The day we attempted the ECV, we scheduled the c section with that same doctor. I think he is the head of Labor and Delivery at the hospital but his name was Eric Terpstra. We liked him a lot. He was very down to earth and just super chill. It's such a strange feeling/thought knowing exactly when your baby is going to arrive, especially knowing that you're not going to be going through labor. I was always imagining what labor would be like and picturing myself going through it and researching it just to be ready, so when I found out I had to have a c section I had to totally change my mental state. Now I had to get ready for a big surgery and recovery.
(The night before we became a family of 4!)
They brought us to a waiting room area where we sat for maybe another 40 minutes while they got the OR ready and the Nurse Anesthetist and head nurse for the surgery briefed us on every thing and we had to sign more paperwork. Finally we walked into the OR and of course, Sam has to pee! Sam had to wait in the waiting area for a little while anyways so one nurse took him to go to the bathroom and the other one walked me back into the OR. Of course it was freezing in there.
(sexy scrubs)
(Waiting to meet our girl!)
I walked in and theres a few nurses getting things ready and they wasted no time getting to work on me. I sat at the edge of the operating table and the nurse started pressing really hard on my spine. I absolutely hate my spine being touched so this was the part I was most nervous about. I thought I would jump or flinch while he was putting in the epidural and I would make things worse. The nurse that was talking me through every thing was a big black guy. He stood in front of me with his hands on my shoulders helping me curl over. He said if I need to hold his hand, I could. I told him immediately I need him! He gave me his two fingers and I was squeezing them the whole time before he even started the epidural. The epidural wasn't that bad! I knew once I got through that it would be a breeze. It was just a little pinch and burn. The Corpsman blowing my vein that morning hurt more than the epidural!
Every thing happened so fast! I heard my doctor come in and he called time on the surgery. I've never been awake for surgery before so I don't even know if that's normal but they said my name, what they were doing and the time of the start of surgery. Kind of exciting to hear! Sam still wasn't in there yet and the doctor told us that he would have her out in about 10 minutes so I was getting anxious for them to bring him in. I honestly think they kind of forgot about him! Finally they said oh wanna go get the husband?! The best part is they brought him in the door that was by my feet so he could see a little bit of the surgery but he said he tried not to look. It was a relief to have him right there by my head. Then a little commotion started to happen and the N.A. said dad do you have your camera ready? They're about to pull her out! That was the most surreal phrase. They're about to finally pull my daughter out of my belly. Finally!
The N.A. was watching the surgery the whole time and he kept telling Sam to look over the curtain to watch them pull the baby out and Sam kind of stood up and peeked a little then he said no I'm okay and sat down haha he knows his limits. Finally she was here! They called time on her birth at 10:3 am then lowered the sheet a little so I could see her. I started to cry and was totally amazed! She only let out one little cry and for a second I didn't think anything of it because I was loving the fact that she was finally here! Sam was so excited. I could tell he had a huge smile on his face. The N.A. said to me "Pretty amazing isn't it?"
They took her over to the heater to get her all cleaned up and make sure she was doing okay. She only let out one big cry and that was it. I did not like that. I think Sam was kind of oblivious to it all because he didn't know that we wanted the baby to let out big cries. Sam got to go over and check her out and cut the umbilical cord. When I first told him that that's tradition for the dad to cut the cord, he thought I was making it up and he did not want anything to do with it.
(Somehow they got him to cut the cord and they got a picture!)
(My favorite picture)
(Already has daddy wrapped around her finger)
The Neonatologist came over to me with Sam and explained to us that they wanted to take her to the special care nursery. That's basically what they call the NICU at Camp Pendleton but they don't have all the resources that a NICU has. They wanted to observe her because she didn't let out that big cry and her oxygen levels were low. They finished putting me all back together and Sam got to go with baby to the nursery.
The weirdest part of a C-section is you're completely awake and aware. So as they're putting me back together, the Dr.'s and nurses are just chatting away, sewing me back together. Then the Dr. asks me if I wanted him to remove the mole that I had on my hip. Funny thing is I was going to ask him to remove it for me anyway. So he took it off. They finished putting me back together and wheeled me into my recovery room where Sam's parents and my parents were waiting. I had to wait in this room to get the feeling back in my legs. So every 5 minutes for 20 minutes they would poke me to see if I was getting the feeling back and they would also massage my belly to make sure my uterus was contracting back. Pretty painful!
After all that time, they wheeled me into my room where we would be staying for the next two days. Here came the challenging part. I had to move myself from one bed to the other. That was tough and painful. I didn't have all the feeling back and literally an hour ago I was cut open and all my guts were on the table. But I did it.
Charley was down the hall being cared for and I got to rest for the next couple of hours. Sam and my family members would go check on her every couple of hours. I had to be able to get myself into the wheelchair to be able to go see her. I think it was that night that I was feeling up for it and went down there.
(This was the first time I got to hold her.)
(When babies are breech, they come out with their legs wide open because of how she was positioned inside.)
(She has dad's ears!)
(I didn't know it but Sam didn't hold her until the next day! This was his first time holding her.)
It was really hard for me to go down to see her. I'm not sure why but when Sam would ask if I wanted to go see her, I would just ask him to go down and let me know how she was doing and what the Dr.s would say. Part of it was because it was really painful to stand up and get into the wheelchair. But I know most of it was because I couldn't see her with all the tubes and wires on her. I knew she was fine but it was really hard to see her like that. Sam was the best support system. He had to sleep on a really uncomfortable recliner next to me. He never left the hospital and every thing I asked for he did. He would bring me new pictures of her and new information every time he would go down to see her. And every time he would come back he would be so happy and say she's so cute. He handled it all so much better than I did and he was exactly what I needed. The days and nights at the hospital were so long.
