Scarlett's Birth Story {part 2}

I'll just dive right into part two, okay? Okay.

(Read Part 1: click here)

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The surgery nurse came to get us a little after 6pm. I can't explain how surreal it was walking to an operating room, let alone walking to an operating room where our daughter would soon be born. I tried to soak up the last minutes of my pregnancy during that final waddle down different hallways until we arrived. Alex had to sit outside in the hallway while I went in and got the spinal anesthesia. I don't know what he was thinking out there, probably the same thing I was thinking in the OR, this is crazy. I walk in and they instruct me to sit up on the operating table. The room is very clean and bright. There are maybe 10 people in there, prepping/doing whatever their job in there is. It looked so cold but it didn't feel cold that I can remember. Anyway, I sit on the table and hunch over so they have good access to my spine. I get the shot of whatever numbing agent they used (didn't hurt) and then they put in the spinal shot (didn't feel it). All of a sudden, my legs get very warm. I can still move them at this point, so I lay down. My blood pressure then dropped a little too low and made me nauseous. I tell them. They put something smelly over my nose (probably so I don't ralph) and put some medicine in my IV. Then I get oxygen in my nose. That was kind of neat because I don't think I've ever had that before. Mmm fresh oxygen. Anyway, they put up the curtain and get me all prepped (i'm assuming, since I can't see anything) and then they finally bring Alex in.

Scarlett Elyse Brubaker

He sits at my head. He has the camera. I told him to take a picture of me laying there but he wouldn't. Maybe I looked scary? My arms were stretched out to the sides and he held my left one (the one closest to him). We waited and talked a little bit about how we were about to meet our daughter. We listened to Dr. Rapp talking/explaining a couple things to the resident who was observing. They have such normal conversations during surgery. I heard her ask where he was from.. it was out of state. The next thing we know, Dr. Rapp is holding up our baby girl above the curtain so that we can see her. Alex and I shared a look where we knew exactly what each other was thinking, we couldn't believe it. We made a baby and she was here. Alex said she was crying. I don't remember that she was. They whisked her over to the corner where they weighed her and measured her and got all the gunk out of her airways. I laid there while they finished up whatever they were doing to me, staring into the corner of the room where Alex was. I watched him cut the umbilical cord. Alex brought her over for a second so that I could kiss her tiny cheek. She was perfect! It didn't take long before I was all closed up and ready to roll to recovery. Alex and Scarlett weren't far behind.

Look at that cutie!

We spent the next hour or so in recovery where they monitored me and the baby. We waited for feeling to come back to my legs. I couldn't believe how heavy they felt and how no matter how I tried I couldn't move them. Every couple of minutes, the blood pressure cuff would inflate, they would press on my stomach to make sure my uterus was contracting down and every couple of minutes the nurses would touch different parts of my legs to see if I could feel it. Scarlett was over on the right hand side of me now being monitored. For what, I'm not exactly sure. That is also where they gave her the vitamin K shot and put that stuff on her eyes, but i didn't even notice when I held her for the first time maybe 15 minutes later when I could sit up a little more. One thing I did was touch my stomach area and I thought, holy crap! I'm not pregnant anymore! I can feel my rib cage!

Tiny perfection!

When I could start to feel more in my legs and they were done assessing Scarlett we could finally move to couplet care and the room we'd be in for the next 3 days. After being rolled there, they transferred me to the bed since I still couldn't move my legs and continued to monitor my blood pressure and testing the feeling in my legs. By this time it was about 8:30pm. I held Scarlett while Alex went to get our parents from the waiting room. They were quite worried at this point since we told them we thought we'd be done an hour sooner than it was. They all spent some time holding their new granddaughter. Alex took pictures. We texted friends and family to share the news. Our baby had arrived and we were settled into our room!

Our little family of three!

I was a little cloudy from the pain meds they had my dosed on (morphine) and soon I was off of that. I feel like I don't remember everything clearly though due to the meds. The pain at that point wasn't too bad  and the worse part would come later when I would try percoset, which made me sick. There is nothing worse than ralphing after a csection. Just imagine how many of your stomach muscles it takes.. that right there was the worst pain I felt. I got sick two different times. Not fun. The night was spent nursing and being checked every hour. We watched the nurse give Scarlett her first bath. She got her first Hep B vaccine and didn't cry and also got her heel pricked for genetic testing and didn't wince. What a strong little girl. I bet she was missing her little water world, but we told her before the csection happened to get ready for the shock of a lifetime. I also just want to say that all the nurses and aides we had during our stay were awesome. My favorite nurse was a night nurse named Jen, she was there two nights. She had a good sense of humor. But all the nurses were very helpful and nice. Woman's and Babies rocks!

The rest of the time in the hospital was filled with relaxation and visitors. We were adjusting to the new little one that would now be depending on us for everything she needs. We kept talking about how crazy it was that she was finally here and that we actually got to take her home after all of this. The nights were pretty sleepless but we weren't exhausted. I was up and moving around in no time. The nurses and staff were pretty impressed that I was recovering so quickly. I couldn't just lay in bed for 3 days though, it was nice to have the option of moving around the room.

Stats from her Bassinet. Check out that head size!

We had Scarlett on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 6:30pm. She weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and was 20.5" long. We got to go home on Monday the 23rd, my original due date. And we've been loving being parents ever since! My recovery has been great, I was able to stop the ibuprofen a couple days after arriving home. The thing that hurt the worst was laughing, who would've thought! I had to have Alex turn off an episode of Parks and Recreation because I was in so much pain!

Overall, I had a great experience. I'm not disappointed that I didn't get to experience natural labor and I look forward to that for our next pregnancy if our next baby isn't breech. I feel like we were extremely prepared for the csection mentally which helped. I was prepared for the worst in terms of recovery for myself and it ended up going better than I thought it could've. I think I got lucky. I will say that we're not as exhausted as people told us we would be. We're quite lucky that Alex has so many weeks off work to be home during this amazing time. We still look at Scarlett and find it nutso that we made a baby and I grew it for us with my body. She is so beautiful. We can't wait to see what her life holds. We plan to do everything in our power to make sure she is happy.

Ahh, life. You are too sweet.