Now to continue with your never-ending, wonderful stories! It's still bizarre to me to think of how quickly the delivery process is with a c-section. I had no idea. My perception of time was rather skewed but even Isaac says it only took about 10 minutes. He had to stay in the hallway while I got prepped and pumped full of some more drugs that are necessary for a c-section. Thankfully they were able to administer them through the IV I already had, so I didn't need any more needles. That was done so quickly I didn't even know it had happened. I guess they normally use a variant of Morphine in sections but they were able to give me something else, thank god.
I remember Isaac was let in and Dr. Chanda pressing against my body in a line, then telling me there would be a lot of pressure. "A lot" is an understatement. That hurt! While I couldn't feel the pain of them cutting into my body (again, I had no idea that was even happening), it's not nice to feel someone pressing into your stomach with all of their weight. I have no idea what they were doing but she kept pushing around in there and it was beyond uncomfortable. Amazingly, in a matter of minutes it went from that to "Daddy,do you want to see?" and he watched you come out of me! They lifted you up over the curtain so I could see you, then took you away (with Isaac) to get you weighed and cleaned off. 7 lbs 10.8 oz. Just that previous Thursday Dr. Chanda had guessed your weight would be 7 lbs 12 oz, which was pretty darn close!
It took another 20 minutes or so to get me cleaned and closed back up, unfortunately. Isaac stayed with you until he could bring you over to me while they finished everything. We took some pictures and he described his terrified reaction of seeing you coming out looking rather purple. All the doctors and nurses (there are MANY in the room with you in a c-section) were smiling and saying "Congratulations" though, so he knew nothing was wrong.
He stayed with you to do the APGAR test and whatever else they do to you right away, while I got cleaned up and wheeled into the recovery room, and the two of you soon followed. I knew I had been given some more drugs but didn't realize just how frozen I was. The nurses had been patting me with a bag of ice and I had to tell them when it was cold and when it wasn't. Turns out, at this point, I was frozen from my armpits down! I'm not sure why they give you that much, it was kind of crazy. I actually had to wait about half an hour to feed you because I couldn't feel that part of my body. Meanwhile, you laid in your bed next to me smackin your lips, hoping I could help you out. Thankfully when it came time to feed you, you caught right on and it hasn't been a problem yet! I remember laying there frozen before I could feed you and one of the nurses asked what your name was and we still hadn't decided! Your first name is one I threw out a few months ago that he liked, and your middle name is Grandma G's middle name.
We had a semi-private room, but it was not very nice at first. You'd think the entire space would be split evenly, but that's not the case. We had a tiny little section with no view, enclosed entirely by a curtain. There wasn't even a chair because there wasn't room for one! The other side had a big window, window seat, bed, chair, and tons of space to boot. We lucked out though, because the couple there was just leaving and suggested we take their space before anyone else moved in, so that's exactly what we did. We had that space to ourselves for a little bit, before a woman came in next to us who hadn't had her baby yet, but was dealing with kidney stones. She was in a great deal of pain and had a husband and young one at home to worry about. She left Wednesday morning.
Wednesday afternoon, a couple came in with the loudest baby imaginable. I swear I will never forget the sound that baby made because it didn't even sound like a baby crying. If I didn't know, I would've thought it was a little pig or some other small animal. It was awful, the poor boy. All the nurses said you were the quietest on the floor (even when you cried, which isn't often) and unfortunately he (Braydon) was the loudest! The mom kind of drove me crazy, too. She was really nice but FULL of complaints, even though she had a natural delivery that took 3 hours in total, with only 20 minutes of contractions. The baby came on his due date which was also her anniversary with her husband. She had plenty to be happy about, but all she did was complain. She had a midwife so she could've gone home within a few hours but ended up spending the night with her mom and the baby because she wanted to speak to her pediatrician, who wasn't in until the next day. They all left Thursday morning though and we had the room to ourselves until we left Friday at 1.
