Wednesday - March 23
I went into labor with Landon, but found in mid-labor that he was Frank Breech (butt down) and had to have an emergency C-section. We decided to do a repeat c-section for Allie. My c-section was planned for 9:00am Thursday morning, so I had my final OB dr apt on Wednesday morning. I was dilated "a loose 1" and the dr said "good thing you're coming in, in the morning".
After my apt, I had to walk over to the hospital to get preliminary blood work done. Then once I was done, I ran to Wal-Mart to get Landon some sheets for his new full size bed. He still wasn't sleeping through the night, waking up several times and taking several hrs to get back to sleep, so we switched out his toddler bed to the full bed while he was at school and made a big deal about a new bed. I didn't find what I was looking for at Walmart so I ran by Target too. I also planned to run by another store after getting Landon that afternoon.
At home, I got several things done around the house in prep for the next day. I honestly didn't do much resting. I noticed in the afternoon I was having Braxton hicks contractions pretty consistently, but I didn't think anything of it.
I picked Landon up from MDO and we ran to the store before heading home. Looking back now, I realize I did a lot of walking on Wednesday. Once home, we dyed Easter eggs and played outside. After Ben got home, we hid the eggs and did a backyard egg hunt for Landon - which he loved. Ben and Landon mowed the yard and I continued to do things inside to get ready.
We ate supper and I made a comment about having Braxton hicks contractions. Ben asked if that was ok and I said it's fine....they just are uncomfortable. At this point I was starting to think more about whether they were coming in an pattern or not. I bawled like a baby as we did Landon's last bath and bed routine as a family of 3. Ben did the going to bed song and dance and I hopped in the shower.
It was about 8:30 when I got out of the shower and mentioned to Ben that I was nervous we weren't going make it through the night until my C section time. I told him I just wanted to get in bed and rest so I'd feel better. I still thought there was no way I'd go into labor.
Knowing we had an early morning and a big life event happening, we went to bed at 9:00. Ben prayed a really sweet prayer over me and our family and we bedded down. About 9:30 (I hadn't even gone to sleep because my brain was all over the place), I realized I was having real - painful labor contractions. I grabbed my phone and timed them for an hour. They started in my lower back (just like with Landon) and then after a bit started radiating around my whole mid section. I woke Ben up at 10:30 and told him I was in labor and we needed to call his parents to come.
He said something like "oh wow, really?" Ha. We hopped up, called his parents so they could come watch Landon, and I threw in the last of my hospital bag while Ben packed his. As I was with Landon, I was so thankful for a last minute packing list I had made because remembering what I needed while having contractions was tough!
I couldn't stay out of the bathroom at this point (TMI sorry) and I remembered that was the case with Landon's labor as well as earlier that night. At that point, I knew for sure this was happening before my 9:00 am c-section. I also was in more pain by now and having to stop and bend over when a contraction hit. We called our neighbor, who was on call if we needed her to come watch Landon so we could go to the hospital before his parents arrived. She got to the house, we loaded up the car and off we went.
The car ride was quick and I remember telling Ben "aw man I remember this with Landon - how uncomfortable it is having contractions sitting in a car". My contractions started out ranging from 5-10 minutes apart and by the time we were in the car they were closer to the 5 min mark.
We got to the hospital, Ben dropped me off and parked while I went in. They asked if I needed a wheel chair and I tried to be a hero and say no. I made it about 10 feet before a contraction had me doubled over and asking a nurse for a wheel chair. :) It took 15 minutes or so to get checked in and I had to keep hopping out of the chair when contractions hit and bend over. At this point, the contractions were no joke. I even told Ben "women who choose to do this naturally are just stupid. This hurts!!" Pain was starting to make me mean. :)
We got into our room and they started with the whole 100 questions thing. Eventually I was checked and was a 2/3 and "pretty thinned out". We were left to be monitored for a while and see how my contractions progressed. I was in so much pain at this point I was getting mad. I didn't understand why I was sitting there having to have my contractions monitored when I was having a c-section. There was no denying I was in labor, so what was the point in having me continue on in labor if I wasn't going to actually be pushing her out?
The sweet nurse came in and talked to me about how we had options - 1) give me fluids to hydrate me and pain meds to "soften and slow down" contractions and wait until my 9:00 scheduled time OR 2) get the ok from the dr to go ahead and do it early. This seemed like a no brainier to me, and I told Ben there was NO WAY I could wait 9 hours to have this baby. I was in too much pain. I felt like cussing, throwing something, and crying all at once when the contractions hit.
