June 2008 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
C-Section Momma's
It appears as if my girls may be staying put in breech positions (I'm not giving up hope, lol.) so I'd love to hear your c/s stories if you have a few moments.
Good, bad... give it to me straight. Now that it's looking like a real possibility, I feel like I should prepare myself!
Re: C-Section Momma's
I've had 2 c/s and the second one was much easier. I think I also attribute it to the fact that I was sooooo miserable the last 2 weeks being pregnant that recovering from it was so easy!
Basically it was scheduled for 8am, so I show up at 6am. Of course I ended up having to wait because there were other women in labor and they needed to keep the OR open. So finally around 10:30am, they start prepping me (IV, cleaning down below, etc). At 11:30am I walked down the hall to the OR. I get in there and they have you sit on a table and they do the spinal. There was some student trying to do it on me, but I complained about it being painful so the regular anesthesiologist took over. Then they quickly laid me down and started doing all the other prep work.
Oh yeah, when you lay down they put an oxygen mask on you and it's going to feel like you can't breathe since you are numb from almost the neck down. The first c/s I started to freak out and panic, but this time I knew to expect it so just focused on taking deeper breathes and realizing that I was breathing even though I couldn't really feel it.
Then DH comes in, and several minutes later I feel some tugging and heard a baby cry! Then I told DH to get up and take pics. Then we hear another baby cry! They announced the weights and DH got lots of pics. Then they brought them over for me to kiss! Then DH and the girls went to the nursery for their tests while they stitched me up. They stitched me up and wheeled me to recovery (I got to push the baby button twice!). DH also went down to tell our families about the girls.
By the time I got to recovery DH and the girls were already there waiting! I ended up being in recovery for about 2 hours. I was having the shakes and really cold (I lost a lot of blood, which is pretty normal for twin births). They said my post-partum room was ready so I actually send DH and the girls to the room and told him to have family come in and meet them all. I figured all the crazy excitement would be over by the time I got to the room. I was so exhausted that I just wanted to relax... it was really nice as I fell asleep for that hour.
Then I get to the room and they ask everyone to leave so they can move me from the stretcher to the bed. That was painful cause I sorta had to move myself! I had the girls around noon and they didn't have me get up and walk until the next day because I had lost a lot of blood. So that next morning they removed the catheter and the morphine drip. Then it was just slow recovery from there. The best thing they gave me was a belly support belt. Esp with all the extra twin skin, it helped a lot. It allowed me to stand up straight without any pain!!
I had a great experience with both c/s. The nurses will also check your incision. My advice is to stay on top of the pain medication cause it will just keep the pain away. OMG the worst thing was they would push on my uterus to help is contract and shrink back... that was AWFUL!!! I also passed several large clots (size of tennis balls), which they said is also normal for a twin birth since everything is so stretched out!
Cut the Crap - Weight loss journey of a Few Fat Chicks
I think we both were fearful, and after Zac last night I know what my mom was feeling in that moment. For me, I had never undergone a major medical surgery, sh*t let alone been admitted into a hospital in my entire life.
Once in the OR - it was just like the shows, except I was the one on the table. And I could have sworn that I could feel and move my toes. My anethesiologist (forgive spelling, please) was amazing, he calmed me, played some jokes on me to make me feel better, and realize that it was just my brain, not my body telling me those things.
Getting Z out was the easy part, it was delivering the rest that was interesting. I didn't know that they still push that stuff out of your vag. That and the stitching process was sooo sooo painful for me. I kept saying it hurt, so they kept giving me more drugs, then I'd start snoring and they'd wake me back up - it honestly felt like my doctor was standing on my ute pushing as hard as she could - but none the less we survive.
After, is kinda blury, I remember the recovery room and they come to check you every so many minutes, press on your ute to make sure it's contracting.
Then they move you into your room, where you have to go from stretcher to bed, with assistance, but I remember them calling me a rock star because I did it by myself.
The next few days were easy for me, I managed my pain before I felt too much pain. The weirdest part was the idea of taking a poo again. You have NO stomach muscles after wards, you couldn't "push" if you wanted to - so they encourage that along with intervention and then you sit on the toilet like, "OMFG!!!". LOL!