The next day, we had a celebratory dinner. This was my favorite day with Sam. He crawled into bed with me and we enjoyed our classy hospital dinner together with Martinelli's and had so much fun together. I was super giggly and happy because I was just given my happy meds.
After we held her on Wednesday, her oxygen levels dropped again and the Dr. said it probably wasn't a good idea that we held her and we can't hold her anymore. It was really hard for me to hear that and I was so looking forward to doing skin to skin with her and we never got to do that. Sam's parents had to go home Wednesday so it was just my parents here coming and helping us and checking in on us. My mom and I went down to see her and when I got there she had a dome over her head. I was so confused because Sam didn't tell me she had that on her. It was to help her with the oxygen a little better and to give her a break from the tubes in her nose. I just lost it because it was so hard to see a tiny little baby with this big clear dome on her head. I didn't stay long and I went back to the room and started crying even harder and Sam apologized for not letting me know that she had that. It was for the better for her but it was hard to see.
Thursday, we were all supposed to go home. Sam went to check Charley that morning and they said she's doing about the same. The Neonatologist came down to talk to us and they said they have exceeded the amount of oxygen that they can administer and she needs to be transferred to the NICU in San Diego. So they discharged me as a patient and we waited for Rady's Children Hospital to come get Charley.
Finally, they wheeled Charley into our room in her little incubator and we had to sign some paper work and we met the people that were transporting her. They were all so nice and warm and made me feel a little bit better about what was going on. It's so weird to see your little baby being wheeled out of a hospital to be transferred to another one. As soon as they left, the Chaplain came in and said a prayer with us and it was so sweet. After that we grabbed all of our things and headed out to the car. My mom had brought balloons that said congratulations it's a girl and as we were walking out of the elevator, a group of women were going in and they were all like awww how sweet and when they were in the elevator one of them said 'Where's the baby?!' I wanted to slap her! Ha I know she had no idea what was going on but that's just the thing, you have no idea what's going on so maybe don't say anything! If she would have asked me to my face I would have gladly told her! Then to add onto that, we walked out the doors and there's the Rady's Hospital truck with Charley inside waiting to leave. I completely lost it then! She was supposed to go home with us! My mom was still walking with me and she started to cry too and said she'll be fine, she just needs a little help. I knew she was right but I just really wanted to take my girl home.
We went to our house, packed up some clothes and headed down to San Diego. My parents were at the NICU waiting for us and we got to go in and see her and talk to the Doctors. They were all so nice and helpful and so were the nurses. They filled us in on what they would be doing and what they think was going on with her. They gave us a guesstimate that she would be there for a week but nothing was for sure. Could be shorter, could be longer.
All settled in at Balboa.
Our favorite nurse figured out she liked being bundled up and he put a little heating pad on top. Otherwise she was super squirmy. Exactly how she was in the womb and out, my little squirm worm!
All hooked up to oxygen and nitrous oxide.
We stayed at the Fisher House, which was on the campus of the hospital but it was a bit of a walk so Sam would push me in the wheel chair up to the main part of the hospital and I would try to walk the rest of the way. We tried to stay happy and sane most of the time we were there and have a little fun together. We had long days and long nights.
We finally got to hold her again! She had so many wires hooked up to her that it was hard to get her out of her incubator but it was well worth the hassle.
Sweet girl, lovin on her daddy! When we first got to Balboa, the Doctor said no news is good news, referring to we will call you if we need you. So we were really hoping that we wouldn't get any calls before we were discharged. Of course one day I did get a call and my heart sank. I knew it was the NICU. But they did have good news! The whole time after having her, I was pumping and bringing it to the NICU for her feedings (even if it wasn't much) but a lot of the time she was on IV fluids. So they called to tell me that they wanted me to come down so I could breastfeed her myself! BEST NEWS! I was so excited to do this with her. Crazy thing is she latched on like a champ and the nurses were so impressed with her! It was the best!
Slowly getting all the tubes and wires getting taken off and now she was in a regular crib. I remember when we walked into the NICU, Sam could see her from across the room and he got so excited because she wasn't in an incubator anymore. The Doctors told us she was doing so much better!
Sam changing his first diaper!
We needed a little break and we went to our favorite burger house in San Diego called Hodad's! So good. It was on Diner's Drive In's and Dives. Can you tell that I was exhausted and swollen?!
Completely off of oxygen and NO2!
A little milk drunk!
On Sunday, they told us that we could go home! It was a surreal feeling and I was so so nervous! They offered us to stay at the hospital for one more night inside the NICU. They have a room at the end that is like a basic hospital room and we could have Charley in there with us and we could get help if we needed it. We decided to do it because we were both so nervous with taking her home, mostly because she was completely off monitors and what if she stopped breathing all of a sudden. It was the worst night! The bed was super uncomfortable, the room was hot then it got super cold and I was worried about Charley all night. We were so happy to make it through the night but it took hours for her to get discharged! Mostly because we were waiting on Camp Pendleton to schedule her follow up and it took so long. The only crazy, good part is they had a tv in there and the two movies they had in there were Peter Pan and Pocahontas! My favorite Disney movies! So weird.
We finally got discharged and we were ready to go home! As nervous as could be but we were ready.
I was so excited to finally get her in real clothes and put a bow on her head! She's just adorable!
Scariest drive home in my life! We finally made it home and we were so excited to see our puppy Luka and my parents. They cleaned our house and it was spotless. They did little projects around our house that we have been wanting to do but never got around to it. It was wonderful and they're the best.
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