Alden- A Birth Story

Without having the excitement of spontaneous labor happening (which has never happened for me), one might think there isn't much to write. Yet there are always those surprises one never thinks of or wants to think about when it comes to giving birth.

Note: This is just my experience, and not to trigger any new mothers who may be facing a csection, as every woman's body is different and so is every experience. 

The night before, we were blessed with the help of having the kids be able to spend a couple nights away. With having to be at the hospital at 6 am, I don't know who would want two active little kids awake in their presence before 5:30. So after we did the drop off, we decided to take advantage of being kid free and enjoyed some Chinese in peace.

After doing probably way too much the night before in nesting and procrastinating on kitchen duties...we headed off to drastically change our family forever.

For the third time, our journey started in the same delivery room as it has for the last two kids. In having a prior experience, albeit certainly different for a csection, I knew there were 3 different levels of discomfort to make it through before everything would be where I last remember it to be in recovery.

Step 1- Receive foley bulb catheter

Step 2- Endure IV start up

Step 3- Manage and have successful spinal block

Not sure why...but for whatever reason...I have the most stubborn back to be stuck. Despite not being in labor...and even taking preventative measures with a chiropractor....it made no difference in making the process any easier or less painful. It required several attempts and going with an even bigger/longer needle (seriously...a bigger one?!) until the final shooting pain down my right leg resulted in success (Matt could hear my howls outside the OR). Now if only this hadn't triggered my vomit reaction and the doctor had just listened to my pleas of Zofran to be given before I reached critical nausea mass.

You never realize just how physical the act of vomiting is until you are laying flat and 2/3 of your body is numb and powerless to aid in evacuating nothingness of your stomach bile. It's nothing to be embarrassed about, as the nurses have seen it all! In fact, one of them was wondering when I was going to cry uncle and ask to be put under general. And I was even asking myself the same thing, if this was going to be fruitful at all.

When I was laid flat, heaving and they had started cutting...Matt finally got to join me in the OR. And it was surprisingly pretty fast from start to finish. When it came to Alden being pulled out, they weren't sure if he wanted to or was trying to shake hands with the doctor first. But he wasted no time in belting out his war cry, and I instantly felt a giant weight lifted off my lower abdomen. Matt left my side to go and document those first moments that he wasn't able to with Nolan. He even witnessed Alden peeing all over the nurse and managing to get it inside and down her scrubs!

My OB- Dr. Pfeiff

I think if it weren't for the continued vomiting during delivery that a more gentle csection would have been possible. But after the cord had been cut and airways suctioned out...I was able to hold my baby before any other official evaluations were done. It wasn't for as long as I would have liked, but I guess I wasn't done throwing up (and wouldn't be even in the recovery room). But Alden opened his eyes just for me when he heard my voice and in my arms. All the while, I couldn't mistake the very present lip curl/snarl that his daddy has given me many times. I guess he was not amused by anything else ;)

After things calmed down in recovery, I was able to attempt our first nursing session, but all he wanted to do was chill out at the bar. This didn't worry me, as we had plenty of time while waiting for my body to start perking up from the spinal block...which is a weird sensation/experience in itself. With time, he started to root with daddy and I was confident he'd latch. I think with me having to lay flat to avoid post spinal block complications made it hard for both of us to get into a natural position.

When being moved from recovery, it just so happened to be the same post partum room I had with Eliza....and later to move to a different room towards the end of my stay in the same one I had with Nolan. Matt was able to spend one overnight with me, as the first 24 hours are usually the hardest. After all the business of getting ready for the birth and surgery...we felt very content to just be still in the quiet of our room...gazing at the similarities of our newest son.

Look for the next blog post on how the kids have accepted the new baby and how we're juggling a family of five!