Miss Olivia Grace was born on Monday, April 2 at 8:12 am. She weighed a whopping 9lbs 10oz and was 21.25in. We were shocked that she was such a big baby! Since I was a scheduled c-section (due to having an emergency c/s with Sophia) we didn't really monitor Olivia's growth too much. I had only gained 21 pounds throughout my pregnancy (versus like 37 w/Sophia) so I was anticipating another petite little girl.
The (long) birth story:
The c/s was much different this time than last time. I remember saying that out loud and the anesthesiologist said "scheduled c/s are usually a bit different since you are more aware of what's going on and it isn't such a whirlwind" Boy was he right! I walked into the operating room & sat on the side of the operating table while he stuck a huge needle into my back for my spinal block. He accidentally went in at a bit of an angle so I was feeling the pressure mostly on my lower right half so he had to adjust it (never took it out, just moved it around...talk about uncomfortable) about 4 times until I was feeling it in the middle. While he was placing my spinal block, the nurse was holding my shoulders and making small talk. At one point she asked "So, why are you having a c/s?" To be honest, I was taken back a bit. I thought "Well, because I'm too lazy to push and I don't want to get all sweaty so I opted for major surgery." Instead I said "I had to have an emergency c/s with my first so it's just safer to do a repeat c/s" Idiot. So, after my spinal is placed my lower half immediately began going numb. Before I could even lay back on the table, my body was all warm and my legs were feeling very heavy & tingly. So weird. I had to lay spread-eagle on the table while the nurses prepped and moved my legs around to get me into operating position. All modesty went out the window and I felt so exposed....the only thing covering me was my gown from about my chest to my neck. I tried to talk to Jeff to distract me, but I felt so weird and I couldn't move anything from my toes to my chest so I started to freak out. I knew it was supposed to happen like that but it is still trippy. I concentrated on taking deep breaths so that I wouldn't have a panic attack, which I felt was coming on. Once Dr. L finally showed up (we were scheduled for 7:15, he arrived around 7:50) they began getting the show on the road. The curtain went up and the surgery began. During surgery I began feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest. It was so hard to breathe and it was extremely uncomfortable. I tried to concentrate on my breathing again to avoid a panic attack and I suddenly felt extremely nauseous. I said something to Jeff and he said he would tell someone, but I told him not to. Not sure why I told him that?! They could have given me meds.
I remember feeling pressure in places I'm assuming were the incision, them moving around my insides, and I felt the weirdest pull from my chest when they pulled Olivia out. It was so unreal. I don't remember most of this from Sophia's c/s but I think that's because hers was unexpected, I already had an epidural so I didn't start from the beginning of the process, and they worked 10x faster getting Sophia out than they did Olivia.
During the c/s when Dr. L was pulling Olivia out, he said "Oh Jess, she's got shoulders on her shoulders!" I said "What does that mean?" and he said "Well, Jeff, stand up and have a look" & the anesthesiologist said "Dad, you can stand up and look, he's about to get the baby all the way out." In the meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out if my daughter is deformed or something. So, Jeff stood up and said "My gosh, she's huge! She has like rolls on top of her rolls!" For a second I thought they were kidding, but shortly thereafter Dr. L held her up over the curtain for me to see and all I saw were two little slits for eyes and these huge, squishy cheeks. I swear those suckers weighed about 2 pounds a piece! ha!
We were so glad that she was a healthy baby and she didn't look as breakable as her big sis did when she was born. Jeff took Olivia to the NICU (c/s protocol) while Dr. L finished stapling me up and then I was sent to recovery. I remember from last time that once the baby is born, nobody cares about you anymore! ha! My only visitor while I was in recovery was my big sister, Sarah, but I didn't expect many visitors since it is recovery and all...I'm supposed to be resting. While I was in recovery I got very nauseous and began dry heaving, so they put some medicine in my IV. I dozed off & on and tried not to get sick. After about 30 or so minutes, they took my to my room where my mom met me and I continued to doze off & on until Jeff came in with Olivia. I was so out of it for about 5 or 6 hours that I don't remember specifics, but I'm pretty sure they came in about 2 hours after I had her. I got to hold my sweet baby for the first time and it was perfect! She had all 10 fingers & all 10 toes, a full head of thick hair, and she actually looked more like me than Jeff!
Olivia took to nursing like a champ and we don't have to deal with being tongue-tied like we did with Sophia. She ate, slept, and pooped the whole time we were in the hospital. She did have to get her blood sugar levels checked before every feeding. Due to being a big baby, her sugar levels were low and so we were having to test the levels then feed her every 2 hours. We finally got them stable during the middle of the night on our first night so we were relieved...I hated seeing them poke her tiny heel so much! Sophia didn't really care for it much, either...she gave the nurses the stink eye whenever they would come to test Olivia's levels. Ha! She also had to spend about 5 hours being monitored in the NICU during the second night due to heavy/rapid breathing. They warned me that she might be admitted to the NICU for a 10 day stay and antibiotic, but thankfully that didn't happen because her lungs sounded fine and she never ran fever. She also wasn't jaundiced like Sophia was. We were released to go home when she was 2 days old and she left the hospital weighing 9lb 1oz.
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| Just born! Warming up in the NICU |
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| Sophia meeting her sister for the first time |
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| My entire world <3 |
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| 2 days old, waiting to be discharged and go home |
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| 2 days old |
Sweet post. Maybe I won't beg for a c- section after all! :) You have a beautiful family, Jess. Glad you didn't have the NICU 10-dayer.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks Ash! And, although it was nice not having to push my almost 10-pounder out, a c/s isn't all that it's cracked up to be, either! ;) Maybe your next one will be tiny and just fall out?!
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