This is a little bit out of order, since I already posted about
Parker at 1 week old, but Parker arrived a couple of weeks ago after a scheduled C-section.
Kids these days . . . they make their Internet debut within the first hour of being born! Not entirely sure if that is a good or bad thing in the long run, but in any case, this is the picture Greg posted to Facebook:
THE STORY:
Since Evie was a C-section too (though unplanned), I had the option of doing a
VBAC if it worked out, but my doctor recommended not going all the way until the due date because of increased risks (like uterine rupture - ouch). The C-section was only the week before my due date, so it really wasn't that early.
It was scheduled for 7:30 am and we were at the hospital being admitted by about 5:40 am. Once I got checked in, I waited in OB Triage where they hooked me up to monitors, put in an IV, and talked to the nurses and doctors about what to expect until it was time for me to go to the OR.
One of the unpleasant parts of the C-section with Evie was that I felt like I could still feel some pain from the incision as they were making it, but with Evie's C-section, it was an epidural versus this time around, where they gave me
spinal anesthesia. The spinal anesthesia seemed to be much more effective - I felt no pain (yay), just pressure from them pushing/pulling. The worst part of the spinal anesthesia was actually the local anesthesia they inject first before they give you the actual spinal anesthesia. Also with Evie, I was wheeled into the OR because I was already on an epidural. This time, I walked myself to the OR, and they had me sit on the operating table to give me the spinal anesthesia, which worked really fast (I could feel my feet tingling within a couple minutes).
It felt a bit surreal laying in the OR throughout the whole process. Not that being in the OR wasn't a part of having Evie too, but we went to the hospital fairly well-rested this time around and it felt like the beginning of the journey rather than the culmination of hours at the hospital already, as it was with Evie.
I mentioned this in my
Parker at 1 Week Old post already, but right after they pulled him out, before he got handed off to the nurses for clean up and vitals and such, the doctor popped him over the drape for a second to show him to me. I admit that I got a little bit teary-eyed when I saw him for the first time.
Parker was a big boy at 9 lbs, 10 oz, which was bigger than I expected, I would have pegged him to be closer to Evie's size, and only a week and a half before he came, the doctor's rough guess of his weight was around 7 lbs. My plan was to try a VBAC if he had come on his own before the 5th (which didn't happen), but after finding out how big he was, it was probably the right decision/fortunate that he ended up coming via a planned C-section. Given that Evie was already big-ish and didn't come out without intervention, it's very likely that I would have ended up with a C-section anyway, even if I could have tried the VBAC route.
After the OR, we were in the recovery room for a couple hours before moving to a regular room. I didn't feel like I was as out of it or thirsty this time, which was a good thing. A nurse in the recovery room also pointed out that Parker has a
stork bite on his forehead (it's still there for now, though should be temporary).
Overall, the scheduled C-section seemed to be a better experience for us (aside from it being surgery while a VBAC isn't), given that we went into it without already being sleep deprived and it was better timing (first thing in the morning rather than later at night).
