No! Did we try everything?  Can we wait a little while?  My stomach is going to be ruin.  I am going to have surgery...for the first time ever.  It's happening right now?  Is the baby OK?  Is the baby alive?  Will the baby survive?  Wait...I'm going to have SURGERY?!?!?!"  I squeezed the doctor's hand and the nurse's hand.  Please tell me we are going to be OK.  And wham, bam, thank you ma'am there were 5 people in my room running around, asking several questions, tossing Mike scrubs, unhooking my tubes, and rolling me away.  The next 45 minutes were without a doubt THE.SCARIEST moments of my life.  I didn't even feel like it was happening.  I honestly thought I wasn't going to have a baby in my arms anytime soon.  The room was cold, stark white...with two huge bright lights hanging from the ceiling.  There were tools on a table and two women rattling off a checklist.  I laid naked on this 'table' that was hardly as wide as me.  The anesthesiologist sat at my head...talking to me the whole time.  I got a spinal block...he said, "You're going to feel something wet and cold in your back."  Check.  They put up the blue curtain, put oxygen in my face, and began cutting.  The word 'tugging' does absolutely NOTHING for how it feels.  I winced in "pain"...but I didn't feel a thing.  They were down right rough.  The doctors were pushing on my body, cutting through my fibrous layer...it felt like they were cutting tendons, but again, I didn't feel anything.  Ugh.  As I laid there, I felt pressure and a pop on my left side...at the top of my uterus...I heard/felt pop, push, gush, gurgled cry, again, and finally, BIG CRY.

The moment they lifted her up I felt a sigh of relief- the baby is OK and the baby is here.  I have an OUTSIDE baby!!!!  Doctor B said, "What is it Dad?"  And Mike paused, "It's uh..."  Then as he got his bearings and "it's a girl" came out.  He sat down gave me a kiss and I said, "Hurry up, go take pictures, you're going to miss everything."  Poor guy had NO CLUE what to expect...I only know from watching A Baby Story on TLC...he didn't watch those with me.  He seemed terrified of breaking the rules...just unsure of his role in an operating room/during surgery.  Then they brought her to my face...#1 reason a c-section sucks:  not holding your baby the very first time you are able to see him/her, after 9-10 long months carrying your baby in your belly.  On the flip side, it wasn't but 10 minutes max before they had her in my arms in my post surgery room (all recovery rooms were full/being cleaned).

Our precious baby girl was born on March 17, 2011 at 3:22 pm weighing 6 lbs 5 oz and 19 in long.  Welcome to the world Addison Irene!!  Her name comes from the street Wrigleyfield is on and my Nana''s middle name.