Afterwards, at home, I felt fine. No pain, no trouble walking or getting up. I consider myself lucky and a good healer, and I hope it is the same next time around.
Stay on top of meds, follow instructions and you will be just fine if you have to have a c/s! It's not the end of the world, and I actually loved my birthing experience looking back on it!
Oh, and also my wound was healing fine, and around 6 weeks it seemingly opened back up, I'm talking pinky sized hole in my incision. Went to my check up, fine - in grown hair. Gross TMI, point is, dont worry to much, a little ozing is normal. If it smells, is inflamed and bloody then worry.
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Physically my csection was fine. Emotionally I had a very hard time with it. From the talking I have done with other csection mamas, it seems as though those with planned c/s had a much easier time emotionally (of course not all, but in general).
My recovery was super easy. They told me they like to get you up 12 hours after the surgery, but I was still numb and they were afraid I would fall. It took 24 hours for me to be able to get up. I was not allowed to be alone in my room with Collin because I would have been unable to move to get him quickly if something was wrong. I did keep up on the meds in the hospital. I was in for 5 days but really would have been fine after 3. They kept me in since Collin was still in the NICU and they knew I didn't want to leave him. By the time I was discharged, I did not even fill the Rx for the heavy duty pain meds, just the stronger acetaminophen.
ICAN is a great resource for all things c/s. I would definitely talk with the dr that will be performing the surgery. I have seen lots of info on making c/s more "natural". Here is a link from Baltimore's ICAN to a sample birth plan. There is also this video on YouTube.
I'll give you my SIL's story b/c, from the stories I've heard, it is about worst case scenario. Again, this was an unplanned c-sec. SIL had group b strep, was vomiting etc. and so admitted to the hospital approx 24 hours before her scheduled induction (she was inducing due to her husband's work schedule). She was contracting regularly and in labor, but she requested they stop it so DH could get there. Oh yeah, and she had a fever - I don't remember how high, but clearly not high enough that they made her continue laboring...
So the next morning they start the induction. I don't know specifics, so I'm assuming cervadil and pitocin. Sometime that afternoon she received an epidural. Although she was making progress, she didn't get to 9cm until close to 9:30 PM, which was an hour after they had to re-place the epi. They let her start pushing at 9cm to try and help speed dilation to 10, and then they discovered my niece was sunny side up. SIL pushed for 45 minutes, during which the epi stopped working again, and every time she pushed LO's heart rate would plummet. At 10:20ish they decided she needed to have a c/s due to LO's HR dropping every push. She was rushed to the OR, and since the epi had long since stopped working, they had to use general anesthesia. So SIL was asleep for the whole thing and her hubs had to stand outside the door. 10:45 niece was born, hubster carried her to the nursery where the whole family took pictures and watched the bath etc. SIL was being patched back up etc.
DH and I tried to wait around to see SIL and provide her with support, but her O2 stats were really low so they had her on oxygen. The only person that could visit was her DH. She met her daughter, but has no memory of it, and her first breastfeeding experience was awful b/c she was still so weak from the whole 48 hour ordeal. (she get's sad thinking about how the whole family 'met' her daughter before she did, and she can't even remember their first meeting)
At 1 AM DH and I went home since she still wasn't released from recovery. In fact, SIL was in recovery so long they moved someone else into her post-delivery room (whoops), so she and DH were moved into the small crappy room in the hospital. I think she finally came out of recovery about 1:45 AM. She then had pumping air casts (not sure what they're called) to stimulate circulation in her legs for the next 3 days due to excessive edema.
Now, if you have a routine, scheduled c/s I think this scenario is VERY unlikely
. As I said, it's the worst case scenario I've heard of so I figured I would share an example of the other end of the spectrum.
Weird! I had no idea.
