It's a Girl!! Amelia Quinn, 7 lbs 7 ounces, 20.5 inches
My baby is 2 weeks old today and I'm going to start her birth story today. It might be a few months before I finish it though, because time has taken a different dimension now that my little milk drinker is here. December 27 2011. We arrived at the hospital as scheduled at 6 a.m. freshly showered and well rested (well me anyway...Brian woke up around 1 a.m. and couldn't fall back to sleep. I managed to get a good nap that afternoon and still sleep right through until my alarm clock went off at 4:30 a.m.)
**I guess I should preface this by explaining why the scheduled birth. At 30 weeks we found out the baby was in frank breech position. Mom (me) was disappointed because I was looking forward to the excitement of going into labor, timing the contractions, driving to the hospital, swearing at Brian, delivering naturally, tears of joy, instant skin to skin with my girl, you know... the ideal baby story. I found a great chiropractor and had her perform the Webster Technique on my 4 times. I tried different yoga positions, inversion board, frozen peas and hot compresses. This baby didn't want to flip, as was determined at our 36 week sonogram. So we scheduled our date, at 39 1/2 weeks, and I came to grips with it. Come to find out, as you will read, not so bad after all. I have a beautiful healthy perfectly happy baby with personality, and I was up and moving 12 hours later. Not the terrible painful experience I expected.
So we got to the hospital and checked in at the information desk. They gave us a cell phone and sent us to admissions. We filled out our paperwork and chatted with the admissions clerk. We found out that she also had a breech baby 4 years ago. She tried manual inversion with her Dr at 37 weeks and it was successful, but baby flipped back during labor and she ended up with a c section anyway. Also, the day before we were there, a woman with a breech baby arrived for her cesarean section and found out her baby positioned itself properly and she was sent home to go into labor naturally. I wondered if that would be good news at that point, I was so uncomfortable and psyched to meet my little one. I wanted to keep her in to thrive as long as possible, but that morning in particular she was beating me up, and I was ready to pop!
Brian and I went to the lobby after we were all checked in and waited. We saw my Dr walking in and she saw us and waved and asked if we were ready and I felt at ease as soon as I saw her there. She is my favorite Doctor, I've seen her for 11 years and have a very trusting relationship with her. One good thing about the scheduled section is I got Dr B for my delivery. I would have been sad to have someone else, especially for the surgery. Not long after Dr arrived they came and got me for prep and told H that when they were ready for him the phone would ring. So I gave him a smooch and off I went.
The nurse told me to go in the bathroom and empty my bladder and go back to curtain #1, take off everything, put on the gown, opening in the back, and lay down on my fancy cot. Then she came in put on my bracelets and started my IV fluids. She explained every step. Then the anesthesiologist Grace came in and explained everything she would be doing. Basically she was my wing man. She would be with me every second until I was well into recovery, and by the time the delivery was over I loved her so much that I briefly considered changing Amelia's name to Grace. So after I got 2 bags of IV fluids they wheeled me into the operating room. There were what seemed like dozens of people and everyone introduced themselves and told me what part they would be taking. Everyone was really nice and comforting. The baby nurse explained what would happen with baby after delivery so I knew exactly what to expect and wouldn't be upset when they took her to check her out.
The Dr started the spinal which was what I was the most nervous about. I told everyone I was nervous for that part so I had about 3 or 4 people to support me through it. The Dr behind me explained that there would be a small pinch from the lidocane injection. It zinged a little up my spine but it was instantly over and I was relieved that the worst of what I would feel was behind me. He told me not to move and I've never sat so still in all my life. I didn't feel a thing when he injected the spinal. As soon as that was done, everyone went seriously to work. They laid me down, started shaving my nether regions, and did some tests to make sure I was numb. Once the answer was yes they put up the sheets and I started panicking about when they were going to bring Brian in. I asked for him and Grace said she was just about to ask me if I had someone waiting. I was getting very anxious. I remember saying "he's really exited, he really wants to be here" and next thing I knew, there he was in his scrubs with cap and face mask and I hardly recognized him, but was instantly at ease and ready to go. He sat down and looked into my eyes and asked how I was feeling and I said "weird". They called the time and it was 8:12. Next thing we knew they held a baby up over the curtain and we were parents! They called the time again and it was 8:20. It took 8 quick minutes to get my beautiful baby out for me! I heard a little cry and I instantly knew she was healthy and the baby Dr took her over to her station and took Brian with her to check her out, like they told me it would happen. Then Brian carried her over to me and put her in my arms and took a few pics. He took her back and gave Grace our camera and she took some shots of the 3 of us together in our first few minutes, and then the baby Dr took Brian and Amelia to the nursery and left me and Dr B to stitch me up. This is when the very uncomfortable pressure on my chest started happening like they told me it would. I started feeling a little nauseous and Grace put a cold towel on my forehead and blocked the bright lights for me so I could concentrate on breathing through this uncomfortable part It wasn't long before it was over and they were wheeling me to recovery. Whatever medicine they put in my spinal was pretty good because this part was kind of blurry, but with Brian's texts we are able to trace back that when they finally brought her to me and we got skin to skin and I got to feed her it was 9:55 am and we were in our room around 11. A nurse was there in recovery to assist us with the initial latch and we both picked it up pretty quickly. In recovery I kept asking for a drink. I don't like to ask for things, I'm usually pretty easy going, but I was THIRSTY!!! I kept imagining chugging a liter of Gatorade. The nurse assured me I could have ice chips soon and they finally gave me some when we got to our Mother/Baby room. Best.Ice.Chips.EVER.
This post has taken me a week to do so I am going to end it now and move on to our wonderful lives together. My baby girl likes to move which is odd since she wouldn't budge from 30 weeks on in my belly, so I spend a lot of time carrying her around and don't get to type much on here. BUT last night we got her a swing and she is so happy in it!! So now I blog :) For now, until next time, enjoy a few pics of Amelia's first week!
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Here's mom ready for surgery. No make up, no deodorant, no jewelry. No more room in the belly:)
Here's the beautiful girl just as she was sitting in mommy's belly. Oh my can you believe she fit in me???
Our first family picture!
Here is the beautiful girl after her Mommy was able to feed her and be properly introduced, sleeping soundly, getting ready to receive so much love that her heart will be full forever, just like her mom and dads are now thanks to her. (silly cell phone pic, but you get the idea of how beautiful she is!)
