Miss C's Birth Story

The surgery to deliver Carlie Grace was scheduled for Thursday, May 17 at 12:30 pm. I was not a happy camper about this time, seeing as how I could have nothing to eat or drink since midnight the night before. That’s not so bad if your surgery is at 7 in the morning, but noon?

On the way to the hospital, I realized that I just didn’t like the name we had picked. So, we changed it. I thought naming Miss M two days before she was born was bad, but this baby was named on the way to the hospital!

We arrived at the hospital two hours before the surgery as requested, only to be informed that an emergency c-section had delayed our surgery time by a couple of hours. We were ushered into this huge room to wait. The room, which was actually larger than the surgery room, had a bed and IV supplies in one corner, a closet in the other corner for other supplies, and in the third corner was a toilet. The toilet was not in a separate room. No, it was simply separated from the rest of the room by a curtain. The curtain, I would come to discover, was not large enough to totally block the view of the room, nor did it go very far to the floor. Needless to say, there was not much privacy. Our funny nurse informed us, “That was designed by a man!”

So I changed into the first gown, got strapped to the monitors (why I needed to be monitored is beyond me. I mean, we had no reason to believe baby was in distress. I guess it’s just standard protocol in the Labor and Delivery wing).

And we waited. For two hours. Watching who knows what on the tiny TV hanging across the room. We didn’t bring in our computers because that would be something else to keep track of in and out of the surgery room. We were a bit bored.

Finally, it was time. I had to change into a different gown, one made out of paper that was stifling hot, and walk down to the surgery room. When I walked into the room I started to feel a bit panicked. There is a LOT of equipment in a surgical room, and you suddenly realize there is no turning back. I think there is definitely a benefit to being knocked out before you go into surgery for most other types of surgery.

I got myself up on the table and the anesthesiologist administered the spinal. It took a few minutes and I was panicking. I had just read literally that morning of a friend on facebook whose cousin or some other relative had a c-section and the anesthetic did not work. I was paranoid that would happen to me!

They had me lay down and suddenly I felt like I was going to pass out. I told the anesthesiologist and he informed me that my blood pressure had dropped from 160/100 to 100/50. He gave me a shot of something and elevated my head to fix that and I was fine.

The spinal worked as it was supposed to, they got me all scrubbed and draped, and they brought Tim in. I did not know they had started the incision until I heard my doctor say, “We have a breech baby. Nicole, was she breech?” The answer was no, she was not as of two days prior to the surgery.

Then, I heard the doctor ask for fundal pressure. Apparently the baby’s head was stuck up in my ribs and one of the nurses had to push and push while the doctor tugged on her feet to get her out. I could not see any of this, but I could feel my body shaking. Then, the shaking stopped and she was out.

She did not cry right away. That made me a little crazy, but then she was crying, and so was I. It was a long journey to have her here safely, and I was just so happy she was out, she was crying, and she appeared healthy.

It made me crazy that I could not see her. The way the drapes were it was impossible for me to see her. Even when Tim brought her over, I could only see the top of her head.

My first thought was, “She is so tiny!” Miss M weighted in at 10 lb, 4 oz, and we expected this baby to be about the same size. She did not look like a10 pounder at all. I was also surprised that she had little hair compared to Miss M. The ultrasound gal at my doctor had told me multiple times that she had a lot of hair, so I was expecting another full head of hair.

At this point they took her out and Tim went with. Finishing up the surgery took a while because there was another procedure they had to do. I was so anxious to meet my baby and actually look at her! I had made it very clear to the nurse that I wanted her with me ASAP after the surgery. When I had Miss M, they kept her for three hours after surgery!

While they were finishing everything, the nursery called down and gave us her stats. Carlie Grace was 8 lb, 9 oz, 20 inches long. Everyone kept saying how that was a “good size,” but all I could think was how small she was!

We went into the recovery room, and I reiterated that I wanted the baby soon. Within an hour of having her, she was in my arms. She nursed immediately and perfectly. It was like a dream come true!

It took about two hours to finish the recovery and get wheeled into the actual room where we would stay for our hospital stay.

All in all, it was an uneventful delivery. She is here, she is perfect, and we are thrilled!