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So my c-section had been scheduled, this meant in a week I would have a newborn in my life. Talk about being scared, I spent the week trying to take it easy. Getting things set up and making sure we had everything we would need was all I did. The night before I was so nervous, I had been told no food/drink after midnight (I am a night owl so that was not going to be easy for me) so I decided to eat and go to bed really early. Tip if you are ever told no food/drink after midnight wake up right before and have a good drink of water.
C-Section time
That morning we got up and headed to the hospital. My mom was there with us to help with our stuff while we were in surgery. Everything was looking good until it was time to put my IV in. Remember my earlier tip, well I learned this because I did not do it so was dehydrated. Getting my IV in was probably the worst part of the whole c-section experience for me. I don’t like needles in the first place, but it took 4 people to get my IV in, 2 nurses tried and then 2 different anesthesiologists tried. The last one brought in an ultrasound and used that to find and get into my vein. This was painful, and I was crying the whole time because it hurt, they could find my veins just not get into them.
This put me a bit behind, so they were doing some of the prep with me still in the pre-op room. They were trying to not get too far behind, once done they wheeled me into surgery while my husband got gowned up. In the OR my OB was there (since she was not the one who scheduled the surgery she was not the primary, but she was assisting so I was very happy to have her there). She held my hand and helped me through getting the epidural … now after all the issues with the IV getting the epidural honestly was nothing … lol.
They started getting me ready and my husband and his nurse came in. Yes, they assign a nurse to the partner so that if they have any issues during the surgery there is someone specifically to help them and not take away the medical staff from mom or baby.
Actual c-section
I had a little nausea during the surgery, but my anesthesiologist was good and got me taken care of quickly. They say you might feel pressure, but I remember it felt more funny than anything. They got my daughter out and showed her to me before taking her to the warming area. My rainbow baby was now ready to be a part of our family outside my body. Now I did not know till discharge but her Apgar at birth was 1 because after she cried once when they got her out and showed me she stopped breathing so she only got credit for a heartbeat. They quickly took care of her. Neither me or my husband knew anything was wrong, her second score was 8.
She was 5 lbs. 15 oz so she was smaller than your average baby. You know how most people don’t even get newborn clothing because their child does not need it … well yup we needed them. My husband got to cut the cord and everything. I was having a tubal ligation while I was in there, so my husband and Ashlyn went to wait for me in recovery while they finished stitching me up.
Recovery
I was taken into recovery where I got to hold and breastfeed my daughter. Once I was ready to be moved up to the Mother/Baby unit Ashlyn was put in her bassinet. My husband got to push her up to our room. The nurses thought it was so great because he talked to her the whole way up to our room. My mom was waiting for us in our room with all our stuff. They got us all situated, and I finally got to just cuddle my daughter.
I did my best to breastfeed and had small success. Ashlyn had low blood sugar and my milk had not come in yet. They recommended that we supplement with formula, so we did. So, we would feed her formula at the same time I was breastfeeding to try and get my milk to come in. After a feeding my husband would take and do skin to skin with her while I pumped.
Bilirubin level issues
She had trouble with her bilirubin levels. She had to spend time in a bassinet with UV lights and I was so devastated. I wanted to hold her, and I was not allowed except for 30 min while feeding her. You can bet I took that full 30 min to get my cuddles in. She honestly did really well and did not fuss at all while she was in there. It was definitely harder on mom and dad then on her.
She only had to spend about 36 hours in there, but it was hard on me. I had one nurse who insisted I put her back as soon as I was done breastfeeding instead of allowing me the 30 minutes. 🙁 The only good thing was she was a fill in and I only had to deal with her that one time. My stay at the hospital was not too bad and I had no complications from my c-section. We spent about 3 days in the hospital total while I recovered from my surgery and munchkin got her levels all straightened out. I was so happy to be able to pack her up and go home without any extra days. If her levels had not come up enough they would have discharged me and given my room to her. This would have been, so we could stay with her till her levels were good. I was still nervous that I would not be able to do this … I was wrong 🙂
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