I had two main concerns with this little guy’s pregnancy.
First, I really wanted to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). This was
a problem because the small hospitals in our area no longer allowed VBACs due
to understaffing and insurance problems. I consulted with my doctors extensively
on if I would even have a chance of a VBAC. I reviewed the file for Preslee’s
c-section to find out the real cause for it.
After reviewing that, one of my doctors gave me a 50/50
percent chance of having a successful VBAC. That was good enough for me to
drive 45 minutes away to a hospital and doctors that do allow VBACs for a
consult. After we attended that appointment, Dave and I left even more confused
and didn’t feel comfortable with continuing treatment with that doctor. So that
left us to stay with the doctors we trusted and a hospital close to home, which
also meant that I would have a repeat c-section. I really wanted the experience
of having a vaginal birth but it just didn’t seem to be in the cards for me. I
was disappointed because, with Preslee’s c-section, I had to be alone in the
operating room while they stitched me up and alone in the recovery room until
my spinal had worn off a little. I missed Preslee’s first bath, and the first
couple hours of her life while I was in recovery. I was also scared of
recovering from a c-section with a toddler and a newborn at home to take care
of.
My other concern with having a planned c-section was that I
really wanted to go into labor so I would know that this baby was ready to be
born. I was nervous that my due date would be off and we would end up taking
out a baby who wasn’t ready to be born and would need NICU treatment. The small
hospitals up here do not have NICUs so the baby would have to go to Spokane for
treatment if that were to happen. Which would have been so sad to have to be
away from home and from Dave and Preslee while healing from a c-section and a
struggling newborn. We weren’t planning this pregnancy, so I didn’t know the
dates of my last period or anything. We were trusting the early ultrasound
dates which could be wrong by a few weeks. I just wanted to make sure this baby
was ready to be in the world and I didn’t want to take him out too early.
One thing that did settle my nerves about having a planned
c-section was that the hospital was trying to keep baby with mom as long as
possible. They allowed the baby to rest on mom’s chest while she was getting
stitched up in the operating room and they let mom recover on the OB floor with
the baby instead of making her recover in the Recovery room without the baby.
They also waited to weigh the baby, give him a bath or any shots until mom was
ready. I loved the thought that I would we with my little guy and he didn’t
need to be taken away from me at all. Also Dave could stay with me instead of
going with the baby. Best idea ever!
We finally settled on a planned c-section on May 8th,
five days before my due date. This date also worked best for Dave and his
finals, as well as my parents coming up to take care of Preslee while I was in
the hospital.
My parents showed up on the night of the 7th and
went to dinner with us. We came home, put Preslee to bed, chatted with my
parents, and then they went to their hotel to get some sleep. Dave had a last
minute final to do before we went to the hospital in the morning (we were
supposed to be there at 6:00 am) so he stayed up trying to finish. With a
planned c-section, they don’t want you to eat or drink anything after midnight,
and I knew I would be very thirsty, so I stayed up waiting for Dave and sipping
water until 11:30. Dave finally finished his final at around 1:00 am and he
came to bed.
At 2:00, I rolled over in bed. It was especially difficult
for me to turn over that time, so I stopped and rested on my back for a few
minutes. As I laid there, I felt like I was peeing my pants. So I hopped up and
ran (ok, I struggled up and waddled) to the bathroom. As I sat there, the water
just kept coming and coming and I knew my water had broke because this was
exactly how it felt when my water broke with Preslee. I stood up, just to make
sure, and felt another gush as I stepped into the tub. I called for Dave, who
had barely had an hour of sleep, and told him my water had broke. He called the
hospital to see if we needed to come in or if it would be ok if we tried to get
some rest and come in when we were scheduled to come at 6:00. The nurse said
that if I could feel the baby moving, I could stay home and try to rest. If I
hadn’t felt the baby move in an hour, I needed to come in. So I laid down on a
pile of towels to see if I could get him to move. But I couldn’t eat or drink
anything to get him going, so after about an hour and a half, I hadn’t felt him
so we decided we needed to go to the hospital at least to get monitored.
I called my parents to come stay with Preslee and apologized
that they had paid for a hotel that they couldn’t sleep in. Then Dave and I
went to the hospital at about 3:30 am.
They got me on the monitors and the baby was doing just
fine. I was contracting small, painless contractions every 10 to 15 minutes. I
thought that since my water had broke, I could maybe be the first c-section of
the day instead of the second, but they told me as long as I wasn’t contracting
too bad, I would just wait until my scheduled time at 8:00 am. So Dave and I
tried to get some rest in the hospital.
It took two tries to get my IV in and then they gave me a
bunch of antibiotics and fluids. It was a positional IV, so I had to keep my
hand twisted kinda funny in order to get the meds into me, so when I finally
dosed off and relaxed a little, a nurse would come in and say I had to keep my
hand twisted so my IV would go in. It was a pain.
At about 6:30 or 7:00, the doctor came in to check on me and
let me know he was ready to go, the anesthesiologist came in and explained the
spinal to me and asked if a student could give me the spinal. I was hesitant
about that because my body does not cooperate during medical procedures, and I
was especially nervous about getting a spinal because my epidural with Preslee
was terrible, but I said it was ok as long as the anesthesiologist was right
there by him. He assured me that he would be there. He also said that my doctor
had requested that I receive a tap block, which is a shot on either side of my
incision that will be a pain relief for 18-24 hours after my surgery. He said
that they would do this while I was still numb with my spinal and would only
take a few minutes after my surgery.
