The early arrival of Samuel
Sam's birth was a planned caesar, so it was very quick and straight forward but I thought I would still share my experience.
After 4 weeks of on/off bleeding (3 antepartum hemorrhages) my Ob decided that bub was safer out than in so we planned a caesar for 18 Dec when I would be 34 weeks and 4 days. Although I was scared about having a premature baby I trusted my Ob and the medical team at the hospital and I just felt like the baby and I were in safe hands.
The days leading up to the caesar I met the physiotherapist who gave me some exercises to do before and after the birth to help my body recover. I also met the anesthetist and he explained exactly what my body would go through. The nurses/MW's were also really good answering any questions which I had. After 2 weeks in hospital on rest I was scared but excited that my babies birth day was finally approaching.
17 Dec 08 - The night before the midwife who would be in the delivery theatre came to my room and introduced herself and shaved me down below ready for the morning as I was first off the rank @ 7am. I slept surprisingly well that night.
18 Dec 08 - I woke at 6am as planned and had a shower and washed my hair. The nurse bought in my lovely theatre gown and the surgical sponge to wash myself down below. DH arrived around 6.15am just as I was getting out of the shower. We were both quite calm and excited. I dried my hair a little and before I knew it someone from the theatre walked in and gave me my teds/white stockings to put & also my beautiful red theatre hair net (red because I have allergies to some medications). At that stage I just remember being concerned whether DH had the camera or not - which he did. So I hop on the bed and am wheeled out of my room and down the hallway. As I was being wheeled down I was given a small container of this really salty water to drink (which I think has something to do with blood flow???) - it tasted revolting. I still dry reach when I think of it. The hallway felt so long. I could feel the baby inside doing it's usual early morning kicks and jabs. I felt so bad that this baby was so warm and cosy in my tummy and within the hour would be pulled out into the big wide world before he/she was ready. But I knew there could be fatal consequences if I had not delivered early. We finally made it to the end of the hallway and down in the elevator and into the hallway outside the theatres. Hospital theatres are always so cold but I was too nervous to be cold. Once we got to the theatre I saw my Ob and felt immediately relaxed as I knew I was in such safe hands. I turned around and DH had been rushed into a little room and dressed in his theatre clothes. I walked into the theatre and onto the thin little operating table. All of the staff were really friendly and did their best to make me feel relaxed. I sat up on the table and had the cannula inserted into my left hand. They hurt - I had to have one the week before so I could have antibiotics to help the baby in-utero as we knew he/she was going to be born early. This cannula really stung too - ouch. I was then asked to sit forward so the anesthetist could give me a local anesthetic where the spinal block would go. It stung a bit but not as much as the cannula. Then the spinal block went in, I didn't feel that at all but I just remember trying to stay really still because I knew if I moved with a needle in my spine it wouldn't be good. As soon as that was done my whole body went rather warm and 'dead'. I can't say that I lost feeling it just felt numb like when you sleep on your arm and wake up and it's all tingly & when you touch it it's like touching someone elses (hope that makes sense). So I then lay back on the table and had the catheter inserted (eeeewww - didn't hurt but yuk). They then layed a surgical sheet type thing over my belly and covered it in betadine. By this stage the anesthetist was just monitoring me and I think trying to take my mind of things. I remember hearing my heart monitor and then another one with a long beep like when you see it on tv when people die. I immediately thought this was the baby but they quickly put my mind at ease and assured me it wasn't. Forget what it was now. The anesthetist asked me if I thought we should start and I said yes, he then turned around and said 'ha ha, they already have'. I laughed and was glad that I couldn't feel anything. I remember smelling a burning skin smell which I assume was when they made the first incision. It only lasted for 10 seconds or so and I was so excited about meeting my baby I didn't give it another thought. Very shortly after that I felt really nauseous and tried to throw up but didn't. Anesthetist adjusted something and I felt better straight away. By