Another 30 min or so of down right torture passed and they checked me again. I was at 4cm and all of a sudden - in true C-section form - things started happening FAST. The nurse (who also was named Becky) called the dr on call (who wasn't my dr....she didn't come on call until 7:00am) and got the ok to prep me and do the c-section now. Hallelujah. I could've kissed her on the mouth. I remember her saying "This baby isn't going to wait! She's ready now!"
As we were waiting and I was contracting, I kept telling Ben I couldn't believe how bad the contractions hurt. I dilated to a 5 at home with Landon, so I was shocked I was a 4 and in such pain. I wondered if it was Allie's positioning (head down) vs. Landon's (butt down). Either way I kept saying "I just want them to cut her out! This is too painful."
I got all prepped and met the anesthesiologist, Ben got his "Daddy pack", as they call it: hair net, face mask, shoe covers, and paper gown. The nurses were talking about how they couldn't believe I was scheduled for just hours away and in labor.
Thursday - March 24
At 1:04am (I remember because they said the time as we entered) we rolled into the OR. They told Ben to wait in his chair outside the room, he gave me a hand squeeze and said I love you, see you in a minute. At this point, I started to get nervous. Up until then, I was in too much pain to think and worry about having another c-section. Which honestly, is a God thing. I had no time to let myself get worked up about it. A definite praise. But now, as I was sitting on the edge of the operating table, waiting to get my spinal, I was nervous. The anesthesiologist was taking FOREVER to come in there and get everything ready. One nurse even said "he knows we're in here right?" Finally he comes in and gives me the spinal. It took him a lot longer than I remember with Landon and I had a contraction right before he did it, but had to sit still. I ended up wrapping my legs around the sweet nurse who was helping me hug the pillow and stay still. She laughed when I said "is it ok if I wrap my legs around yours until it goes away?" LOL. Hey it helped!! I stayed still. The spinal hurt a bit more than I remembered but it was over and I was laying down feeling warm and tingly instantly.
The anesthesiologist was working on making sure I was numb and I started freaking out because I could feel pressure. He kept telling me he was taking away the pain not the pressure, which made me nervous. After a couple minutes, he was right...I was completely numb. :) It was go time and Ben was brought in. I had warned him I'd probably need him to tell me stories to keep my mind off of it. I knew that this go round, I'd know what was happening and I'd be nervous. Plus, my dr told me it would take a little longer before they got to baby because of scar tissue, etc. Poor Ben was so nervous he blanked on any kind of story and I said 'Make something up!" LOL I ended up asking him questions. They finally told me "One more layer left" (gross I know) and then "ok lots of pressure" and that's when I squeezed Ben's hand because the pressure was them pushing on my belly to get Allie out. It wasn't painful, but it didn't feel good either. Weird to describe. Next thing I know, I hear "it's a girl! Look at those cheeks." She was born at 1:30am.
They told Ben he could stand up and they lowered the sheet so he could watch them pull her out and snap pictures. Then they lowered it for me to see her. They'd taken off my glasses (for fear of metal in them) so I couldn't actually see her very well. It wasn't until they brought her over to my face that I was really able to see her features, etc. She was beautiful. :) I was immediately teary eyed.
I went into labor with Landon, but found in mid-labor that he was Frank Breech (butt down) and had to have an emergency C-section. We decided to do a repeat c-section for Allie. My c-section was planned for 9:00am Thursday morning, so I had my final OB dr apt on Wednesday morning. I was dilated "a loose 1" and the dr said "good thing you're coming in, in the morning".
After my apt, I had to walk over to the hospital to get preliminary blood work done. Then once I was done, I ran to Wal-Mart to get Landon some sheets for his new full size bed. He still wasn't sleeping through the night, waking up several times and taking several hrs to get back to sleep, so we switched out his toddler bed to the full bed while he was at school and made a big deal about a new bed. I didn't find what I was looking for at Walmart so I ran by Target too. I also planned to run by another store after getting Landon that afternoon.
At home, I got several things done around the house in prep for the next day. I honestly didn't do much resting. I noticed in the afternoon I was having Braxton hicks contractions pretty consistently, but I didn't think anything of it.
I picked Landon up from MDO and we ran to the store before heading home. Looking back now, I realize I did a lot of walking on Wednesday. Once home, we dyed Easter eggs and played outside. After Ben got home, we hid the eggs and did a backyard egg hunt for Landon - which he loved. Ben and Landon mowed the yard and I continued to do things inside to get ready.
We ate supper and I made a comment about having Braxton hicks contractions. Ben asked if that was ok and I said it's fine....they just are uncomfortable. At this point I was starting to think more about whether they were coming in an pattern or not. I bawled like a baby as we did Landon's last bath and bed routine as a family of 3. Ben did the going to bed song and dance and I hopped in the shower.
