the C-Section

**Warning** This will be a graphic post. I am writing this all out for our memories, mostly, so if you are sensitive to details- kindly exit now and rejoin the story on the next post :)

I was never sure about the whole C-section thing and I am still not sure if I have drawn my conclusion about it. However, it was the best plan that we had at the time. I was taken back right at 10:00 am. My L&D nurse requested to assist the surgery, so she was in the room with me the whole time. I also had the best anesthesiologist. He was so warm and friendly and did an amazing job of keeping us posted on what was going on the entire time. Not to mention the awesome job he did with keeping the pain away! It is such a strange sensation. You have feeling- you can feel pressure, touch, etc...You cannot feel sharp pain, though. The worst part was not the part I thought it would be. The first part was fine, I felt some pressure but it was bearable. We were told that as long as Dr. Finney was engaged in small talk, everything was going well. She and the other Dr. continued to talk about mother-in-laws and Thanksgiving plans, this calmed me. The anesthesiologist told us when they were about to pull her out. I asked MSW to get a picture of this. The anesth. told him to start shooting away now. He got alot of graphic pictures that we are now looking at thinking, "hmm...maybe he should not have taken some of those!" There was a short pause in the small talk because the cord was loosely around her neck. It was taken care of immediately and things went back to talks of Thanksgiving plans.

She almost here!

 

Head is out!

 

This is where the pause occurred, cord being removed from around her neck.

 

Hello world!

 

I got a quick glimpse of her and she was whisked away to be checked and cleaned up. She came out crying and it was the most beautiful sound ever! Her first APGAR was a 9, 2nd was a 10. Perfect! MSW was running back and forth between me and her. Finally they remembered to tell me that yes, she was a girl. She was perfect in every way and really looked alot like doodle to us both. She has a birthmark in a place that only her parents and husband will know about :) She was wrapped up and MSW was able to get her close to my face. This whole time was truly the worst part of the C-section. I am not going to lie, it was painful. I am not sure what they were doing but it hurt and I was tensing up my back so badly from the pain that today I can hardly move because of the soreness in my back. It took about 30 minutes and then the 3 of us were taken to recovery.

My mom also got to meet us in recovery and she got to hold Camdyn in between her checks, etc... As the epidural and morphine began to wear off, the pain increased. It took a while to find the right combo of drugs that would take the edge off. I was very careful to take it easy in increasing the drugs. I did not want to get sick! I was very lucky to avoid that, gas and headaches. By noon, we were in my room and settled. I had a few visitors that afternoon but we mostly rested.

That night was difficult. Camdyn immediately took to breastfeeding, initially. She did great from the recovery room until about 1:00 that morning. I was a sight to be seen. With an IV, catheter, leg compresion things to prevent blood clots and an incision, moving around was not an option. At 1:00 am she got a little gas and was fussy and just plain uncomfortable. It was at this point that she also decided breastfeeding was too much work and refused to eat. Mommy, daddy and Camdyn were up most the night. She had a fussy morning and finally after many nurses and even the lacatation consultant recommended a formula feeding, I gave in. What a difference! My sweet baby was back! I seriously do not think she has fussed even a little since Saturday morning. We are still working on breastfeeding and today she is back to nursing.

I will conclude more on the c-section experience later on....