Adventures in Parenthood: Zavier's Birth Story

I like to try to get this out in written form soon after birth so that I'm not forgetting any details. Here goes..

The date was August 15, 2013. It was a Thursday. My mom came the night before to spend the night since we'd be waking up early to head into the hospital. As you may or may not know, I never went into labor on my own and my OB would not induce due to my previous c-section, so we were headed in for a scheduled c-section Thursday morning. Our surgery was scheduled for 8:40am so we had to be there at 6:40am. We got all of our hospital things together that morning and arrived on time to the hospital.

We waited in the pre-op waiting room to for me to be called back for the first part of the pre-op process. This process included putting on my hospital gowns, having my belly prepped and getting my iv and fluids. They put me on two monitors, one for the baby and one for contractions (just in case? i wasn't having any so it didn't matter). I didn't enjoy those monitors, they were constricting. I had done well with the IV when I had Scarlett so I didn't anticipate any funny business (as prior to getting pregnant I was not the best with needles.. cue nausea) however they were already talking about my crooked veins and 'which hand would be better' and 'oh it's too far up by the wrist but let's try it anyway'. I started getting hot.. light-headed.. I asked for a sip of water and they said no.. I asked to sit up for just a second and they said no.. and apparently this is when I passed out. I was trying to relax and close my eyes and focus on breathing but it all happened pretty fast and I was conscious again. They asked me to open my eyes and it's as if I didn't miss a beat, in my own mind anyway.. apparently I full on passed out which made my little monitors dip for a second and baby's heart rate to drop (which meant I had to stay on the monitor even longer!). I felt instantly better after the IV was finally in but they decided in the middle of the fiasco to go for my other hand, which then felt like I had a needle poking into my wrist bone for a good long time, though obviously there is no needle in an IV after they get it into your vein. Aaannyway, that's when they allowed Alex to come back and we sat and waited to talk to the necessary doctor's before heading off to the OR.

Dr. Rapp, my OB came to see us. Then the anesthesiologist, even though he didn't do anything during surgery other than witness it. His assistant person, Doug was the one who did all the work. Alex scrubbed up and they made me drink a nice little anti-acid drink which was super sour but they told me to drink it fast so I listened. The same OR nurses that took me to the OR with Scarlett came and got us and we headed back. The walk to the OR is usually pretty surreal.. it felt like the last time for the most part but I was trying really hard to remember everything because with Scarlett I have some cloudy spots.

Alex waited outside the OR while I went in and was prepped. I sat on the table and got the spinal block, I remember feeling less with Scarlett, this time I could still feel things touching me at times but they didn't hurt. Last time I got nauseous when I laid down, this time I got sick. Bye bye sour juice stuff. I soon felt better though and Alex came in as they were getting ready to start. All Alex and I could do was look at each other because this time we knew what was coming! And we were excited after all the anticipation of not going into labor, waiting for days, etc.

Dr. Rapp said I would feel some pressure and to get the camera ready and then Zavier joined us in in the oxygen breathing world. He was so cute and had SO much hair! They took him to the back left (my laying down left) and Alex was taking pictures as I watched. They were putting me back together when Alex brought him over so I could 'hold' him and Doug the anesthesiologist guy took some really nice pictures for us. Soon we were both headed to recovery where we spent the next two hours waiting for my blood pressure to stabilize. I'm almost 100% positive it wasn't working right because my cuff was leaking. That was found later on that night. If only I had suggested they change the cuff I could've been out of there sooner. But Zavier and Alex were with me the whole time and I got some crucial skin to skin bonding and nursing time in. Zavier was a champ!

It didn't feel like we were there for two hours so after time passed we headed to our couplet care room. We were pleasantly surprised as the size of the room was definitely larger than when we were with Scarlett, not by much but enough to notice. I was transferred to my bed and they set me up. I was still on my IV until the next day so no food needed! I got to hold and nurse Zavier more and then they came to give him a bath. Alex took some video of this and pictures and then he decided that was a good time to head back to our house to get Scarlett. She absolutely refused to get into my mom's car, so Alex took our car back so she could ride in her normal car seat. After Zavier's bath, his temp was low (for obvious reasons) so the aid asked to take him to the nursery to go under the warmer since Alex wasn't there and I couldn't get out of bed. They couldn't technically leave him alone with me, which was a bit disappointing. I even requested skin to skin since that would've brought his temp up even faster but again, they couldn't leave him with me alone. So they took him to the nursery, and surprisingly I was okay with this. I don't think I would've been if he were my first baby but separation wasn't so foreign this time around. When Alex got back though I had him immediately go to the nursery to get him!

Scarlett met her brother, she wasn't very interested in him at all and was more interested in the balloon that my mom had gotten for Zavier in the shape of a whale.

They monitored me the rest of the day and evening. Much better than being monitored through the night! I got out of bed that evening two different times to get everything going. I'm not going to lie, it was tough. I didn't remember it being so difficult but luckily this time around I was smart enough to deny the painkillers (other than ibuprofen) so I didn't get sick!

Overall, I didn't remember a lot from the first time around. I didn't remember how hard it was or how annoying it was to get out of bed and move around. It was nice to know what to expect for sure but I have no interest in doing it again.

It's been three and a half weeks now and recovery went well. I was off the meds by the end of the second week and felt back to 100% a couple days after that. I was happy with that timeline and very thankful that Alex had a week off and my mom could help me for a week.

Scarlett has been transitioning with us through this, she has good and trying moments and has regressed a little bit when it comes to her independent play but she loves her little brother so that's all we can ask for.

We're excited to get more sleep in the future, though we know it's a little bit far off. Soon I will have a one-month update on Zavier!

And here are his stats:
Time born: 9:13am
Weight: 8 lb 10 oz
Length: 21 1/2"