...and Then There Were Three (an illustrated birth story)

For months I stressed over every detail.
I had my (very straight line, all natural) birth plan all written, edited, and printed out.  A detailed road map to my birth, key and all. 
This was my first birthing experience and, darn it, it was gonna be perfect.
I never reminded myself that it would be perfect however it happened.  After all, I was bringing  a life in to this world- and how can that be anything but perfect?

"If you wanna make God laugh, simply tell him all your plans."So there I was, January 18th 2012, in the O.R. with my IV in place and getting my spine poked at.  Nervous?  A bit. 
So far the day had been pleasant enough, minus the fact that I missed my deadline to eat breakfast that morning and I was a big, pregnant hunger-machine. My mom was here with me (though she wasn't allowed to be present during the actual birth....boo for hospital rules). My in law's came. And, Reesh was by my side every step of the way.... ya know, finishing what he started. ;)

This was the sunset the morning sweet Jr. was born. <3

My very last belly shot :)

Being wheeled to pre-op

Waiting in pre-op with Reesh.  I had to wait here too long (about 45 minutes) and started to get a bit antsy. 
This is where they administered my IV, gave me antibiotics, hooked up electrodes and did some paperwork.

I was sent to the O.R. by myself to get my epidural and get prepped.  Once everything was in place and it was showtime, Reesh was allowed to come sit by me again.  This was taken right before surgery.

 I was so surprised at the amount of people in the O.R.  If I had to guess, I'd say there were about 20 people in the room.  Lots of young nurses who, despite being super friendly, really had no purpose in there, I thought.  One of the nurses offered to take pictures with our camera- woot woot!  Reesh was planning on taking pictures, but he didn't care to watch the surgery part of the birth, AND we didn't want him to experience this through a camera lens- so it was awesome that they did this for us.  Another nurse had a hospital camera, at least I'm hoping it wasn't a personal camera, and snapped pictures through the whole surgery/birth as well.
I have to admit I was way more terrified of the darn epidural than I was the knife.  How disgusting- a needle in your back!  *barf*  I did well, considering, and it was a mere memory just moments later.  My anesthesiologist was great and even spoke English to me the whole time, that's always a plus!
I'm not sure what I expected from the epidural, but it was....strange.  I never really got the warm sensation that I was supposed to.  I could also wiggle my toes through the whole ordeal.  I had one of those silent panic moments to myself when I was told I shouldn't be able to move my legs/feet, and I secretly wiggled my toes under the sheets AND I COULD!  Before the incision was made, the doctors pinched away at my lower belly, and while I could feel fingers, I felt no pain.  I didn't expect to feel anything, I guess, but I could tell at any given time how many fingers were touching me and where.  I even felt the incision being made, but again, with no pain.

The man looking at the camera in this picture is Dr. Papatsonis- the dude I fought tooth and nail with about having a c-section in the first place.  I had only met him once before d-day and I left his office with mascara down to my toenails and knots in my stomach.
ALSO, I noticed directly after the incision was made that the light fixture above me had 8 small mirrors.  I totally watched the rest of the surgery/birth from every angle in the room- that was awesome! :))) 

Each and every OBGYN I met with was very against me "choosing" to have a c-section, against vaginal birth of a full footling breech baby or having an external version done.  I'm also a "foreigner" here and they probably thought I was a pissy American just trying to get my way.  That's exactly what I was, and should have been considering it was MY birth, MY body, MY baby. :)

MY C-SECTION.

*Note- the following pictures are a bit....bloody.  If it ain't your thing, that's cool, just sayin'. :)

The incision being made.

This is one of my favorite pictures from my whole birthing experience.  I started praying right after surgery started and the nurse with our camera snapped this of me.  I was completely in my own element here, and I still remember the prayer I said when this was taken.  This is super special to me. <3

Not long after the epidural kicked in, so did the itch.  THE ITCH.  Dear God, WHY???  That's what I should've been praying about, haha!  Reesh had to scratch my nose for me at one point.  Toward the end is when it really got bad and I finally retrieved my arms from the side bars they were laying on, and commenced to a good ol scratchin', lol.

And there they go!

My anesthesiologist making a joke, I'm sure. ;)
I think it's sweet that Reesh has his hand on my shoulder.  I never even noticed until I saw this picture :)

What a strange, strange feeling.

The lady in this picture is Dr. Speksnijder (in English that means "Bacon Cutter" hehe.)  She is the actual one who delivered Junior- you can see in all the pictures that she's the one who did all the work. 
As another nurse told me, the OBGYN just "got paid." :P

Heeeeeeree comes Junior! :D

His tiny little bum made it's way out first. :)

Aaaaaand the first meconium.  This baby hasn't stopped since, hehe.

Poor Jr.'s head was STUCK!!! (Somewhere in my throat is how it felt the last 2 months of my pregnancy)

The doctor tugged and tugged, he just wasn't ready to make his grand appearance yet :P

I was amazed at all the vernix on him!!!!  Looks like that baby was rubbed down in Crisco, lol. :P

A bit blurry, I know- this picture is crazy to me, they way he's being pulled out by his hips.

