Happy Birthday Dean

I woke up the morning of Dean's birth and did the usual.... logged into work and worked for a couple of hours wrapping things up and sending out emails that I would be gone. Since I had an afternoon section scheduled after 8am I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything but I was so nervous that really only the not drinking part bothered me.

At noon I went up stairs, showered (using the lovely surgical soap all over my belly) and then got dressed. I cheated and put on make up, did my hair and left in my contacts LOL I had my glasses with me in case they said I had to take out my contacts but I really didn't want picts with them on LOL vanity oh vanity........

So about 1:15 my mom, dh and I headed to the hospital, we got there and went to registration who told us we needed to go to a different registration so we headed back down stairs and waited for them to call us. We got checked in and then headed to L&D, once at L&D we were told my mom couldn't go back with us... I explained that Dr E had agreed to allow her to be in the OR and they said they would check on it so my mom was sent to the waiting room while dh & I were taken back to Pre op/recovery room.

It was a crazy busy day in L&D and everyone was rushing around, one nurse handed me a gown and cup and showed me where the bathroom was, told me to get undressed and do a clean catch and then come back out. As I stood listening to her explain how to do the clean catch I realized we were standing directly across from the OR. I could see the table and equipment and I pretty much had tuned her out at this point and was just trying to hold it together until I could get into the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom I broke down, as I undressed I looked at my round belly and realized this is it. These are the last few moments I will be pregnant for.... suddenly I wanted to run I wanted to get away.... to go somewhere anywhere and wait for Dean to come on his own. I cradled my belly in my hands and I apologized to Dean that it had to be this way, that I never wanted it to be this way, that I wanted a gentle peaceful birth for him and that I was sorry. I pulled myself back together, tinkled in the cup, put on my lovely green gown and headed down the long hallway back to dh.

When I got back to my bed, dh immediately knew something was wrong and that triggered me crying again, as I tried to pull myself back together in came our OR nurse Angel and her name certainly fit.... she gave me a big and helped me calm down. She then hooked me up to the monitors and started my IV. I lucked out because not only was she an RN she is also a phlebotomist so she hit me on the first try and was able to use that stick to pull my pre op blood work YAY for one less needle :-)

After the bloodwork had been sent off then we waited a bit, Dr E had a paitent that was getting really close to delivery and so he wanted to see how things progressed with her before taking me in. While we waited we met with the anethesiologist, he took my history and discussed the spinal procedure. He left and Angel came back in, she said she had spoken with Dr E and the anethesiologist and both were fine with my mother coming in the OR so dh left to go get her.

She came back to pre-op/recovery room as Angel was finishing asking me the usual questions(meds I'm on, amount of alcohol & tabaco used ect) and reviewing my birth plan and then it was time to go back to the OR. Mom and dh got into their scrubs while Angel check my shave job... it was pretty good according to her LOL and she only had to touch up a few strays I missed on the undersided of my belly...... we all got our lovely hair nets and then there was time for one last picture before we headed back. I walked with Angel back to the OR while mom and dh waited outside for the spinal to be insert.

They had me stradle the table and lean forward.... he then injected me several times with shots to numb the site (I think it was lidocaine but I never felt the burn so I'm not positive)... he tried a few times to get the needle in and each time I felt a shooting pain down my right hip. At this point Angel is sitting on the table with me and I am leaning into her, crying not because the needle going in hurts but because of this sharp electrical pulse like pain I keep getting. The anethesiologist keeps shooting more and more numbing meds in but I keep feeling this pain. Finally he is able to get it and I can feel my legs start to tingle like they are going to sleep.

At this point they lay me down and I can still move my legs.... all the stories I read on line had been that people were completely numb at this point and unable to move so I was a little nervous. Mom and dh were brought into the OR and Dr E joined us... from here on out until recovery I'm kinda running blind on because I was behind the curtain.

