The Birth Story- Part III-Delivery Day

I woke up at about 8am on the morning of the 18th and just laid in bed for about another hour, then I got up and took a shower. I noticed the nurse had written 'baby day!' on the whiteboard in my room, I thought that was cute. After my shower my nurse came in and put a new iv in, hooked me up the monitor one last time and got me all prepped for surgery. I also had another quick ultrasound done to make sure that the baby hadn't turned around, she hadn't. I had asked Michael to get to the hospital kind of early so that he could be there for everything, he ended up coming a little late, he said he had to do an errand really quick. I remember thinking 'what errand could possibly be more important than being on time for the birth of our first child?'. Well, later that afternoon he told me that he had taken Missy to the vet because of her hernia and he didn't want to tell me because he knew I would worry about her. So after that I forgave him for being late. :) Anyhow, about 1015am the anesthesiologist came in and asked me a few questions like had I ever been under anesthesia and how did I react, I told him about my previous surgeries and he had a couple more questions specifically about my back surgeries and then said he'd see me in the operating room. After that the nurse came in and said we were ready to go. Michael got all suited up in his scrubs and promptly posted a picture on Facebook that he was a doctor.We all walked down to the operating room which was just down the hall, at the doors they told Michael to wait there and that they would come get him once everything was ready to go. Once we got into the room I sat on the edge of the table so that the anesthesiologist could do the spinal. I could feel him behind me trying to get the needle and stuff into my back and he made the comment that he wasn't sure if he could get it around the scars from my back surgery. About this time Dr. Murphy came in and said "oh crap Steve (anesthesiologist) I completely forgot to mention all her back surgeries" and we all laughed. We talked for another minute or so with Dr. Murphy then I finally felt the poke and he said "now we got it" and my butt got all warm. They had me bring my legs up on the table and I laid down and they strapped my arms and legs down. Then they did the fun stuff like blood pressure cuffs, oxygen meters, and my favorite, the catheter. After a few minutes I was completely numb and ready to go. They brought Michael in and he sat up by head, I remember shivering because it was so freaking cold. I was feeling a little nauseous so he put some drugs in my iv and they worked perfect.

After that Dr. Murphy got started with the surgery and I could feel some pulls and tugs but for

the most part didn't feel much. About ten minutes later the anesthesiologist told Michael to get

the camera ready because we were going to have a baby in just a minute. Now prior to the surgery I had asked Dr. Murphy to announce what 'it' was, old school style, since we had no idea. I heard a little commotion and Dr. Murphy said the baby was out. As they were pulling down the screen so I could see I asked "What is it?" and Dr. Murphy held her up and said "Well, what do you think?" I saw her for the first time and got a big smile on my face and said "It's a girl!"

Michael took a couple of pictures and then sat back down by my head but I made him get back up and go over to where Avery was so he could get pictures of her getting cleaned off and all of that, he also cut the umbilical cord. And I was kind of left alone after that, Dr. Murphy was getting me stitched up and most everyone else was over taking care of the baby. The anesthesiologist asked what we were naming her, then Dr. Murphy said that the placenta and everything else looked good and it would just be a few more minutes until he was done, I asked him to go ahead and tuck things up while he was there but he wouldn't go for that. Then Michael walked over carrying Avery and I finally got my first good look at her, she was (is) so cute, with her chubby cheeks and perfect little lips. One of the nurses took our first family picture and then it was time to head back to our room.

They put her in my arms and wheeled us down the hall. Back in the room is when we finally got to see how much she weighed, 7.5lbs and how long she was, 21 inches. The nurse gave her a bath, got her footprints and also took some blood. That afternoon was spent just snuggling with our new baby.

Michaels brother, Rob, came down from Hood River and spent a couple hours with us that afternoon. Around 3 I finally had all the feeling back in my legs but no real pain. The nurses kept asking me if I wanted pain meds but I never ended up taking anything besides some Motrin and that was just because they kept bugging me about taking something. The first night was a little rough, Avery ended up throwing up all over me, it sounded like she was choking and I'll admit I panicked. This was about 2am and I hadn't slept since the previous night so they took her to the nursery for a couple hours but I still couldn't sleep because I'm a worrier. The next day was much better.

I got the catheter out, I was able to brush my teeth and shower and put my own clothes on. Dr. Murphy came in that afternoon to check on me and he asked if there was anything else they could do. I sarcastically said "let me go home" since I was going on Day 11 in the hospital and was ready to get out. He thought for a second and said that I could go home the next day. I was so excited and couldn't wait to get home and see the puppies and just relax in my own space.