The day Sebastian arrived.
This probably won't be much of a birth story, as we knew in advance that we were having a caesar, but I though I may as well write about it anyway.
We were told by our OB at about 32 weeks that our little man was "above average" in terms of size. At about 36 weeks the subject of a caesar was broached, and the following week it was pretty much a certainty. At 38 weeks arrangements were made and we were booked in for the 3rd of March!
Alarms were set, and we made it out of bed by about 5.30, showered, got dressed and checked the last minute bits and pieces. We even managed to stop on the drive to the hospital to take a photo of the beautiful sunrise :)
It was just after 7am when we were shown to our room and I was immediately given a ventolin nebulizer and some ant-acid tablets. Once I'd changed into the very sexy (and extremely bum revealing) hospital gown I moved to the mobile bed thingy and was driven very sedately to the theatres. Of course at several points along the way I started crying as the reality that I was really having a baby today kept hitting me. The nurses in theatre we very reassuring and kept a handy supply of tissues for me while Felius went to change.
Our anaesthetist was great. She was very bubbly and chatty and the spinal block was administered without too much trouble. I think it's safe to say that a spinal block is the absolute weirest thing I have ever endured... ever! The feeling that your legs are there, but at the smae time not there is bizarre! I kept trying to wiggle my toes, or lift my legs and my brain would tell me that it should be working, but my legs just weren't having any of it! That said, it worked so well at completely blocking any pain that I didn't even realise that the OB had started cutting until I heard Sebastian crying! I could feel a lot of pushing and pulling going on, but I honestly thought that they were just feeling the position of the baby and that sort of thing. I think part of the reason I didn't realise was also because the anaesthetist was chatting away to Felius and I and we were chatting back.
I'm pretty sure I don't actually have the vocabulary to express the feelings that I experienced when I heard that first cry. It was partly "what's that?" and then once I realised that it was MY baby crying... the baby that we'd tried so long to have, the baby that I'd carried as this lump in my belly for 9 months... I just started to cry. I'm even crying now just thinking back. It was the same when I first saw him. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen... I couldn't believe that Felius and I had produced such a perfect little person.
I spent a long time just talking rubbish to him and nuzzling him as I was being stitched up, then it was off to recovery and time for the first feeding attempt. That was an interesting experience... Bas had a very good suck on him which was evident by the immediate bruising and blood blisters around my nipples!
He managed to get a bit of colostrum out of me... enough to satisfy him for a little while anyway. He then got to go with the midwife and Daddy to meet his Nanny and Grandma (who were pacing our room!), while I had to stay in recovery for a bit longer. It turned out that because of the aspirin I had to take during the pregnancy I was bleeding a little bit more that the Dr was hoping for. Bas was yanked into the world at 8.31am and I think I was back with him in our room by about 11.30 - 12ish. Then the fun began!
Whew... that was probably a bit longer than I had intended, especially for a planned caesar birth story. I hope anyone reading it is still awake :)
Anyway, that's about it. It's now 3 weeks and 1 day later and our little Bas is still (and always will be, I'm sure) the most precious thing in our lives.
