For the second time, I became a mom. This time to a baby boy. I opted for a schedule csection since I had one the first time. It worked for me, but may not be suitable for everyone. And to that I say, to each his own. In my opinion, getting a baby into this world can happen two different ways, and each way can have its disadvantages and advantages. So neither way is perfect, it just sometimes works better for certain people.
Arriving at the hospital for a scheduled csection was interesting. Only because it was the exact same hospital and entrance, and there was much of it I don't recall from the first visit, because I was in labor. This time it was nice to be called to complete paperwork, to begin my IV in the recovery room, to be monitored pain free and get to know the people and nurses who would be taking care of me for the rest of the day. I signed my consent forms and around 12:30pm I was on my way to meeting my child for the first time.
A csection is painful. Very painful if you ask me, but then again, Vaginal birth can be just as painful. The pulling and tugging on your body can be felt the entire time you are numb, and there's nothing that can be done about that. Here's how my day went:
I entered the operating room and climbed onto the operating table. My doctor helped me shape my body into a cat-like pose to receive the spinal medication to numb me. I then laid on the table and waited for the drugs to begin working. The staff was busy around me. The sponge counting lady, Laurie was happily at her post, ready to count; the anesthesiologist was at my head and getting items ready for the delivery including adding drugs and fluid to my arms and giving me oxygen. My doctor was out scrubbing up with her assistant/partner in crime/Jennifer, my nurse was moving about. Once I was numb, the blue curtain came up and they brought in my husband. Then I thought I was going to vomit and hated every minute of it. Then all of the sudden I was informed I was given anti nausea drugs and instantly I felt better! The tugging and pulling continued and at 1:08pm (one minute earlier than my previous csection) a baby was born. Just after that, I was given medication for the pain (which I elected to have) and at that point, I was out of it. I could barely keep my eyes open, and I was told this medication would make me a bit groggy, but I was out of it. I could hear everything going on around the room, but I was unable to move, unable to open my eyes, unable to speak. It sucked, but at least the pain was much more bearable.
My favorite part of this entire ordeal is that my husband and I thought we knew what this would be like - because we've both done it before. But I never realized how excited the nurses and staff would be to learn that we did not know the gender of our baby. And once that was revealed, they all wanted to know who would announce the gender in the delivery room. This was something we hadn't even thought about. But it was then decided that "the dad" would tell everyone what the gender was. And he did, after our baby was born, they held him up and he said, "It's a boy."
That's about when I went into my pain-free coma and I could hear crying and struggled to open my eyes to see my own child, but was so relieved that we had a boy. We had a few girl names, but nothing was set in stone, but we had three complete boy names, Hudson being the first. I was hoping for a boy, but knew there was a chance we'd have a girl, but I just tried not to think about it in an attempt to not have to come up with girl names. I spent countless hours searching on the internet and we checked out two books at the library about baby names. One we reviewed over Christmas on our drive to South Carolina. Girl names on the way there and boy names on the way back. Still with no success on girl names.
After I was stitched up, I was moved into the recovery room where all I wanted was ice chips and this is where the second worst part of having a baby came into play (the first is naming your child) my uterus was pushed on every 15 minutes to ensure it was contracting as it should be. I hate hate hate this part and no matter what pain medications you are on, it's the WORST of all the birth feelings.
After recovery I went into my mother baby room and got my ice chips. They were waiting for me when I arrived. I was grateful the staff let me eat dinner, fasting all day stunk and they helped me get out of bed once that night, too.
We revealed most everything via our twitter account and that's how we told the world. It worked for us and I hope we had a lot of stalkers.
Hudson David
was born on Wednesday, April 24th, 2013
at 1:08 pm in the afternoon
7 lbs 12ounces and 18.25" long