It was about 8:30 when I got out of the shower and mentioned to Ben that I was nervous we weren't going make it through the night until my C section time. I told him I just wanted to get in bed and rest so I'd feel better. I still thought there was no way I'd go into labor.
Knowing we had an early morning and a big life event happening, we went to bed at 9:00. Ben prayed a really sweet prayer over me and our family and we bedded down. About 9:30 (I hadn't even gone to sleep because my brain was all over the place), I realized I was having real - painful labor contractions. I grabbed my phone and timed them for an hour. They started in my lower back (just like with Landon) and then after a bit started radiating around my whole mid section. I woke Ben up at 10:30 and told him I was in labor and we needed to call his parents to come.
He said something like "oh wow, really?" Ha. We hopped up, called his parents so they could come watch Landon, and I threw in the last of my hospital bag while Ben packed his. As I was with Landon, I was so thankful for a last minute packing list I had made because remembering what I needed while having contractions was tough!
I couldn't stay out of the bathroom at this point (TMI sorry) and I remembered that was the case with Landon's labor as well as earlier that night. At that point, I knew for sure this was happening before my 9:00 am c-section. I also was in more pain by now and having to stop and bend over when a contraction hit. We called our neighbor, who was on call if we needed her to come watch Landon so we could go to the hospital before his parents arrived. She got to the house, we loaded up the car and off we went.
The car ride was quick and I remember telling Ben "aw man I remember this with Landon - how uncomfortable it is having contractions sitting in a car". My contractions started out ranging from 5-10 minutes apart and by the time we were in the car they were closer to the 5 min mark.
We got to the hospital, Ben dropped me off and parked while I went in. They asked if I needed a wheel chair and I tried to be a hero and say no. I made it about 10 feet before a contraction had me doubled over and asking a nurse for a wheel chair. :) It took 15 minutes or so to get checked in and I had to keep hopping out of the chair when contractions hit and bend over. At this point, the contractions were no joke. I even told Ben "women who choose to do this naturally are just stupid. This hurts!!" Pain was starting to make me mean. :)
We got into our room and they started with the whole 100 questions thing. Eventually I was checked and was a 2/3 and "pretty thinned out". We were left to be monitored for a while and see how my contractions progressed. I was in so much pain at this point I was getting mad. I didn't understand why I was sitting there having to have my contractions monitored when I was having a c-section. There was no denying I was in labor, so what was the point in having me continue on in labor if I wasn't going to actually be pushing her out?
The sweet nurse came in and talked to me about how we had options - 1) give me fluids to hydrate me and pain meds to "soften and slow down" contractions and wait until my 9:00 scheduled time OR 2) get the ok from the dr to go ahead and do it early. This seemed like a no brainier to me, and I told Ben there was NO WAY I could wait 9 hours to have this baby. I was in too much pain. I felt like cussing, throwing something, and crying all at once when the contractions hit.
Another 30 min or so of down right torture passed and they checked me again. I was at 4cm and all of a sudden - in true C-section form - things started happening FAST. The nurse (who also was named Becky) called the dr on call (who wasn't my dr....she didn't come on call until 7:00am) and got the ok to prep me and do the c-section now. Hallelujah. I could've kissed her on the mouth. I remember her saying "This baby isn't going to wait! She's ready now!"
As we were waiting and I was contracting, I kept telling Ben I couldn't believe how bad the contractions hurt. I dilated to a 5 at home with Landon, so I was shocked I was a 4 and in such pain. I wondered if it was Allie's positioning (head down) vs. Landon's (butt down). Either way I kept saying "I just want them to cut her out! This is too painful."
I got all prepped and met the anesthesiologist, Ben got his "Daddy pack", as they call it: hair net, face mask, shoe covers, and paper gown. The nurses were talking about how they couldn't believe I was scheduled for just hours away and in labor.
Thursday - March 24
At 1:04am (I remember because they said the time as we entered) we rolled into the OR. They told Ben to wait in his chair outside the room, he gave me a hand squeeze and said I love you, see you in a minute. At this point, I started to get nervous. Up until then, I was in too much pain to think and worry about having another c-section. Which honestly, is a God thing. I had no time to let myself get worked up about it. A definite praise. But now, as I was sitting on the edge of the operating table, waiting to get my spinal, I was nervous. The anesthesiologist was taking FOREVER to come in there and get everything ready. One nurse even said "he knows we're in here right?" Finally he comes in and gives me the spinal. It took him a lot longer than I remember with Landon and I had a contraction right before he did it, but had to sit still. I ended up wrapping my legs around the sweet nurse who was helping me hug the pillow and stay still. She laughed when I said "is it ok if I wrap my legs around yours until it goes away?" LOL. Hey it helped!! I stayed still. The spinal hurt a bit more than I remembered but it was over and I was laying down feeling warm and tingly instantly.
