Molly's Birth Story
>> Monday, August 15, 2011
I had good intentions of writing and posting this sooner than now, but I guess better late than never! Molly will be 3 weeks old in 2 days, so life has been a little crazy the last few weeks, but we are adjusting well. I know I've already forgotten some of the details but here's my attempt.
I registered with the hospital about a month before delivery. Molly was my 3rd c-section, so I knew what to expect. The only "new" thing about this time around was a different doctor. The OB that delivered the two boys decided he wanted to sleep through the night, so he stopped delivering babies. Anyway, when I registered with the hospital, they said that I needed to arrive around 6am for my 7:30 c-section. Then at my last OB appointment with my doctor the Friday before my c-section, he said that I should arrive at 5:30-6am. The hospital called to confirm things with me on Monday before the c-section and said I needed to be there at 5:15. So, we decided that as long as we were there sometime around 5:30-5:45, we should be good.
I dropped the boys off with my Mother-In-Law on Tuesday afternoon. They kept the boys overnight so we wouldn't have to get them up early. It also let me knock off the remainder of my "to-do" list without having the boys un-do everything behind me.
We managed to get a few hours of sleep Tuesday night, but nerves got the best of both of us, so we tossed and turned all night just waiting for 5am to roll around. We ended up getting to the hospital around 5:40 or so, which I thought was perfect. When we got off the elevator in the labor and delivery unit, the first thing that greeted us was a woman screaming. Now, neither myself or my husband have ever been around active labor before. I was induced with my first pregnancy, but I had "failure to progress" and I never got past 3cm dilation and never had a real contraction. So, I was ribbing my husband about how he will never have to go through "real labor". After talking to the registration nurse, we found out that that couple arrived at the ER, came up to labor & delivery and had the baby 3 minutes after getting on the L&D floor! Needless to say, she said the husband was freaking out, the doctor wasn't able to make it, and the poor lady didn't get any pain relief. But they have a cool story to tell their kids and grand-kids someday!
After waiting around for them to finish checking in the "drive-by" delivery, I was finally checked in around 6am. We made our way to the recovery room, which serves as the pre-op area as well. I guess I didn't have enough water to drink on Tuesday, because my veins were really hard to get. After 2 failed IV attempts, the nurse called in someone else to get a vein. She got it, but not very well and the anesthesiologist wasn't happy about it but was do-able as long as I held my arm a certain way. I'm not sure if it was nerves or what, but I ended up almost passing out in pre-op, hence the cool wash cloth on my head in the photo below.
My c-section was scheduled at 7:30am, but because of the delay getting back to my room, my blood work was also delayed at the lab. Two different doctors felt my belly and gave me baby weight estimates...one estimated her at 7.2 and the other at 8.1. Both of the boys were in the low 7's, so I told that doctor that they were probably correct based on past pregnancies.
We ended up heading back to the OR around 7:45am or so. After getting my spinal, I ended up puking on the nurse. And this was right after I told them that I don't get sick until about 1 hour AFTER surgery. Poor nurses and doctors! Anyway, here's the photo Steve awesomely took of me on the operation table just after puking on the nurses...taken from his perspective at my side.
The spinal and start of the c-section were pretty text book. The only problem I had was that the numbing medicine they use before the spinal didn't work as effectively as it should have. I felt the spinal needle a little and she also hit a nerve and made my leg jerk a little. Not a big deal except they had to take it a little slower and I think they gave me some extra morphine...which I always have a reaction to.
Our first reaction? Where did she get all of that dark hair?! Both of the boys were born with hardly any hair, and it was blond! She started screaming as soon as her head popped out and before they even had the rest of her body outside of me. She also pooped right before they took her out and then peed all over the nurses as they were cleaning her up. That surprised them because they said they expect that from boys but not from girls. Stitching me up took a little longer than in previous c-sections because of the extra scar tissue, but we headed to recovery sometime around 8:30-8:45. This was also my first opportunity to hold baby Molly!
The hospital's policy is for the mother and baby to stay in recovery for 2 hours. We spent the 2 hours holding Molly, getting to know her a little, feeding her and deciding 100% on her name. Here is Steve showing her off to the camera. What a proud daddy!
After recovery, we went to the Mother/Baby unit, which would be our home for the next 2 days. The nurse came and checked Molly over thoroughly. Her temperature was a little low, so she ended up under the heat lamp for about 10 minutes or so until anyone else could hold her. But everything else was great!
My parents, 2 of my sisters, my in-laws and my boys all arrived sometime around now. Here is one of the first photos of the boys checking out their new sister. I was in the bed holding Molly and Steve was introducing them to her.
Tyler was really proud and excited to meet his little sister. Ryan was more excited to see me and wanted to be by my side the entire time.
This was about the time that the anesthesia and the morphine caught up with me and I started getting sick. I was kinda out of it after the c-section (tired, loopy, etc) until around 2pm when I started to puke and just feel terrible. Sometime around then, the boys left with my parents, my in-laws left and Steve left to go play a softball game and finish transferring our new vehicle over into our name. It was a nice break for me because I didn't feel like I had to stay awake or apologize for getting sick in front of everyone. So from then until around 3pm on Thursday, it was just me, Molly and the doctors and nurses. I really enjoyed the time I had with just her and getting to relax a little and not worry about anything.
One of my sisters is stationed in St. Lucia with the Peace Corps right now, so she wasn't able to be at the hospital for Molly's arrival. Technology is wonderful and Molly and I were able to skype for a little bit so Sara could meet her first niece!
The doctor gave approval for me to get my IV out around 11am on Thursday, so I was able to take a shower and felt much better!
I spent the rest of the afternoon taking photos of Molly and watching the Reds lose on TV.
Thursday evening, we had several friends visit and come to meet Molly for the first time. They wanted to come Wednesday evening, but I cancelled on them and was so glad that I did. I felt so much better by Thursday evening and was much more alert and with it for their visit!
I convinced the doctors and nurses to let me go home on Friday afternoon. They said I could stay until Saturday, but I was ready to get home! The boys stayed away until Saturday evening, so I felt much better hanging out at home with Molly than being cooped up in the hospital room!
Once the boys got home on Saturday afternoon, they got to hold Molly for the first time! Here's the first sibling photo.
And the first family photo!
Now that it's been 2 weeks since we arrived home, I can honestly say that it was a great experience! I hate being pregnant, so now I'm actually sleeping much better (I can lay on my stomach again!!!) and Molly is a trooper. She's sleeping for 3-4 hours at a time at night and has even done a couple 5 hour stretches. She's an awesome eater...over 9lbs already and is almost completely out of her newborn clothes now. It's going by way too quickly, but I'm trying to savor each and every moment!
