Pregnancy number two went by much slower than the first one…all except those last few days. It's weird to have a scheduled c section. You know EXACTLY when your baby will come so you have all these "lasts." Your last normal day with just your family of three, your last load of laundry before the spit up begins, your last date when you're not exhausted and you can actually focus your eyes on your spouse for an entire sentence, your last meal as a family of three…all these things you can count down.
My mom came to Okinawa to help me with E and the house while I recovered from my surgery. She arrived a few days before and we got the house ready, played at the park, went over routines with her and generally enjoyed ourselves!! My mom is the best caretaker you will ever find. She knows instinctively what I need before I ask for it and she does it. She is amazing.
As a woman who has done both a natural birth and a c section, I gotta say: It's SO nice to be able to pee the same day as you give birth and not cry! I had a pretty intense 7 hour labor with little E and I wasn't even fully dilated when her 8 pound 10 ounce body came hurtling into this world! Needlesstosay, my recovery took a full 9 months and even then I wasn't the same. With little G, I'm almost feeling normal now just 4 weeks past! But that's for the next post…here's little G's delivery story:
I chose to give birth at the Naval Hospital here on Camp Foster (it is a brand new facility just this year) and I'm so glad I did. I saw multiple doctors during pregnancy but finally got Dr. Mueller (had to ask for him specifically) and stuck with him. I am SO glad I did; he's a great doctor, took time with me, was completely competent (a challenge to find here in the military) and did a fabulous job with my surgery. I also had a amazing anesthesiologist - so concerned about my comfort and talked me through every step of his procedure.
All that being said…c sections are absolutely TERRIFYING! At least with natural birth, you have some sort of control (well, maybe not) or at least participation in the process which gives the illusion of control. With a c section, not only am I strapped to a table with my arms spread out, but I can't move my legs at all because of the epidural, there's a sheet right by my face so I can't see anything, a mask over my mouth, terrible tugging and pressure on my stomach and as I look around me, I am reminded of the inside of a spaceship from some movie I once watched so it is totally plausible for me to imagine that I am being dissected and disemboweled by a very calm and reassuring team of aliens.
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| scary, but worth it! |
Little G was born on October 21, 2013 at 8:22am. He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. I remember him screaming so loud while they were cleaning him and I just wanted to hold him, but Dr. Mueller was busy shoving things back into place!
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| First words: "AAAAAHHHHH" |
Our hospital room was enormous, the food was terrible (should've known when they call it the "galley"), my main nurse was amazing and overall, the stay was good. Mom and E came by each day to visit and we also had two other girlfriends come by, Colleen and Diana. It is so lovely to have such amazing women in my life who take care of me and my family (also, they both brought delicious treats!!).
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| Gramma and G meet |
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| G meets big sister E |
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| Gramma and Mama Diana (pregnant with baby girl) |
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| Big sister E |
I had some issues with getting out of bed that they couldn't diagnose. I tried 5 times to get up and walk around with no success. I passed out each time (and I mean losing consciousness - something that has never happened to me before). Finally, after multiple tests (somewhat incompetent corpsmen trying to take blood samples AND an EKG) and the 5th time I passed out they decided that the catheter had to come out for fear of infection and we were going to have to find another solution. When I tried my 6th time, SUCCESS! I blame the catheter :)
SO, then I could go home (only 48 hours after delivery) and I was so ready for my own bed and my mama's cooking!
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| Love |
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| Already friends! |
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| Little E loves being a sister already. |
So happy for you and your family, your son is so beautiful and you all look so happy together. I'm glad your overall experience was pretty good (good doctor, healthy baby and mama, etc.) With Sequoia they actually put her on my chest (almost my neck!) almost immediately, until she was too heavy for me to hold (while they finished cleaning me out and sewing me up!) That was pretty cool. Also, this time they did not have to strap down my arms since I promised I would not move them (and I didn't.) So grateful for that.
ReplyDeleteHope the transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4 is going well. My first two months were a bit of a challenge, but it's gotten a lot better. So glad your mom was able to come and help, and you have some friends there for support!
Yikes I just now saw this post! Thanks, Michelle! Your experience sounds wonderful and I wish they would've given Gideon to me but I was so freaked out about what was going on down there that it was probably a better idea to give him to his father ;) Miss you, my crafty friend (I'll never forget how we met in a craft store and already knew about each other from Evie!)!
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