Hallelujah We Got Grace

So, this planned c-section was much calmer than the last. And I agree with a gal in our ward-- it is weird to walk into the hospital feeling fine and climb up onto the operating table and have the surgical/delivery crew mosey on in and leave with a baby (and a very sore body, but I hear you have that either way you go).

Thursday, I did some last bits of laundry, packed my bag, went out to lunch for a last meal with Ann and Mom, drank LOTS of water until noon, then hung around. I tried to take a nap, showed Mom where our favorite park is (stopping to play, of course), and started dinner. Tyler and I ran off to the hospital, not because baby was coming , but because we were running a little behind schedule. A schedule for delivering baby! Ha! (Is that even the right term?)

Now, we parked almost the furthest that you can park from the maternity triage entrance and the L&D wing is ugly, ugly, ugly and akward (the new facility's opening was delayed until Jan) but the rest was great!

Back up! Let me just describe the labor room we were in as our prep room. A bed in the middle. A nice picture on the wall. A TV on the slanty wall, which Tyler had to duck under to get to the chair for the dad or coach. A monitor on the other side of the bed, with just enough room to stand on either side of the bed plus an IV stand. A little sink behind the IV. That is it. That is all that would fit! One more thing. When I requested directions to the bathroom (I had hydrated the night before and morning of like the good Dr.K had advised), our fabulous nurse, Bow (It is her nickname and I never saw it spelled, but I think this spelling is too ironic for her personality to spell it any other way in my mind) pointed to the sink and said that the new facilities will have something nicer. It was then that I noticed the potty squeezed in, not enough room for a tp dispenser next to it, just in front of the little sink. And that was when all politeness left our marriage. 40 weeks pregnant. Tyler is sitting there, laughing at me. And this hospital is still worth it. That is how good the staff is.

You may be wondering why I decided on 8pm for a delivery time. That is when my doctor was scheduled to be there. And I figured the beginning of a night shift was a good way to go. First surgery of the night. Fresh group of professionals taking care of me. And when it was 8:00, I walked down the hall in gown and lunch lady hair thing to the OR, climbed on the table, got my spinal block (very affective) and waited for the rest of the prep work to be done. I even noticed them counting and noting numbers of instruments and gauze. The worse parts were a little nervousness before the spinal, the panic I involuntarily felt when they put on an oxygen mask (flashbacks to when Con was born) and the throwing up part, which I had warned them about and they were expecting. There was a student observing and asking questions so Dr. K explained what he was doing through out, and my sweet NA filling me in on the parts I couldn't see. Tyler was shown in just a few minutes before we heard some gurgling crys.

Grace came out just a screaming! Bow brought her around the side of the screen so I could see her, gunky and blue and white and hair on her head. She was cleaned up there in the room, not rushed off. Tyler kept going back and forth between the two of us. And somewhere in there, thinking that "sewing up" meant the outside stitches, he got to do what I have missed out on twice--saw my guts! There went the final shred of decorum of our marriage. But he did not pass out or get sick or anything that he feared. Yeah!

The shakes began, but I loved listening and being aware and knowing and even joking with Bow and Dr.K and the others about 'lipo, while you are there' and 'count all those instruments,' so I asked NA to hold off on pumping more drugs into me than she had to at that point. I got to listen to my new baby protest being out, the nurse informing me that she was 7lb. 7oz., (such a little thing, what was I worried about?) Tyler excitedly reporting that she got a 9 on her first APGAR and proudly informing me that she had 10 fingers and 10 toes before they went on to recovery. I listened to a discussion about irrigating vs. not irrigating - so cool! and even chuckled to myself when the medical student had to excuse herself because she was feeling light headed. The whole time, Dr. K's soothing, straight forward voice was familiar and calming . And then came the gurney part. Only 3 nurses and they thought they were going to lift me? Last time it was almost the whole staff! And then Bow said, "All Clear," and NA said "OK," and then the hover-craft-bed-thingy lifted up around and under me and they just slid me over and Dr. K looked up disappointed from the charting he was doing, bummed they didn't wait for him to move me over. Seriously!


In recovery, we were happy to finally have our little girl in our arms. Yes, yes, I am on Demoral. I was trying to not have it, to be more alert, but at the end, the shakes got the better of me and NA sweetly obliged. Thus, the goofy look on my face. I am just trying to stay awake to meet the little gal. Did Tyler laugh at me? Of course. And he tells me we finalized the name at this time, too. (It sounds like he took advantage, but we named her my number one pick, not his. He wanted her middle name to be after our neighbor, Les.)

After a completely sleepless night, you've gotta love 2 roommates, babies, and one husband (my nurse sent Tyler home to get some sleep, promising to take good care of Grace and me, after we got settled in, and she really followed through--which is good because there was a rocking chair that had to stick out of our little privacy curtain for him and that was IT) their phone calls which began early, early, like 5am, the hustle of the hospital, and the excitement of a new baby, I was still feeling pretty good in the morning. My legs got feeling back with relatively little tingling and I was walking less than 12 hours after surgery!


Big Brover and Ga came to visit. (So did Ann and Pi, but we didn't get photos.) And Con seemed pretty excited about having a Baby Sitter.



Grace is similar to Conrad at one day old, but much smaller and much, much daintier. Her long fingers have long fingernails. Her cry is daintier. Blond, curly hair, more than her brother. She has tiny little elf ears, like me, and her Daddy's lips. Her feet, well her feet are her mama's feet.

She was quite content at the hospital. Not a bad place. Lots of juice and wonderful care, and great pain meds for me!


We absolutely loved the nurses at the ugly hospital! Our favorite, Mandy was fantastic! And she liked us as much as we liked her. I'm quite certain.


So, with such good care, of course she didn't want to leave. But I did. I sleep better in my own bed! And we got the go ahead on Saturday, after only 36 hours, instead of 4 1/2 days (like last time, when I was so tired from vitals and foot pricks in the middle of the night that I couldn't think straight) when I could still laugh and smile and thank the wonderful staff.


But now that we are home, she has decided things aren't so bad. I think she even likes it here. We have had all sorts of adventures this week, but that is for another post....
(Karin-I tried many times to catch her dainty fingers in action, but this is the best I could capture. Little babies are fast, and they don't look so smart when the flash goes off. This will have to do for now.)