The anesthesiologist was working on making sure I was numb and I started freaking out because I could feel pressure. He kept telling me he was taking away the pain not the pressure, which made me nervous. After a couple minutes, he was right...I was completely numb. :) It was go time and Ben was brought in. I had warned him I'd probably need him to tell me stories to keep my mind off of it. I knew that this go round, I'd know what was happening and I'd be nervous. Plus, my dr told me it would take a little longer before they got to baby because of scar tissue, etc. Poor Ben was so nervous he blanked on any kind of story and I said 'Make something up!" LOL I ended up asking him questions. They finally told me "One more layer left" (gross I know) and then "ok lots of pressure" and that's when I squeezed Ben's hand because the pressure was them pushing on my belly to get Allie out. It wasn't painful, but it didn't feel good either. Weird to describe. Next thing I know, I hear "it's a girl! Look at those cheeks." She was born at 1:30am.
They told Ben he could stand up and they lowered the sheet so he could watch them pull her out and snap pictures. Then they lowered it for me to see her. They'd taken off my glasses (for fear of metal in them) so I couldn't actually see her very well. It wasn't until they brought her over to my face that I was really able to see her features, etc. She was beautiful. :) I was immediately teary eyed.
(Ben went with her to get cleaned off and he got to cut the umbilical cord (he said he didn't think he did that with Landon) and took lots of pics. He had instructions from me to stay with Allie at all times and take lots of pictures. :) I listened to them talking to her, she started crying and next thing I knew they were off to the nursery. It took - what seemed like forever - for them to sew me up. I asked all the details - what did she weigh? how long was she? what time was she born. The dr came over to tell me all was good and there were no complications with my c-section. We rolled out of the OR at 2:04 (again, I remember them saying it as we left) and I was taken to my recovery room.
At this point, with Landon, it's VERY fuzzy. Thankfully with Allie, I remember it. I remember feeling SUPER sleepy, which I knew was from the meds they gave me (they warned me about it before), had the shakes from the anesthesia, and I remember thinking "where is Allie? And where are my glasses!?" :) I'm not sure how long it took, but it seemed like AGES....finally in walks Ben, a nurse, and Allie in her little nursery bed. I couldn't wait to see her and hold her. I held her and nursed her right away and she latched on immediately. (CHAMP!)
After nursing her, taking some pics and snuggling a bit, we sent her to the nursery to get her bath. They brought her back and we let my Mom and Dad (who had been in the waiting room since midnight) come back to meet her. They each held her and talked about how much she was a "mini me". Mom said she looked just like my newborn pictures. She brought some by later and she's right, we look a lot alike. Mom and Dad headed back home to sleep. My Mom was coming back later in the day to visit. They left about 4:00 am. At that point, we put Allie in the nursery so we could sleep some. We were EXHAUSTED. I physically couldn't even keep my eyes open. At 8:00am the nursery brought her back and we spent the rest of the morning cuddling and snoozing. And of course, it's hard snoozing in the hospital when you're being monitored and checked on every 15 minutes. :) But it felt good to be over with everything and loving on our little girl. She was here, she was ours, and my heart was so happy.
At this point, with Landon, it's VERY fuzzy. Thankfully with Allie, I remember it. I remember feeling SUPER sleepy, which I knew was from the meds they gave me (they warned me about it before), had the shakes from the anesthesia, and I remember thinking "where is Allie? And where are my glasses!?" :) I'm not sure how long it took, but it seemed like AGES....finally in walks Ben, a nurse, and Allie in her little nursery bed. I couldn't wait to see her and hold her. I held her and nursed her right away and she latched on immediately. (CHAMP!)
After nursing her, taking some pics and snuggling a bit, we sent her to the nursery to get her bath. They brought her back and we let my Mom and Dad (who had been in the waiting room since midnight) come back to meet her. They each held her and talked about how much she was a "mini me". Mom said she looked just like my newborn pictures. She brought some by later and she's right, we look a lot alike. Mom and Dad headed back home to sleep. My Mom was coming back later in the day to visit. They left about 4:00 am. At that point, we put Allie in the nursery so we could sleep some. We were EXHAUSTED. I physically couldn't even keep my eyes open. At 8:00am the nursery brought her back and we spent the rest of the morning cuddling and snoozing. And of course, it's hard snoozing in the hospital when you're being monitored and checked on every 15 minutes. :) But it felt good to be over with everything and loving on our little girl. She was here, she was ours, and my heart was so happy.
Stay tuned this weekend for details on Landon and Allie's first meeting!!!!
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