Our crazy, wonderful life
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I had a scheduled c-section with Sawyer because he was breech, and didn't have any big problems. Because it was planned, I went the day before the surgery for all of my pre-op stuff (bloodwork, paperwork, and a little extra info on what to prepare for). My section was scheduled for 7am, so we had to arrive at 5. Once there, I had to use some sort of horrible smelling wipe thing to wipe my entire body with before changing into the hospital gown. After that, I got my IV and catheter (which my hospital does before the epidural, which really sucks), and then we waited for the OR. The epidural hurt but wasn't as bad as I expected, and the c-section itself happened really fast.
Sawyer was wedged up really high, and it took the surgeon, my doctor, and Sawyer's doctor to get him out. One was almost literally laying on me & pushing my belly from the top, and the other two were tugging, too, which rocked me back and forth on the table & made me feel kind of sick, so the anesthesiologist gave me something in my IV for that. Because of his positioning, I had a horizontal external incision & a vertical uterine incision, and he came out butt first. He was frank breech, and his hips were locked for the first few minutes, which apparently is normal, but I didn't know about it & it really scared me. They watched his hips while we were in the hospital and at his early pediatric appointments, but all was & is fine.
After he was born, I was able to see him and touch him, but I couldn't really hold him because of my position. DH left w/him and most of the OB team, and it took about another half hour for the surgeon to sew me back up and send me to recovery. I was in the recovery room until I could move my toes (which I never felt myself doing, but apparently they were moving), and then I was wheeled back to the OB floor where I got to see Sawyer & my visitors. I was a little loopy & really tired then, so I don't remember a lot of the details, and that's really the biggest thing I regret. I don't know how I could have avoided it, but I really wish I had a more concrete memory of holding Sawyer the first time & seeing my husband/parents/SIL for that first time with him.
Recovery wasn't too bad. The first few days, it hurts a lot to do anything, but if you stay on top of your meds & make sure to not overdo it, it's really not that bad. I checked out of the hospital on Thursday, and on Saturday I was able to make a short shopping trip to Wal-Mart for more nursing bras. I found that tunics and higher waisted leggings were the most comfortable to wear because the stretchy tightness of the leggings really helped me feel like everything was being "held together," as silly as that sounds. Also, I found that sitting in a chair vs. the squishy couch or recliner was the most comfy & easy to get in & out of.
Anyway (I fear this is becoming a book), the recovery wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting, and the actual c-section, because it was planned, went very well. I wish I had been able to avoid the vertical incision because it makes me a poor candidate for future VBACs, and a really wish I could have remember more about those first few hours afterward, but truly, I have a general good feeling about the whole thing. I'm sure you will be fine as well, and having that definite plan in place ahead of time is certainly a relief. Good luck!
BFP 11/25/2009 ~ Blighted Ovum Discovered 12/10/2009 ~ Natural M/C 12/24/2009
BFP 3/29/2010 ~ EDD 11/25/2010
Sawyer Marshall ~ November 16, 2010
Yeah, I don't remember that happening to me either, but things are a little fuzzy. From what I remember it was a very weird sensation when they were tugging to close me up, but it didn't hurt.
Same here. I don't remember that happening, but I couldn't really see or feel anything, either, so I guess it's entirely possible. I just remember laying there while my surgeon and his nurse were talking about how they wanted to own a bar with recliners instead of barstools and thinking, "Is this real? Did I really just have a baby?"
BFP 11/25/2009 ~ Blighted Ovum Discovered 12/10/2009 ~ Natural M/C 12/24/2009
BFP 3/29/2010 ~ EDD 11/25/2010
Sawyer Marshall ~ November 16, 2010
Just wanted to add that I had staples with both Abby and the twins. The day I was being released with Abby they took them out, however when I had the twins they wanted to keep them in a week longer because they had to make a larger incision to be able to reach both babies. So I went back to the OB a week after I was discharged and they took them out and put on steri-strips. I never had any issues with my incision and was able to walk up stairs and take care of myself and the twins fine once I was home.
