My Narrow Path: Birth Story

As promised I'm back again to share Arleigh's birth story and some more pictures.

So after I had my amnio test done that came back negative on Nov. 28th my doctor decided to reschedule my csection for the following Monday, Dec. 5th.

The night before I was so nervous and anxious. I was ready have some annoying pregnancy symptoms be relieved but I was just nervous for her to finally be here too. To be honest the surgery portion had me pretty scared. I had never been awake for a csection before. With my son I had to have an emergency csection due to severe preeclampsia and I had been in the hospital for a week prior and had been getting heparin shots twice a day. My blood was too thinned to have me be awake and have the spinal. So under general anesthesia I went.

Any way, when we got there I got into a room and hooked up to a monitor and they started me on iv fluids. My section was scheduled for 1 but there was an emergency case finishing up so I didn't get back there until 10 after. I was shaking like a leaf as they were rolling me back and I just lost it when my little boy kissed me and said "bye Mommy". Oh there is just something about hearing him say that plus all the pregnancy hormones I'm sure. It was the last moment that it was just him and I just had one child my only little boy. Now all that was about to change.

Once I was wheeled into the OR I saw several faces of nurses and staff smiling at me as I'm blubbering still about Mazio's bye to me. I immediately looked at them as they kept trying to calm my nerves and I said, " I know that I'm probably going to embarrass myself in here and later feel like a fool so I want to apologize to you all ahead of time", to which they all just laughed.

Once they got me on the tiny narrow table they started to prep me for the spinal. Bless the sweet resident that held me and talked me through that because I was terrified. She was so nice! Once they got me started feeling numb I laid down and then I really started feeling the numbness escalate up from my legs. I didn't have that weird feeling that I couldn't feel myself breathing or anything but I did feel nauseous. So glad they waited to do the catheter until I was numb. That process typically hurts, ouch! After what felt like an eternity they let Ben come back to be with me. Now I prepped this man prior to the section repeatedly that I would need him to keep my mind busy by talking to me a lot but of course when the time came he completely froze up and had nothing to say. I could have smacked him! Thankfully as they started cutting and I could hear snipping noises the nurse anesthetist talked me through it. That part was the worst just hearing those initial noises and knowing what they were doing but overall the whole experience was not that bad. Then it came time shortly after all that to push her out. They warned me I'd feel pressure and that was normal. After they started and stopped pushing I thought they were done and had her out, I almost started to panic because I didn't hear her crying. Here they started pushing on me more and more until finally my doctor told me they were going to need to use the vacuum because they couldn't get her out. The vacuum for a csection?! Really?? I was shocked. That was the first I'd ever heard of a vacuum needed for a section delivery but sure enough she came right out with a loud pop after that. Boy did she make her presence known, she came out screaming like crazy. I was so paranoid about her lungs that I kept asking if her lungs were okay to which my doctor replied "can't you hear her wailing? Her lungs are perfect." What a huge sigh of relief. I must admit I did cry a little when I heard her cry. What a beautiful sound! I never got to hear my son's first cries which its surprising that he had been born crying in the first place. He was 11 weeks premature and we were warned that he might not cry because babies that early don't usually cry at first but I was told he definitely did!

My doctor told me that because I'm so short my torso is small and she was pretty tightly squeezed inside me which explains the need for the vacuum. He said next time around we'll just deliver me right at 37 weeks as my scar tissue will also be a bit more. Arleigh weighed 7lbs 12oz and was 19inches long. She was born at 1:48pm. So they got her out relatively quick. I got to hold her as they wheeled me back into recovery. My sweet husband took feeding duty the first night as I was bed bound with pain meds and the catheter. We got to go home on my third day. I was so glad to be home, it was so much better for Maz to have free reign of the house and be able to play. Those hospital rooms are so small for a toddler. I did have a hard time adjusting at first but I'm feeling better now. I went through some major baby blues for a few days but looking back I think it was mostly a hormonal shift as my milk came in at that same time.

Arleigh is doing really well and she's back to her birth weight. She lost 6oz. She gains about an ounce a day now. She's still in newborn clothes but I can't wait until she grows into 0-3mos as I have far more options with those. Her umbilical cord fell off last week. Mazio is getting along fairly well with her. He has his moments where he wants to see her and touch her. He's a bit rough at times but he's only 2 1/2 and doesn't understand that she's little. I'm excited for this summer as she'll be 6-8 months old and they'll be able to interact a bit more.

Its so much different having a daughter then having a son. There's the clothes and all the accessories that come with little girls and boys are so much simpler and I might add less expensive! Boys are tough guys and daddy's little mini me where as girl's have that special way of getting to her daddy. It'll be fun to see what its like with a girl and just what its like with 2!

Here are some of the pictures the hospital did for us....( don't mind the water marks)