Once Dr E came in things started moving..... the curtain went up and was much closer to my face than I remember it being with Sarah. I could feel them swabbing my belly, just the pressure of the swab but I can remember being a little freaked out that I was able to feel anything (I was warned about the pressure but this was so different from Sarah's). I was really worried I would feel something when I started to smell the cauterizing LOL they had obviously begun. Then I felt pressure and I started to whimper (I guess I'll call it that) the anethesiologist was concerned and asked me what I was feeling I said just pressure no pain and he explained that was normal.

Again I knew I would feel pressure but I never expected it to be as great as that. The best way to describe it is the numbness you feel after dental work, if you push on your face you can feel it but it doesn't hurt... its very disconcerting when it is your insides being rearranged however.

At this point there was some minor chatter and then they told me Dean was really close to being born. The anethesiologist leaned over at this point and warned me I would feel a lot of pressure but that it would be over soon.... next thing I heard was Dean crying and my mom saying he is beautiful. They must have handed him to the nursery nurse and then she brought him over to me.... still all slimey, she laided him on my chest for just a brief second but long enough for me to see him and give him a kiss. I started to cry at this point and was joined by my mother :-) dh went over to where Dean was getting checked out and cleaned up and then they brought him back over to me. His apgars in the OR were 9 & 10 and everything appeared to be good.

Dh and Dean left the OR after I got another kiss with him and headed to the nursery while my mom stayed with me. The anethesiologist reminded me at this point in the surgery that many women feel a little panicky because of all of the pressure and he could give me Versed... knowing the side effects I said I was ok and didn't want it. Then I started to mildly freak at the amount of pressure and started to feel really nauseous... so he gave me something for the nausea..... I do not know if I ever received Versed for the anxiety but I don't think I did simply because I can remember everything clearly and didn't have that groggy feeling I had with Sarah. My mom was sitting at my head through the final part the procedure and I am so glad she was... it was so comforting to have her there telling me it was ok rather than a group of masked strangers.

At one point Dr E was discussing my ovary and showed it to my mom LOL yeah for her LOL I think his point was that there was no scar tissue like we had originally assumed there would be...... so now the question is what is blocking my tubes???? Since there was no damage to the tube and no visible scar tissue Dr E left the tubes in..... I'm pleased that they are still there and we are open to miracles :-)

They then closed and I was wheeled into recovery. I felt great after this procedure much different than Sarah's where I couldn't force my eyes open.... I had no pain and we were just waiting for me to be able to move my legs.... after about 20min I asked if Dean could be brought into recovery so I could nurse, Angel said sure and called the nursery...... After asking if he could be brought to me I heard her say "oh.... he is being admitted... yes send Dad back down to talk to Mom"....... She briefly explained that Dean was having some issues and was being admitted to the NICU and that dh would be here in a minute to explain.

I immediately got super hot and felt nauseous, Angel grabbed a basin and got me cold wash clothes which helped settle me down, right as dh came in. He explained that Dean was having trouble with his blood sugars and difficulty breathing. They had inserted an IV, an NG tube and already run test to see if he had RDS or if it was Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn..... it turned out it was TTN. He went back to be with Dean and my mom stayed with me.... they had no room at this point for me in the Mother Baby area because it was so busy but they did have some one leaving at 7. My mom asked if we could be moved into a L&D room so that Sarah could come and see me and they had one available so they wheeled me in there.

My dad and Sarah had gotten dinner and then came in and dh joined us shortly to give us another update. By this time the morphine itchies had taken hold and my mom asked one of the nurses if I could have something for the itchies. About 30 seconds after giving me the nubain I got super nauseous and threw up... I decided I could live with the itchies... c-sec and nausea don't mix LOL OUCH! Finally it was decided that my dad should take Sarah home and my mom would leave once we got settled into our room.

So while my mom went to grab our suitcase from the car, they wheeled me into the NICU so I could hold Dean for the first time. Seeing him all attached to the monitors, IVs and with the NG was upsetting. The wonderful nurses in the NICU assured me he was going to be ok but that there were some hurdles we had to over come. As I sat there holding him and listening to her talk I could barely keep my eyes open.... I was just so exhausted both physically and emotionally. After a few minutes we had to put him back under the warmer and they wheeled me back down to my room.

Dean Franklin
Born 9-25-09 at 5:05pm
21in 8lbs 6oz