Four weeks ago, we welcomed our daughter into the world via scheduled c-section. It was such a different experience from my first delivery (a failed induction and emergency c-section after 3 horrible unmedicated hours of pushing).
We dropped our son off with his grandparents and left to check in at the hospital. I had been up the whole night having contractions and just feeling extremely uncomfortable. It was so weird walking in and knowing I was about to go from pregnant to holding my baby within a few hours. I was having a lot of anxiety about the surgery and something going wrong with me or the baby. I was also super dehydrated because my surgery was scheduled for 1:30 and I was told no food or water after midnight.
After we got checked in, they started monitoring me and trying to insert my IV. The first nurse couldn’t get it, the second nurse couldn’t get it, the third nurse couldn’t get it. Forty minutes and several blown veins later, they called in a 4th nurse armed with an ultrasound to find a good vein – finally, success.
We waited a little longer while they prepped the OR – my surgery got pushed back about 30 minutes due to another delivery. They wheeled me back and made Jordan sit in the hallway while they did my spinal block.
We knew the spinal would be a challenge because I have rods up and down my spine and I can’t bend the way they need for inserting the needle. Unfortunately, this took 4 attempts before they got it to work and that HURT. I’m thankful for the nurse who just hugged me while I cried and tried to hold still.
Before I knew it, I was numb and they were working on getting baby out. I was way more aware of my surroundings this time… it didn’t hurt but I could definitely feel a lot of pressure and pulling. I kept making comments about how weird this was.
After 5 or so minutes, my doctor said “here she comes, she has a lot of hair!” That made me so excited because I envisioned her coming out with a head full of dark hair. They showed her to us and we couldn’t believe how much she looked like her brother. She had a lot of fluid to suck out so they took her to the nursery while they finished up my surgery. Not much later, I was back in my recovery room eating ice chips, trying really hard to move my numb feet, and finally holding my baby.
We were in recovery for about two hours and she was wide awake, just looking around the whole time. She started nursing right away and we fell in love. 🥰 I can’t believe she’s already been with us for a month. We couldn’t love her more.
Kristen Stewart, Writer 
Congrats!!
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