Happy Birthday, sweet angel <3

3:34 p.m. :)))

Two things:
First, this was a pretty scary moment.  It was one just like in the movies/tv shows about births where the baby is born and doesn't cry right away and then the mom frantically asks, "Is everything ok?"  Seemed like forever... :(
Second, my original birth plan stated that Jr. and I were to stay "intact" through the umbilical cord until it was completely done pulsing.  With a C-section I was told that it wouldn't be possible, although I KNOW that's not true.  Anyhow, Dr. Rude and I went back and forth on this issue and he pretty much told me "No way, Jose!"  I was crushed!  When he came into the O.R. that afternoon, he peeked over the blue cloth at me and said, "Your baby will get his blood today."  Here's a picture of him milking the cord.  Thank God for small victories! :))))

The nurse held Jr. over the cloth for me to get a quick glimpse before he was taken to be dried off and checked.

Getting checked out by the pediatrician.  Mr. Over Achiever got a 9 on his Apgar! :)

 Meanwhile, Reesh went to the next room with the pediatrician and Junior while they started to stitch me back up.  Not 3 minutes after he was born, one of the nurses had already developed two pictures from his birth and brought them to me to look at while they finished the surgery.  They taped them both in front of me on the blue cloth.  This was so special!  After I was stitched up and sent to recovery, the two pictures went with me.  The nurse in recovery propped them up on a piece of cardboard and layed it on my chest so I could look at them until I got to go back to my room.  Here's those two pictures :)

8 pounds, 3 ounces, 22 inches long <3

The first time I saw the face of an angel :)))

 So, while they were finishing me up, Dr. Know-It-All-Pissed-Because-I-Didn't-Wanna-Have-Jr.-Turned peeks over the cloth and says, "Well, now I know why your baby was breech.  He would have never turned and an external version would have never worked.  Do you mind if we photograph your uterus?"
The next morning Dr. Bacon Cutter came to my room, drew me a picture and explained it all to me.  I have a Bicornate uterus.  I'm so fabulous that it's heart-shaped. :)  What happens is as a female in utero your uterus begins with two "horns" and has a heart shape.  While you're developing in your mother's womb, those two horns (hopefully) fuse together and you are born with a normal uterus.  In some cases, those horns never fuse together and you're born with a heart-shaped uterus, called Bicornate.

Here's the explanation.

The three things mainly associated with a bicornate uterus and pregnancy are: Miscarriage, pre-term labor, and breech babies.  We are so blessed with the way everything worked out.  ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS listen your body!!!!!  I had the STRONGEST feeling against vaginal birth and the external version.  Obviously, there was a reason- and I wish more doctors would take the time to just listen to their patients.  Between Junior, God and myself we knew what we needed to do, and it got done.  Had I not opted to do the c-section, he could've been seriously hurt in an attempt to turn him, or we would've been rushed into an emergency c-section after attempting vaginal birth.  My c-section was wonderful!  It gave me the sweetest gift I've ever received. 

This is how it was meant to be.  Period.

Once in recovery, I thought I was going to DIE!  The itch proceeded to take over my entire body!!  My whole arm was tangled up in my IV cord from trying to scratch my whole body.  My anesthesiologist came to check on me and I told him to bring me a fork so I could scratch, haha.  He gave me something for the itch and stayed with me the whole time I was in recovery.  Once I got there the feeling was already coming back into my legs and the nurse there told me I wouldn't have to stay too long- get back to my baby asap.  We had initially been told that Reesh and baby could come see me in recovery and I could start nursing right away.  In the end they wouldn't let us do that- they said if I happened to be laying next to a woman in recovery that had just had an abortion she probably wouldn't want to see my baby there.  HER PROBLEM, NOT MINE is what I thought- but one thing I've learned is these people do NOT bend the rules for anybody here. :(  If I could have anything different about the entire birthing process it would be my time spent in recovery.  What I didn't know at the time was my itch medicine had to have time to work, and they had to watch me to see that I didn't have a reaction.  I had THREE DOSES because I was scratching like a heroin addict having withdrawals.  Had I known, I would've sucked it up and scratched the rest of the evening so I could've gotten back to Reesh and baby sooner. 

I was also a little upset that it was over an hour before I got to hold Junior and begin with nursing.  While I was in recovery scratching my skin off, Reesh and Junior were in a special, heated room waiting for me.  It's nice that they had their time together like that. 

We decided that we didn't want any of the family in our room oohing and ahhing and holding Junior until I had my chance to hold and nurse him for a while.  Our poor parents waited on a couch for FIVE HOURS until we let them come in our room!  Once I got back to my room, I opened up my gown and we stripped Junior down and we had our first skin-to-skin bonding time, and began nursing for the first time.

Another one of my favorite pictures from the day :))

48 hours later we were on our way home!  My c-section ROCKED!  I was up and out of the bed the very next morning- showered, dressed, makeup on.  The next day they discharged me- sent me home with no pain medication.  We have a third story flat, no elevator- I could've done squats all the way up, hehehe.  I feel GREAT! 

A tiny scar, a tiny baby- a HUGE SMILE IN MY HEART!

*I know this was a pretty graphic blog post.  I wanted to blog my birth story for months- I had no idea it would end up being a c-section and that I would have pictures of my uterus for goodness sake!  Several of you asked me to share, so here it is.  Hope you enjoyed. :)