The morning of the C-section I had to be at the hospital at 6:00am, so we left the house at 5:30, no make up, no jewelleries, no antisudorific allowed. The ride in the car was rather weird, you know that in the next few hours you are going to meet your little baby, my husband as a surprise put on our wedding song, which of course made me cry! The ride felt so long and yet so short, no one was on the road at that time.
How does a C-section goes? Well, first you get to the hospital and then you register at the nurse station. Then, they bring you to a room which you will be asked to change in a very sexy hospital gown. Husband at that point is with you and it is good as for my situation I had to wait a bit. I was strangely calm, maybe because I knew from the beginning that I would need a c-section due to my Myomectomie. I started to get nervous though when one of the nurse was making clear stupid move, such as trying to flush a cup full of pee in the toilette, CUP INCLUDED, and she tried twice to put on my intravenous and kept laughing saying I just can't do it. At that point, I got really impatient and nervous, I can't stand stupidity! Lucky me, she got called somewhere else (or fired lol) and another wonderful nurse came and was so pleasant! She finally put the intravenous, and gave me a liquid to drink that help to balance the acidity of the stomach, taste is not good but I wouldn't say it was awful, it does feel weird in the throat for a bit though . I believe they gave me pills also I can't remember right now.
The anesthesiologist (Kyle) came and sat, and started to ask questions and explained to me everything that was going to happen. He was so calming and wonderful! He really made my operation so much better, I could tell he loved what he was doing and he was so great! I told him that I need to know what is happening good or bad. He kept his word and did just that. He told me to tell him while having the c-section any feeling that I have, such as nauseous, dizzy etc that way he could give me some medication and control it, and prevent from vomiting. Once we were done, a nurse came and brought me to the operating room, which at that point my husband wasn't allowed. They made me sit on the operation table to start giving me the spinal anesthesia He told me to let him know if I feel pain and where I felt it. You need to round your back as much as you can, which is really difficult as you have that huge belly, because of your belly it is then really difficult to breath properly. They first give you a needle to numb the area and then the reel thing come. It wasn't extremely painful but it certainly does not feel good. Except one time where I let a scream out. He stopped right away and asked what I felt. It was like an electric chock on the right side, It was so painful, very weird, he stopped realign the needle then he started again and he was able to complete the procedure. It hit you so quickly, someone had to helped me to lie down, and OMG my legs started to have that weird feeling. Your lower part is numb, you don't feel any pain, BUT you feel any touching. It is so weird! You also want to move your legs and you can't ! After it really was working, it felt like my legs was floating, I even asked if my legs was raised higher then my body and they weren't. The c-section went very quickly, although my c-section was a tough one, I lost a lot of blood at one point I told Kyle (the anasthegiolist) that I had a hard time to breath that it felt like if their hand was on my chest, and he smiled and said, that is exactly what is happening, 3 doctors needed to push as baby didn't want to come out. She then explained to me after that because of my open myomectomie my muscle were not flexible and that is why it was so difficult to remove baby. She said that at night her arm was killing her! Also I should mention that usually it is not like that.
Once they had baby out, sadly they just took her and started to do what they had to do. Her cry was the cutest thing ever it was so little! My arm was attached but I managed to grab the curtain and pull it so I could see my baby, once Kyle saw that he helped me. She was a cute 7.4 pounds and 59cm! Born at 8:46. It took what seem a long time for them to close my belly and stitches etc, and it is weird as I felt I was moving a lot on the table. I asked for a tummy tuck as a joke, my doctor really laugh at that one. I managed not to vomit, very common in c-section, that is because I kept telling Kyle how I felt and he was adjusting the medication. Finally they gave baby to my husband and he brought her so I could see her. She was so gorgeous with all that hair!
After they were done with my stitching they rolled me in the observation room, and finally I was able to take my daughter in my arm. The nurse keep asking to move your toes, and frankly at first you can't but then it comes back, such a weird feeling! After that everything is a bit blurry, we brought me in the room with daddy and baby, and that was it, that was now our life! Baby is in your room, and you have to take care of the little munchkin! I breastfed her, and I am very lucky I had no issues at all, she latched right away. I did read a lot about it, watch video, did the breastfeeding clinic etc. I was shock to feel how powerful her sucking is, and omg if they don't latch properly it is so painful! After a few hours, a nurse came to check if baby was warm enough to give her a bath. So they did, and showed us how to do it. My husband helped and changed and dressed her up, I was so proud of him!
The nights at the hospital were not too bad, baby are usually kind of quiet as they are so tired, we were so impress of how good she was (that changed once we got home! :-) It is also because we had a private room, which my insurance covered, thank god! I saw the other rooms, with 2 babies crying, 2 dads on the floor sleeping, it must have been so tough! Nurse come every 2 hours to wake you up so you can feed your baby and help you with the breastfeeding. Most of the time I wasn't sleeping anyway, and didn't need much help for the feeding. Babies lost some pound and the nursed made us give some formulas to Émilie with a little tube that you either slip in her mouth while breastfeeding or attached to the finger and she suck on it. Later, my doctor said that her weight lost wasn't great and that the formulas would not have been necessary. The 3 days seems so long though as we were so tired, and every time I was finally able to fall asleep there was always a nurse, the cleaner, the food and someone else for study research entering the room. At night, the cleaner were so freaking loud, I even made a complain to our nurse!
I was super nervous about removing the stitches the whole time, and frankly I don't know why, it wasn't even painful at all and actually it felt better after, they put some tape to keep the scar close and here we go we were able to go home. If I may suggest, do bring your breastfeeding pillow at the hospital, I didn't and it would have made thing a lot easier. Also, if you want your c-section to heal faster do walk as soon as you can after the c-section, as soon as your legs are good to go, do walk. It help to heal faster that is for sure!
I am going to keep writing another day, I will talk about the recuperation, life with babies for the first few weeks, and also I got a Mirena IUD installed, I will talk about it, but for now, I wish all woman who wants a baby to be successful! I also wish Hsinwei a good recuperation from your operation! Life after the operation is much better!!
