As I type this story, Maddie is sleeping on my lap and making her moaning noises as she sleeps :-)
Tuesday morning, April 24, 2012 I woke up about 5:00am to get ready to head to the hospital for our scheduled c-section. We didn't need to be there until 7:30am and it was only about 20 minutes away but I was up and wasn't going back to sleep, I was too anxious. I thought I wouldn't sleep much the night before but we went to bed early and I was able to get good sleep.
We got to Condell Hospital at 7:30am and had to register and check in. They then took us to triage where I got into my hospital garb, got my iv put in, got hooked up to the heart and baby monitor and did a whole lot of waiting. Dr. Wong came into our room and did an ultrasound to make sure our little bundle was still head up - she was! My mom, dad, Larry, Ryan's mom and step dad Ed were all crammed into our little triage room with us as well. My surgery was scheduled for 9:30am but due to an emergency c-section with twins that came in we were pushed back and didn't get in the OR until about 10:30am possibly a little earlier.
When the time came, Ryan (in his dark blue scrubs :-)) and I were taken towards the OR. He had to wait a few doors down outside and they took me in. I was completely calm (unexpected on my part) up until this point. The nurse walked me into the OR, she was very very nice and I was very very overwhelmed at this point. Everything in the operating room was just so bright and so white. I cannot tell you a single thought that was going through my mind but a few words that would best describe how I felt; overwhelmed, nervous, out of body. It all came down to this, in a good way, I just had no clue what was going to go on and I think I was kind of scared at this point. They led me onto the operating table where I sat up, the anesthesiologist gave me two shots, the first one was to numb the area and the second was my spinal with a shot of morphine in it. I don't remember them hurting all too badly, I think the first one was the worst and just a weird poking/pricking feeling in my spine. I remember being worried that it wouldn't kick in fast enough but it sure did. The nurses maneuvered my body to lay down and they lifted up my legs onto the table. They inserted my catheter and put up the curtain. Everything after that is semi hazy. I was totally awake and with it but felt kind of out of it. I think that may have been the morphine. Dr. Wong and Dr. Kim came in eventually I think I remember Dr. Kim saying something to me. I remember someone saying, you can go get her husband. Ryan then came in and started talking to me about silly stuff, which I knew was his way of not letting me think about what they were doing to me.
The one thing I love is that the doctors never said anything to elude to what they were doing (scalpel, stitching up now, etc.) so I had no clue, which I think was better. I didn't feel much during the surgery except for when they were pulling Madelyn out of me, I couldn't take much more than a really shallow breath. During the rest of the surgery I just felt like I couldn't breath but nothing crazy, just because I was lying there flat. They did not have my arms tied down though, which I was grateful for - I think that would make me feel trapped. Maddie was born at 10:39am, they brought her around the curtain so I could see her and then Ryan went over by her when she was weighed and measured. She was screaming her little head off. :-) They cleaned her and wrapped her up and brought her over by me and put her right next to my head. It was amazing that she would be crying and when she heard mine or Ryan's voice she would quiet down - she knew our voices!
Ryan and Maddie then went to the baby nursery and I was left in the OR where they stitched me up - still didn't feel anything at all! I went to the recovery room, my heart rate was up a bit but went back down fairly quickly. Eventually Maddie and Ryan met me in recovery and we got to breast feed. I was still feeling good on my meds.
We eventually all got rolled into our room where we stayed for two days. All the parents came back to visit after a little while. I didn't get out of bed until about midnight or so that night. I was on strictly bed rest due to my c-section. At night I had to get up and go to the bathroom on my own which was such a strange feeling. I did a lot better than I thought I would though and it didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would, that being said it wasn't the best feeling in the world. By the next morning, mid morning or so I was going to the bathroom on my own without a nurses assistance. Every time they came in to check my incision, every nurse/dr would say how great it looked. I had glue that head the incision together, which I think I like, it looks much better than if it were stitched and it's very low and seems like the incision looks minimal. We did okay at the hospital, the first night and even the second just a little less, I was unable to get up and down very easily so I had to wake Ryan to get me Maddie every time she woke up to feed, which seemed like every hour. I felt like a bad mom if I sent her to the nursery so I could sleep. By the second night though I had to so that I could get a little bit of sleep at least. She went to the nursery for about four hours on our second night at the hospital.
Some of my favorite nurses at the hospital were Tina (she was in the OR and then with us all day on Wednesday) and Jessica (my night nurse the first night).
They also had two different bracelets. The one that all three of us wore had an id number on it saying we all went together. There was another one that myself and Maddie wore and that one played a little tune when we came in contact with each other.
While at the hospital, Madelyn passed her hearing test at 100% on both ears. When the pediatrician checked her out for our discharge, she was almost certain that her hips were displaced. Since then we have been to the dr's office and an orthopedist and they said that everything is just fine, phew!
The day that we left I took my very first shower of my stay in our shower in our room. I was so nervous to shower for some reason, but it as all good.
We went home on Thursday, April 26 at about 6:45pm. I was wheeled in a wheel chair to the main doors, Ryan pulled up the car and we got in to go home! We were discharged a day early because we were breastfeeding good and I was healing up good and getting around really well on my own. My stomach hurt so bad riding home, any little bump killed. But we made it home as a new family of three!!!
The dogs were actually very good when we got home, Mason was excited when I let him smell Maddie, his little tail was wagging and Dahlia wanted to smell too.
