A planned c-section doesn't consist of much excitement, but I thought I might write down a few highlights so that I will remember this special day!
I guess to start his birth story, I have to back up and tell a little bit about my pregnancy! I had been having braxton hicks contractions since week 10! No big deal because I had them that early with Cooper...I just didn't know what they were! They continued throughout my entire pregnancy but became the real deal towards the last few weeks. I knew they were much much harder, but I just assumed that because Whitten was so far down, that I was just having more pressure with the contractions!
The night before we were to go in for our scheduled delivery, I was exhausted! I hadn't slept very well in about 6 weeks due to these crazy contractions that I would have all night long....along with a very busy baby that liked to throw parties in the middle of the night! But, when my head hit the pillow on Sept. 14 I knew I was going to sleep well! And I did...for about 2 hours! Coop woke up screaming at the top of his lungs and I thought he was having a nightmare! Josh ran in there to check on him and he was just beside himself! I kept trying to make out what he was saying and realized the reason he was crying was because I had moved his Woody doll when I went to check on him (yes, I still check to see if he's breathing before I go to bed)! He was crying, "Daddy, where's my Woody? Daddy, where's my Woody?" Oh my! I went in there, grabbed Woody from his dresser and gave it to him. He immediately dried up his tears. Josh told him he loved him, and Cooper said I love you too, Daddy...and promptly fell back asleep! Me, not so much!!!! I was wide awake for the rest of the 3 hours I had left to sleep! So up at 4:30 we were!!
We headed to the hospital and ran into our nurse as we were walking into the door! She said, "Are you Bethany?' Yep...and she took us right to our room! No waiting for us! I got all hooked up and was ready to go! However, as soon as my iv started flowing I became an icicle!! Frozen! I was shivering so hard that my whole body was convulsing! I know a lot of it had to do with nerves, but I just couldn't make it stop! We headed to the OR and they gave me a heated blanket! Ahhh...it felt so good! So on the table I go! When I had my c-section with Coop, this were a little rushed! They were getting things done in a hurry because they wanted to get him out! Not so much this time around! Talk about lollygagging!! Everything felt like it was in slow motion. Nobody was in a hurry...except for me! In goes the spinal....not a pleasant experience! I didn't even feel it with Coop, but this time it felt like they were jabbing a metal rod through my spine! I'm pretty sure they didn't numb me at all! In no time I felt like I was going to hurl! I was trying not to say anything! I just kept swallowing and swallowing....hoping that would keep things down! But I must have looked green because as soon as the anesthesiologist looked at me he was like, "Whoa, are you feeling ok?" Nope...I'm going to puke any second! So he threw my head to the side into a pink bucket, gave me something to raise my blood pressure and I felt better in a matter of about 1 minute! Whew! I kept wiggling my toes to make sure I was going numb (that's a total fear of mine) and I got in trouble! They told me to STOP!! Ok, then!!!
When you have a c-section, your arms are strapped out to the side of your body. Because things were taking so long, my arms started to go numb and all I wanted to do was put them down. Sounds funny, but that was probably the most uncomfortable part of the operation! They finally let me cross them over my chest and that helped, but I was still annoyed!
Let the cutting begin! As soon as they started cauterizing my belly, Josh looked at me and said, "Ew, do you smell that?" Um...no! Apparently it stinks really bad! Ha! All of the sudden my doc asked me if I had been having contractions. Absolutely...since week 10! But the last couple of weeks they had been super hard and painful! He said my cervix was paper thin. I guess the contractions were the real deal and I would have gone into labor any day! Crazy!! And I have to mention this next part ....just because I will never have abs like I did before Whitt! I did get them back after I had Coop because I had time to workout! I have a feeling that I won't be going to the gym all that often and the abs are going to suffer!!! Ha! Anyway, while they were cutting way, my doc asked me if I worked out! He was impressed as he was cutting through my muscles! So even though I haven't done a situp in 9 months, I guess I still had a little bit of muscle mass...or it was all of those contractions I had giving me a work out!
Soooo....out comes Whitten David Jones at 7:56 am!!!! We heard him cry right away, but something didn't sound quite right! It was a very wet cry and I knew instantly he had some fluid in his lungs! They showed him to me and then whisked him away to try to suck out the fluid! He aspirated as well, so he had to be on oxygen for about 9 hours! That's right...I didn't get to see or hold little Whitt for 9 hours! It was awful! But, he got to experience what it was like being an astronaut because they had him in some kind of helmet giving him oxygen! I never got to see it....and nobody got pictures, but I bet he had fun pretending he was on the moon! Thankfully I was so doped up(hanging out on the moon myself) that I slept most of the time he was being worked on!
Funny (not so funny) story! When they were stapling me up, they couldn't get the staples to go in on one spot! They kept popping out and flying across the room! It's the abs of steel!!!! HA! One time, the girl didn't know where the staple went and she said she hoped it didn't fall into my incision! The other girl was like, "No, I think I heard it fall on the floor over here." Nice!!!! Well, I'm still crazy sore in that same spot! It feels like acid is being poured on it when i cough or move in a certain way! I guess I need to get that checked out!
So, we went in on Wednesday and were home by Friday! And life as you know it....is simply amazing!!!! Here is the rest of the hospital pics!