this stage we were around 7 minutes or so into the caesar and the anesthetist grabbed our camera and told us our baby would be here in about 30 seconds.... they dropped the sheet and I heard the baby cry 'It's a boy' my Ob declared.... all I managed to do was say 'it's a boy' myself then I got very emotional and cried. The sheet went back up and the pediatrician took my little boy, Samuel 'Sam', and gave him a small amount of oxygen and the midwife wrapped him up and brought him over to me for our first cuddle. I was disappointed I didn't get any skin on skin time but I knew being a prem we had to ensure he was kept warm and could breathe well enough on his own. Sam was in the theatre for around 10 minutes before the pediatrician took him up to the special care nursery and into the humidicrib. The rest of the procedure went really quick and I was in recovery before I new it. The nurses were great in recovery and all I can really remember is talking to them about Sam as they were holding huge chunks of ice on my upper body to see where I was getting feeling back. DH had gone up to the nursery with Sam. I was in recovery for around 1hr all up but after 30 mins I got very emotional. I wanted to be with my baby and I think all of the emotion of 2 yrs ttc with 2 miscarriages finally hit me - I was finally a Mum. The nurses called the nursery upstairs and DH came straight down with about 10 photos of my precious little boy. The news was all good, he was breathing well on his own and his apgars were 9 & 9 and he weighed 2830grams - great for 5.5 weeks early. After my hour in recovery I was then wheeled back up to my room but they somehow squeezed my bed into the nursery so I could stick my hand in the humidicrib and hold my little boys hand. I was in there around 5 mins or so when I was hit with another wave of nausea and threw up 3 times. Luckily it all went into a kidney dish thing, I was then wheeled back into my room. They hooked my bed back up to the wall and I was given my pca - my morphine supply that I would have for the next 24hrs or so. It became my security blanket from the pain. DH and I hadn't told anyone what time the caesar would be because we didn't want nervous anxious parents waiting at the hospital - just incase something did go wrong. But all went to plan and by 10am I phoned my Mum, Dad & sister and told them the good news - DH also sharing the news with his family. The rest of the day I was on cloud 9, I swear I flicked through the photos of Sam about a thousand times and I made DH go into the nursery at least a hundred times to check on Sam's progress. I didn't eat much - the only thing I really wanted was ice so that is all I had till dinner time when I had a bit of soup & jelly. The day was a busy day with family visiting and all of the checks the nurses did - at first it was BP & temp every half hour but then it slowed to hourly and then two hourly. Although I was extremely tired I didn't sleep until that night because I was so elated that I was finally a Mum and my little boy was doing so well. That evening I expressed some colostrum and the mw's fed it to Sam and at 8pm one of the nurses bought him into my room and I finally got to have skin on skin time with my little boy. A booby baby from the beginning though as when he was put on my chest he immediately started trying to make his way to the breast. The MW was amazed as they didn't think he would be able to suck being a prem but she helped him latch on and he sucked. It was the most beautiful feeling in the world. After feeling so guilty that I had to birth him early I finally felt like I was doing something to help him grow strong & healthy again.
Sam stayed in the humidicrib for 2 days, then he was in a cot in the nursery for another 4 days and then he roomed in for 1 night and we went home on day 7. He was fully BF from day 5. I hated him being tube fed formula but that is a whole other story/thread - won't get started on that now.
The following day after my c/s they took away my pca (aka: security blanket) and I have never felt pain like it, I swear I thought they had taken half of my stomach muscled too during the procedure. The next day still hurt like hell but at least I could get around alot better. But no matter what - I would go through all of that all over again for my beautiful baby boy. He is worth every moment of heartache & frustration that we went through to conceive him, and he is worth every minute of pain I went through in recovery. I would not choose to have a c/s but I am glad I did as I don't think my Sam would have arrived so safely if I didn't.
I hope this hasn't been to long & boring and I hope it helps shed a bit more light on c/s as I had no idea about some of the little things going into it.