Originally we had asked to not have visitors because we hadn't anticipated staying very long. Having ended up there from Monday night until Friday afternoon, we okayed it, which resulted in everyone wanting to come. You're only supposed to have two visitors during the hours of 2-4 and 6-8 but we had more than that each time on Wednesday and Thursday and no one said anything. Between those four times, we saw both Grandmas and Grandpas, Uncle Laine and Vaughn, Uncle Ryan and Aunt Nicole, Megan, Brandon, your second cousin Cherise, and (Aunt) Kelly. I don't think you even opened an eye for anyone besides the twins. Your grandparents brought us lots of snack foods, which was greatly appreciated, and Kelly brought us Swiss Chalet. The hospital food was better than expected but it's still not as nice as real food! Uncle Laine and Vaughn got you a lined silver sippy cup, spoon and fork that's engraved with your name on it. Super cute.
The nurses on the floor were all wonderful. We had one nurse named Wendy and another named Kerry lol. Daddy actually knew Stacey, the nurse we had Thursday night. She was really nice and put up with me having a big crying fit regarding supplementing. Babies lose weight when they're in the hospital but it's not a huge concern unless and until it's 10% of your original birth weight, at which point they have to supplement a breast fed baby with formula until the mom's milk came in. Well I was told my milk wouldn't come in for about a week because of having had a c-section, and you lost 7% of your weight, so they were a little worried. That's fine, but they all knew I wasn't giving you a bottle (especially at two days old). There are other ways of doing it if need be, if you had continued to lose weight (which you didn't).
I was unimpressed - to say the least - when your pediatrician, Dr. Vanier, told me she was concerned you would continue to lose weight because she was so sure my milk wouldn't come in any time soon. We had been told we'd leave either Thursday or Friday, but Dr. Vanier wouldn't release you on Thursday because of said concern. She went on to tell me that I had no choice but to supplement you with formula via a bottle. When I asked about other ways, she wouldn't even discuss them. At one point she told me they'd be too difficult to do at home so I may as well get used to a bottle now. I put my foot down and you were not given formula. She wasn't happy with me and she caused such a fuss that I spent Thursday night crying, just wishing we could go home. Stacey listened to me rant and raised a good point, that if I had had a vaginal delivery and gone home on Wednesday, I never would have known you'd lost any weight and the supplementing would be a non-issue until you were weighed again at your first doctor's appointment within the week.
When Dr. Vanier came in to check on me early Friday morning, I was stressed and upset, and made even moreso as I expected her to send us home, but she had more bad news. She didn't want to send us home in case you lost more weight because it's hard to get help on the weekend. We'd have to go through Emerg, which is a royal pain. Considering you had only lost 7% I did not understand why she was turning it into such a big deal. I needed to get us home. As we had this conversation, I was about to feed you in front of her and saw that my milk had come in. We struck gold. I insisted that we were taking my breast milk (not a bottle of formula) and going home that day. She said she'd weigh you and we could go accordingly. With that feed, you gained an ounce (yay)! With the next one - three hours later, as they make Moms wake up their babies to feed every three hours - you had gained another ounce. The nurse named Kerry came in with some paper work and information about breast feeding, safe sleep, and my recovery, and we were released immediately.
It was sunny out but really windy and cold. The drive home didn't take any longer than usual but it felt like forever. We were greeted at home by Uncle Laine and Uncle Vaughn. I went upstairs to try and get some more sleep in between feeding. It took us a while to get our stuff unpacked and the house tidied up again. As I write this three weeks later, my incision is still sore, but getting much better. I have an appointment with Dr. Chanda on December 2 to make sure all is well down there. You've seen Trixie and Donna at the Health Centre and you're gaining weight left right and centre! You were down to 7 lbs 3 oz when you left the hospital, and you're currently up to 8 lbs 3 oz! You'll see Paige from now on every month or so. Your next appointment is on the 30th.
As for your life outside of the hospital, it has been wonderful. Sometimes I look at you and still can't believe we made you. You were inside of me only three weeks ago. I don't know how you fit in there, but you were pretty darn cozy. You were dancing around in there right up to the last second. Dr. Chanda told me you came out with your umbilical cord wrapped around your feet! Silly girl.