Well, the student anesthesiologist missed getting the spinal
in the first time. It sent shocks down my right leg and made me jump and
squeak. Then the anesthesiologist had to try two more times before, finally, I
felt warm tingles in my left foot instead of sharp shocks and zings down my leg
and in my back. They laid me back and waited for the medicine to work it’s way
up my body. They finally let Dave in and I felt much better having him there
with me. It took a long time for them to get my spinal in, so Dave looked relieved
when they finally let him in too. The first thing I said to Dave when he came
in was “I am not having any more kids. This sucks.”
Because I had scar tissue from my previous c-section, the
first part of the surgery took a lot longer than I remember with Preslee’s. I
kept asking the student anesthesiologist what was going on. He had resumed care
over me after the spinal was done. He was actually super nice and very
personable. When I felt nauseous, he fixed it right away and I felt almost
instant relief. He finally told me that the baby was almost ready to come out!
At 9:07 am, my baby boy was born! He cried instantly and so
did I. The doctor told me that he had actually come out mooning everyone! He
was Frank Breech inside of me.
I started shaking pretty badly while I
was holding him and they draped blankets and warm towels on me and the baby.
They took him over to wipe some stuff off of him
and do his APGAR scoring. Dave got to cut his cord while he was over there too.
They kept him for 7 minutes to do that scoring (he got a 9 and a 10, which is
perfect) and then he was placed on my chest for the rest of the surgery. I
loved looking at him and he loved being snuggled in close. I could tell that he
was a lot bigger than Preslee because the little newborn hat they put on him
wouldn’t stay on his big head. His cheeks were so chubby that, while he was
laying on me, he couldn’t open his eyes! I was so smitten and loved looking at
him and stroking his cheeks while they finished the surgery.
When they were done, the baby had gotten a little cold while
being on me and they said they could take him down and weigh him and then I
would be done with my tap block and could meet them back down on the OB floor.
I told Dave to go with them and then they started my tap block. I thought it
would be two quick shots, but they actually had to get an ultrasound machine
out and put this mega needle in between the right muscle layers so it took a
little longer than I expected. But we finally got out of the OR and went to the
OB floor. I was shaking and shivering really badly by then and the
anesthesiologist said that almost every mom gets that way after a c-section.
His theory was that the spinal made it so the adrenaline of birth couldn’t
happen until the spinal started wearing off, so when it did start to wear off, all
the adrenaline built up had to expel somehow (I didn’t need it to labor or push
out a baby), so we shake and shiver. I was worried that they wouldn’t let me
hold the baby, but they said it was fine. I also started itching, especially my
face. 
Recovery was a little bit of a blur. I held our baby and
nursed. He was a champ at nursing right from the beginning. Kayla, my awesome
recovery nurse, gave me meds, got a pump on my IV so I wouldn’t have to hold my
hand funny, pushed on my uterus to make me contract (OUCH!). I itched my face,
tried to wiggle my toes, and slowly stopped shivering and shaking. We took a
few pictures of him and tossed around names for him. Dave didn’t like Enoch for
him and said that he liked Graham. I still liked Seth and Breckan for him, but
liked Graham too. I told him I was too tired to make any decisions. I asked the
nurses if we could wait to bathe him until Preslee could come and help. The
nurses were totally fine with waiting. We just got to cuddle and recover for a
few hours, which was so awesome.
Preslee came to meet her baby brother at about 11:00. She
loved loved loved him right from the beginning. Grandma and Grandpa took very
good care of her and spoiled her rotten. My dad thought it was crazy that we didn’t have a name for him yet and kept
tossing out possibilities. Preslee got to help them bathe the baby and got her
very own big sister backpack. The nurses loved seeing how cute she was with her
little brother. When grandma and grandpa and Preslee left to have lunch and take
a nap, Dave and I napped too. The
nurses took little baby boy and gave him some newborn shots, got his footprints
and measured him (20 inches! Two inches longer than Preslee!) while Dave and I
rested.
When we woke up and nursed again, we tossed around names
again. We actually kinda settled on Seth and then Dave called him Seth. It felt
so wrong to call him that. So we went to Breckan, which didn’t quite feel right
either. Dave finally said that he felt his name should be Graham right when he
saw him. We both tried the name on him and it felt right. But none of the
middle names we had went with Graham. I finally asked Dave if we could use
David as a middle name and he said that I could! So Graham David it is! We both
love love his name and it fits him so well.
Preslee and Grandma and Grandpa came back after a few hours
and we told them that his name was Graham David. I don’t think Grandpa liked
the name, but we still love it. ;)
Nursing continued to go well and my recovery was pretty
normal. I was able to get out of bed that night and take a shower the next
morning. By Saturday the 10th, I was ready to get out of the
hospital! The doctor cleared me, but because I was considered an “early check
out” I had to go back on Monday to get checked out.
When we left the hospital, Graham was 7 pounds 14 ounces and
hated his car seat! He screamed most of the way home and he still doesn’t like
it very much at 4 weeks old!
We are so blessed with this baby boy. My whole experience
was so great with awesome nurses and wonderful, caring staff. I am so very
blessed and so glad that my two main concerns were addressed. I knew the baby
was supposed to be born that day because my water broke at home! I knew that he
was ready to be born! Also, there was also absolutely no way that I could have
had a VBAC because they would have found out that the baby was Frank Breech and
I would have had a c-section anyway! I am so thankful for the way things turned
out and I know we made the best choices for the baby, our family, and me. I don’t
have any guilt over taking the baby too early or any regrets about having
another c-section. It all worked out exactly how it’s supposed to and I am so
thankful for that!
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