Birth Story Continued

Pretext: It's 7:30 am & I'm finally being allowed food....I'm waiting for the food cart to show up before I go back to sleep after nursing my handsome man!!  (My parents will probably show up before I get to go back to sleep though & that's ok.)

So, the c-section began at 9:15 w/ me getting the spinal placed.  (The spinal wasn't  at all & truly numbed me completely.  I am glad I wanted that & not an epidural. I didn't have a choice...but to me the spinal was so much EASIER to do than the epidural.)  Tim didn't want to see anything, so he sat next to my head behind the curtain. 

So, within a matter of minutes they had done the section & pulled Luke out.  I could sort of feel, but don't know if I felt "the moment" when he came out.  I remember them saying he was born at 9:40 am.  He gave a few gurgly cries and I'm assuming the doctors suctioned him & cut his cord pretty quickly.  (We couldn't see.) 

After he stopped being gurgly &crying, they carried him around the curtain on my left side & let me have a looksie. 

Tim got to go over to the bassiet where they were toweling Luke off & checking his vitals.  He got an 8 & 9 on his "at birth" apgars. I don't know what his later ones were, but I plan on asking before we leave. 

After about a minute of Tim looking at the baby & me not being able to see, I told Tim I wanted to touch the baby.  So, the sweet nursery nurse (Tammy) brought him, butt naked & in all his glory, over for me to see and touch.  She let me pet him and give him a kiss, before asking if she could continue drying him. 

He didn't cry or anything, such a good man.

So, then the doctor's finished with me & the nurses finished with Luke.  Tim got to hold him & came to sit with me while I was being stitched up.  He laid Luke on the bed by my head (without letting go) so that I could see and touch and kiss my little boy.  I remember him fussing a bit & me kissing him and going 'shh' and him getting quiet. 

After several minutes of bonding time the nurses had to take him to the nursery to get properly warmed b/c they didn't have a "Panda" warmer in the OR. 

I had asked that they not "bathe" him but just wipe him down & they respected my wishes.  Yay!  Tim and his mom got to go in the nursery with him while they did all kinds of little newborn assessments.  Tim was particularly interested in the testicular exam!  He said they also bent all of his joints as far as they'd go & flexed all his little muscle groups.  Aww...I'm sorry I had to miss that.

It took them a little while longer to get me settled & it was after 10:15 when I got to my post-op/recovering/postpartum room. 

My nurse, Rebecca, stayed with me from the triage room,to surgery, to my post-op room.  As soon as we were in the room, she called for the baby to be brought to me.  She did all the post-op stuff she had to do to me (blood pressure, hooking up IVs, and such) and then she helped me and Tim get Luke to latch on.

Oh how I love feeding my child. 

It'sNOT easy.  But the reward is so great & I know that I'm doing my best for my baby!  So far it's not painful & I am using lanolin after every feeding to help limit any possible soreness. 

Luke got 3 or 4 really big deep swallows of milk in before we were both spent.  I was in tears and he just would not/could not open his tiny mouth wide enough for my huge ta-tas! 

By then it was after 11:15 and maybe even closer to 12! Mandy asked to come in so that she could see Luke & I before leaving to go get Grayson & Spencer.  We let her in for a quick visit. 

Nurse time...