The Birth of Abby

Logan is asleep... Abby is asleep... Nathan is folding laundry and watching Lion's football so I think it is a good opportunity to finally write it all down. Abby's birthday... here we go (finally finished this post Monday night):

The morning started VERY early - 4:30 am early. We had received a call the night before from our OB saying that there was an opening for the 8:00 am c-section and that she was 99% sure I could have it, but I needed to call the charge nurse at 5:00 to see if she could move me up from my scheduled 2:15 pm time frame. With that call we quickly called all the grandparents to let them know there was a change of plans - we were all so excited - especially since she was coming even earlier!

Back to the butt crack of dawn - I was so sure we would be heading in early that I got up a half hour before call time so I could take a shower and be ready to go as we would need to be there at 6:00. I call and talk to the charge nurse - things got really busy so she was going to keep my scheduled time. BUMMER! The calls went back out to the grandparents that we were back to the 2:15 surgery. There was no way I could fall back to sleep so I just lounged around the house and twiddle my thumbs.


Logan woke up and Nathan and I took him to school together - he was really excited to know that after his nap Grandma would be picking him up so he could come meet Abby. I was teary leaving him that morning as I knew the next time I saw him our world would be forever changed! Nathan and I ran some errands - he had to stop by work and we went to pay our water/sewer/trash bill (exciting, right?) The worst part of waiting until 2:15 was that I couldn't eat. It would suck generally, but it really sucked when you add in gestational diabetes. By 8:45 my sugar was low and I was feeling sick. A quick call to triage said I could have some apple juice! YAY! My mom made her way in and Nathan, her and I watched TV waiting for noon to come so we could head in to Labor and Delivery.


Once we arrived they took us back to get set up in the recovery area. I changed into the super sexy gown and had my IV put in with some happy glucose water to help my sugar and the baby monitors attached to check on Abby. A resident came in to do a quick ultrasound to double check that Abby was still head up - THANK THE LORD SHE WAS. Vaginal birth is great and all, but at this point the thought of starting and going through labor seemed like an utterly crappy thought. I was all ready for the c-section and wanted that to happen. The pre-op routine was long and thorough. We were wondering what they would be doing that whole time, but it really did take that full time to get everything accomplished. Nathan put on his ooo-la-la get up complete with shoe covers and hair net looking thing.


They wheeled me back and Nathan had to stay outside the OR while I had my spinal meds put in. That process was MUCH better than getting the epidural for Logan - MUCH MUCH MUCH better. I did get poked three times to make sure it was in the right place, but once it was I could quickly feel or rather NOT feel my toes, then feet, then legs, etc etc. Once I laid down I started to feel sick to my stomach and very itchy. Thankfully some more/different drugs helped improve that for me as well. It seemed like forever before Nathan was brought in. I just kept asking for him and finally there he was in all his puffy blue colored goodness. Nathan said that he felt like the time he had to sit outside was taking far too long. He sat and prayed and then realized that this was so major that he ended up getting down on his knees and praying. That just warms my heart knowing my amazing husband's heart was lead in that way to pray for his growing family.

The surgery itself started just about on time and it felt like my doctor was pushing on my stomach and when I questioned her she laughed and said they had already started! From that point on it seemed like we were in a time warp. The concept of time was lost on me and one moment it felt like time was moving so slow, but when I asked what time it was a lot of time had passed. It was very strange. The funny part to me was they make all this effort to put a curtain up and then I look to my left and see a wall of glass cabinets and I could see the reflection of the whole surgery. Thankfully that didn't bother me - if anything I found it entertaining.

At one point I saw the resident who was assisting leaning over the edge of the curtain in front of me. My question to her of course was, "Are you all up in my uterus right now?" Yes, was the answer. (Abby was stuck in my ribs so looking back there was NO WAY she was going to flip if we had tried that external version and I'm glad we didn't pay hundreds of dollars with acupuncture and chiropractor.) At this point in the surgery things were pretty uncomfortable as the resident was pulling hard to get Abby out and then the doctor was pulling while the resident was pushing down hard on my chest/belly. That didn't feel good in the least. Oh and backing up a second - Nathan was standing and watching almost the whole surgery process. When the moment came that Abby came out Nathan was slightly confused as even though he knew she was butt down he didn't quite expect her to come out butt first which she did. (We have the pictures to prove it - Nathan was snapping away during the surgery.) Out she came and I would be lying if I didn't say I was bummed they didn't show her to me. I'm not sure why that didn't happen, but it didn't.


Once I knew she was out I quickly ordered Nathan over to her side. I laid there... waiting... waiting... waiting... for that sound. The sound that I didn't hear with her big brother. And then there it was - her first cry. And quickly followed by my crying. Thank you to the happy meds doctor (anesthesiologist) for using gauze to wipe away my tears. That sound - oh my was it music to my ears. To know we weren't going to face the scary situation we did with Logan - praise God for that!


I was starting to get very anxious waiting for Nathan to bring her over to me and was yelling out questions, "what time was she born?" "when will you bring her over?" "how much does she weigh?" "Nathan, what are you doing now?" "Is she okay?" etc etc etc... After about 10-15 minutes Abby and Nathan finally made their way over to my head. Oh she was just beautiful - a little piece of perfection. The happy drugs doctor made it so I could touch her and love on her as best I could from the surgery table. It was wonderful! Nathan and Abby stayed up by me the entire rest of the surgery while they closed me up and then we all went back to the recovery unit together. We were able to nurse right away and then just as I had hoped in my head I was able to hold my sweet baby while the parade of family came through to meet her. I know that might seem like a little thing, but being able to introduce my girl to everyone was so special to me.

After an hour or so in recovery they took us to our room. A short while later my parents brought Logan after taking him for dinner. Oh was I looking forward to this. Logan was so sweet and quickly understood that the Abby he had been kissing and talking to through my belly was out for the world to see. He cuddled her on Daddy's lap and I had to fight back tears. He was sad to leave that night (and every visit), but he was back and few times each day to visit with us until we went home on Thursday.

Recovering from a c-section really is no joke. It was very difficult to move around and roll over in bed. Nathan had to help me a great deal with rolling over, getting dressed, drying my legs from a shower - little things you can't do when you get cut in the gut. He was a God send and took great care of Abby and I. We had a bit of a set back when a student nurse and her instructor did a number on my stomach and put my pain level back out of control and we had to work hard to reign it back in which lead to an extra day at the hospital. Alls well that ends well and we were home with our family of 4 and enjoying our new normal. Abby feels like she has always been here and completes our little family. Praise God for his blessings to our family.