Like I said, you will be so huge and uncomfortable that recovering from the c/s should be a piece of cake!!! My heartburn went away immediately and I felt amazing....lol
Cut the Crap - Weight loss journey of a Few Fat Chicks
I'm think you already read this, but if not, I recently wrote about my 2nd c/s in my blog. http://www.pocketfulofroses.blogspot.com/2011/12/welcome-baby-girl.html
From reading the c/s board on the Bump, there is a wide range of experiences. Mine went really well and the recovery has been fairly easy compared to some of the things other women have experienced. My biggest issue has been constipation. 2 weeks later and I'm just starting to have normal BMs. I read on the c/s board that some women take stool softners even before the c/s, I wish I would have started taking them sooner.
Aspen Marley ~ 12.22.11
My Blog of Randomness - Pocketful of Roses
I had such issues with my first and several BMs after Abby that when I had the twins I asked for something more than just stool softeners. They gave me Milk of Magnesia along with a stool softener and OMG it was sooo much better! I had no issues the second time!!
Cut the Crap - Weight loss journey of a Few Fat Chicks
I had similar experience. Once the baby was taken away to get cleaned up or whatever they did, the mood of the OR completely changed, They turned on the radio and all of the doctors and nurses were having side conversations. I felt very unimportant and almost like I was eavesdropping (sp?) on their conversations. It felt very surreal.
Aspen Marley ~ 12.22.11
My Blog of Randomness - Pocketful of Roses
My recovery was incredibly easy with both c-sections, but even more so with this last one since I wasn't in labor for 36 hours before!
My experience was great, especially after reading some of the stories on here I realize how great my hospital is. (Not that there are any really HORRIBLE stories.)
With Elizabeth we had to check in at 5:45am and the surgery was scheduled to start at 7:30am. When they were ready to actually get things going I walked back to the operating room. They had me sit on the edge of the bed while they did the spinal. Once the spinal is in the lay you down really quick, so be ready for that! Then they put up the drapes and got me all ready for the incision. Then they let Sam in. With both the kids the anesthesiologist was great! They sat right by my head and kinda told me what was going on and when I could expect to feel pressure, tugging, etc. With Elizabeth I got naseaus (sp?) and did end up throwing up some, but they are able to put something in my IV to help with that. Once they got the kids out they take them over to a table in the room to wipe them down a little bit and suction their nose out and stuff before they wrapped them up and brought them over to me. Elizabeth was over there for quite a while before they brought her to me because she wasn't crying much so she wasn't getting stuff coughed up like she needed to (or something like that!), but they didn't seem at all concerned about it, so I wasn't really worried. I could see where she was laying the whole time.
At this point with Marshall him and Sam left to go to the nursery while they got me stitched up. As soon as I was done in the operating room Sam and Marshall met me in the recovery room where I was able to try breastfeeding. My family was able to see Marshall (but not hold him or anything) when they went to the nursery, so I didn't feel like they got to "really meet" him or anything before I had really spent some time with him. We were in the recovery room for quite a while, but I have no idea how long! Then we headed to our post-op room and then the rest of the family came in and got to hold him and stuff.
When I had Elizabeth they had changed the policy some and she actually stayed with me in the operating room the entire time, which was really cool. So then we all headed to the recovery room for a while and then to the post-op room.
I feel really grateful that I didn't have to wait to see my babies until we were in the post-op room, that would have sucked!
And, fwiw, I don't remember having anything pushed out my vag. But like Emma said, maybe I just couldn't feel it. I thought they just took it all out through the incision.
I went in the day before for pre-op testing, etc. My c/s was scheduled for 1pm but my OB's office said she wanted to try to get to me earlier so to go in at 9am instead of 11am. They had me in triage on the monitors while I waited. They shaved me... I couldn't do it because I could see/ reach.. so that was kind of weird. I was really cranky waiting because I hadn't eaten since dinner in anticipation for an earlier surgery. I kept getting bumped for emergencies so I finally got brought back when it was getting close to 2pm. They had DH bring all of our stuff to Recovery while I went in to get my epi.
I sat on the edge of the table and the anesthesiologist told me what he was doing. It felt like a really hard pinch. My legs got tingly and changed temperature. He told me that I would be able to feel touch but not pain. At that point, I started freaking out and got really scared because I was sure that if I could feel touch, I would definitely feel someone cutting me open. My heart rate and BP shot up because I was so nervous so they had me on oxygen. They were waiting for the NICU team to get there so I had to wait on the table a little bit. I asked them if they were going to wait until DH got there before starting and they told me they had already started. I started to relax at that point because I realized I couldn't feel the pain.
