Birth Story, Part 2

If you missed Part 1 of the birth story, catch it here!

Around 6:30pm I found myself being wheeled into the operating room. It was surreal to say the least and although I knew it was a possibility, I never imagined this is how my baby would enter the world! I tried to stay as calm as possible and focused my energy on breathing and praying and hoping that my baby was healthy.

M was not allowed to join me in the operating room until my spinal epidural was in. All of the doctors and nurses introduced themselves to me and I found it interesting to watch them help each other put their surgical gloves on... the things you remember, eh? The crazy anesthesiologist came in (she was a super fast talker and absolutely nutty) and started preparing me for the epidural. I sat cross legged on the bed and did my best deep breathing because frankly, needles freak me out, especially big ones. All I felt was a tiny pinch and shortly after, my legs started to feel fuzzy. The doctors layed me back down, someone came over to insert a catheter, which also did not hurt a bit, and they started putting up the curtain. I remember the doctors poking my belly and asking if I could feel anything, and eventually I couldn't.

Dr. Jill, whoever she is, was the doctor who stayed by my head the entire time. She was very comforting and somehow found out I'm Canadian. She started to sing the national anthem and made me continue on when she forgot the words. Then she started trivia with the other doctors, asking them if they knew the capital of Canada. Oh dear... some said Quebec, some Montreal, and others... Ontario. I was laughing my head off, especially when they realized their mistake and talked about Ontario being one of the states, not the capital :)

At some point, M came in and we were ready to get this baby out. Through the procedure I felt a bit of pressure, then a whole lot of pushing on my chest near the very end, I'm assuming when the baby was being pulled out. The pushing caused a lot of referred pain in my right shoulder and one of the nurses came over to massage it. I also started feeling nauseous and I remember Dr. Jill saying, okay, I can give you something for that, and I instantly felt better!

We told the doctors that M was to announce the sex of the baby, but Dr. Jill accidentally slipped up said "her" just a second before she whispered that it was a girl into M's ear. He then told me, but it's all a bit of a blur because I only cared about whether or not my baby was healthy. We heard our baby girl give a cat like meow and M and I looked at each other thinking, was that her cry?! And yes it was, we heard it again a second later and then I told M to go over and meet our girl!

Baby girl underwent some suctioning because she had passed merconium and when M told me she was okay and healthy, I don't think I really believed him at first! I probably asked him over and over, she's okay? she's alright? Oh sweet relief!

M brought over the pictures he'd taken with his iPhone and showed me our daughter. Beautiful! A tiny package, weighing in at 5 lbs 9.5 oz and measuring 19.5 inches. I was shocked she was so small, considering the size of both her parents, and my doctor estimating she'd be around 7lbs! She scored a 6 and a 9 on the apgar tests.

After a few minutes, I got to meet our little peanut and I remember kissing her head a million times!

Here's our first family picture!

That's where I'll leave off for today.. one more part should finish it off!