The NICU doctors got there and they let DH in. They said I would feel pressure but I didn't. It just felt like someone was shaking my belly the whole time. They pulled Andrew out and DH took pictures. They had told me they were going to show me the babies before taking them across the hall for assessment. He took a minute to cry (a few seconds?? I don't know but it wasn't immediate so it felt like a while). They didn't show him to me and by the time I asked, they had already left with him. I was really scared that there was something wrong with him because they hadn't showed him to me. I kept asking DH if he had looked okay. Then they pulled out Ryan and they remembered to show him to me. Ryan cried right away. Then they took him across the hall. DH went to the babies and they went to work cleaning me up and stitching me up. I'm pretty sure they didn't push anything out of my vag but I couldn't swear to it.
DH came back with Andrew. I had asked that my arms not be strapped down. They told me they had to, but apparently they forgot because I realized that they weren't strapped down. I took some pictures of DH and Andrew but they wouldn't let me hold him. After a little while, I told DH that I thought something might be wrong with Ryan because it was taking a long time for them to bring him in. After a few more minutes, they came in and said that they had to take Ryan to the NICU.
They took Andrew to the nursery and I told DH it go with him. I went to Recovery and waited for Andrew to be brought to me. I think DH might have also gone to the NICU during this time but I'm not positive. After a while (maybe an hour- an hour and a half), they took me up to my post-partum room and brought Andrew to me there. I asked when I could see Ryan and they apparently were supposed to take me on my way up to PP but they didn't. I had to wait until 3am before they would let me get in a wheel chair to go see him in the NICU. Recovery was okay. I agree with everyone else... take the pain meds. I didn't need them by the time I left. I stayed the whole 5 days because I wanted the help. I was nervous to go home with them and not have nurses to ask questions. It was really hard for me with A in the nursery and R in the NICU. I had to choose who to spend time with and I felt like I was abandoning one to go see the other. It was exhausting to keep going back and forth to feed them too. Hopefully your girls will be in the same place when they are born. Once R came up to the regular nursery, about 26 hours later, it was a lot easier.
I was disappointed in a lot of things about my c/s. I wasn't against having a c/s, but I wanted to have a family centered c/s (I think that's what it's called). I wanted to have the babies placed on my chest skin to skin and put them to the breast immediately. I wanted them to be assessed and kept in the OR while I was being stitched up, then accompany me to Recovery and stay with me the whole time. I was told from the beginning that I couldn't hold them in the OR and that they had to go to be assessed across the hall. They told me at the hospital, though, that they could stay with me in the OR and go to Recovery with me and I could have skin to skin and BF in Recovery. While I was in surgery, they told me they had to take the babies to the nursery for some reason (can't remember why) but that they would be brought right down to me in Recovery. I told them that I wanted them brought back right away before their bath and I wanted DH to be there for their baths. In Recovery, I asked what was taking so long. They ended up not listening to my wishes, giving Andrew his bath, and he wasn't "ready" to come down to me until I was already ready to go to my post-partum room.
The hospital, in general, pissed me off at several other times during my stay as well. I sent them to the nursery at night because I was afraid they would stop breathing while I was asleep so I wanted someone to be watching them. I asked that they be brought to me every 3 hours or sooner if they woke up. At one point, I woke up after like 5 hours and walked with DH to the nursery to find out WTF was going on. They were awake and crying. The nurses said they wanted to let me sleep because I was so exhausted. Not okay. I also said I didn't want them to have pacis and they both got pacis. They gave R a bottle in the NICU because it was "policy" and they misled me about A's sugar levels so I would allow them to give him a bottle too.
I think I covered most of the important stuff....FWIW, my babies moved up to 34 weeks from vertex to transverse to breech and back again. They were born head down in the end but my MFM and OB recommended a c/s because it was safer with an estimated 2 lb bigger Baby B. Let me know if you have any other questions.
m/c 7/17/10
Dx: MFI- 3% morph
IUIs: Gonal-F + Ovidrel + b2b IUI= BFNs
IVF with ICSI= BFP! EDD 11/25/11
3/18- Beta #1 452! 3/20- Beta #2 1,026!! 3/27- First u/s- TWINS!
Our twin boys arrived at 36w5d due to IUGR and a growth discordance
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
After the failed induction, when we decided to move forward with a c-section, I started crying. The nurses kept telling me not to be scared and I just kept trying to tell them that I wasn't scared but pissed off because I had been planning a natural birth.
So... I walked to the OR and hopped up on the table. They gave me a spinal and then laid me out in what I call the Jesus position (arms are out and strapped down). They put a curtain up over my boobs. I asked if I could watch and they said no. So I asked if DH could look over the curtain and they said no too. (I don't think he really wanted to, but I wanted pictures.)
Once I was numb, they started the surgery. DH could see everything in the reflection in a window and when they cut my stomach, he said that blood sprayed everywhere and that's when he decided to stop looking. LOL.
I talked with the doctors throughout the procedure. We kept discussing a middle name for the baby.
Cooper was still really high and at one point when they were trying to grab him, I felt like I couldn't breathe because everything was getting pushed up.
After only a few minutes, they pulled Cooper out and brought him over for us to see him. He was bright red and screaming his head off.
They took their time sewing me up and we kept chatting. DH took pictures while they were weighing and measuring him.
Then they rolled me back to recovery and I started to feel light headed and itchy. DH carried Cooper back to the recovery room. I tried to nurse immediately and Cooper immediately latched on. But then I started to feel woozy. So DH took him and I vomited.
Once I got all of my feeling back, we were moved to our recovery room. I continued to feel woozy. I thought maybe my blood sugar was low because I had only had 1 meal since we went in Monday night and it was late Wednesday afternoon. But then the vomiting started. They gave me nubain, which was supposed to help with the nausea and itching but it didn't. So after a couple of hours of trying to nurse in between puking, I asked for Finnergan (sp?). I had had nausea after my sinus surgery from the anesthesia and the Finnergan worked, so they gave me that and the nausea stopped pretty quickly.
Once I finally stopped vomiting, I was starving. I was allowed chicken broth the first night. No real food until I passed gas. 24 hours later, they removed all of the iv's, which was heaven!!!! (I went through 5 iv placements my entire time in the hospital, which was honestly the most painful part of my birth experience).
I'm allergic to a lot of adhesives, so I'm not sure what they used to stitch me up. I know it wasn't staples and whatever it was, it didn't have to be taken out.
I kept on schedule with my percocet and felt fine. So I stopped taking it around day 2 and then tried to get up and was miserable so I went back on the percocet. I had a hard time getting up for awhile, but overall had very little pain. My scar is still sort of numb. Honestly, it was pretty easy for me.
Our crazy, wonderful life
DH is the one who told me this, so how true it is ... I guess I don't know.
Everytime I talk about my c/s and bring up the after pressure/pain - he says, "Yeah, that's when the doctor was squirting out your insides and stitching you up!"
Trust me, I ask him what he means and he legitimately seems scarred for life. He was standing, happened to look over the curtain and says this is what he saw them do.
I believe him. Maybe I shouldn't.
Some of the gory. I've watched several c-sections, but haven't had one, obviously.
Since you're not in active labor most of the time, the docs truly have to push the baby out of your ute. I've seen several push their whole upper body's on the mom's ute to help push the baby out.
Once the baby's out, they're often taken to the warmer to be evaluated. My hosp tries to show the babies to mom if they're already crying on the way to the warmer, but if they're not crying yet, we take them right over. Babies from a c-section don't have the extra squeeze from being pushed out of the canal, so sometimes they require a little more suctioning to help with their breathing.
The OB then delivers the placenta. I've never seen it come out of the vag. The vag is not "sterile." and that would contaminate the field. Some docs literally life the uterus out and place it on mom's abdomen to irrigate the abdominal cavity, other's don't. Trickey, I'm worndering if that's what your DH saw.
Delivering the baby is the fast part, stitching mom up and putting everything back in place is what takes the most time.
I know I'm late, but just in case you come back to this post I'll share. I had an emergency c-section when Molly's head got stuck and started swelling. Her heart rate was dropping with each contraction and I refused interventions like forceps or a vacuum.
Instantly about 15 people came in my room dosing my Epi, shaving me, explaining things, having me sign papers. We rolled to the OR quickly and once they got me situated they let DH in. He stayed behind the curtain with me up by my head, holding my hand. I felt lots of pressure, pulling, and tugging her head was so stuck in my pelvis that they actually jerked hard enough to shake and move the table. They had Cory stand up as they pulled Molly out to make the girl/boy announcement. They immediately walked Molly over to the warmer but I got to see her as she passed. She was close but I couldn't see her or hear her crying. I remember screaming asking "why isn't she crying?" Cory and several nurses assured me she was, but I didn't hear her for a few minutes.
I heard my doc say "I'm going to put your uterus back in now" and when he starteD I realized I could feel everything. I started saying "I can feel that. It hurts!" They did a pin prick test and redosed my meds which helped temporarily. Molly was taken to the nursery and then a nurse helped Cory wheel her out to show our families and make the announcement.
I went to recovery for an hour. They only let one person back so Cory stayed for a few minutes then he left and sent my mom in. I was in excruciating pain in recovery. Apparently there was a problem with my order and the pharmacy so I couldn't have any meds. I literally shook from pain he entire time. It wasn't until I got admitted in my own room before I could actually have something so probably 90 minutes total was pure hell. After I did get my meds they brought Molly in and I finally got to hold her.
I did have the pump on my legs and they left me hooked up to everything through the night. 12 hours after they had me get up and walk to the bathroom. I think they removed my IV shortly after that. My recovery was a breeze and I walked all around my room that day and showered that night. I stayed in the hospital 48 hours after birth and they removed my staples and put steri strips in before I left. It was probably another week before I could climb into our high bed at home so we slept on he couch bed at first. Within 2 weeks I felt pretty normal again except my bruised pelvis which had nothing to do wih my c-section.
I didn't have a planned c/s, it was after my water broke 25 hours earlier and DD got herself stuck. I already had the epidural, so I was already pretty numb. Here's what I remember....
They wheeled me into the OR and the Dr asked if I could scoot onto the table. I laughed at him, but tried. Of course I failed. I clearly remember them putting black plastic (like a garbage bag) under me to help get me onto the table with as much ease as possible. They strapped me onto the table with legs together and arms out. The curtain went up and I started getting quite nervous. Thankfully the Dr that was doing the surgery had a great sense of humor and didn't ignore me. The anesthesiologist was great too. They all did their best to make me feel comfortable while I waited for DH. Finally he arrived and they got started. The Dr warned me that I'd feel some pressure and pulling. Holy cow! I clearly remember being rocked from side to side as they worked on getting her out. Finally she was out and the other Dr. put her face above the curtain (the beautiful blue face!) and told us, "It's a girl!" (we were team green) They then took her to the warming station where I frantically waited to hear her cry. I tried not to panic, but it was scary! She finally did and it was amazing. The nurses were talking to us about her while we waited. Then DH was able to walk over and see her. He took some pictures and then brought the camera back to show me. I never was able to hold her, but they showed me as they weighed her on the scale and then DH left with her as she went to get her first bath and show her off to the family. I hated being alone again, but thankfully the Dr and nurses talked with me and didn't make me feel alone.
In recovery, they cleaned me up which wasn't real comfortable. They were scrubbing to get some of the stuff off. I was still hooked up with my epi, and actually stayed that way over night. I rested and actually I think I snoozed a bit. They finally brought her in and I was able to try nursing her. Eventually I was able to head back to my room.
The recovery was pretty easy. The nurses had me up and walking the next day. I wasn't able to get out of bed by myself for I think 2 days. I could walk by myself, but getting out of bed was difficult. I did have some horrible gas pains two days later, so much so that I was nauseous and did throw up.
I was in the hospital from Monday night - Saturday morning. Abbie was delivered via c/s Tuesday night.