Monday was spent getting things ready for Ruby. I had the kids clean the house in the morning. They did alright but it still was a bit messy. I definitely did not have the energy to clean up after them so I asked my friend Melissa if she would do a deeper clean while we were in the hospital. She is awesome and agreed to help out. It still looked good when we came back from the hospital so I know she did an amazing job. Also Monday I ran a couple errands with my mom. Lucy needed some more jean shorts so we went to Salvation Army. We had a cashier who made sure to let us know that she never wanted to have a baby. Then we went to Kroger's to get some trial size things for the hospital. And that was essentially it for the day. Just taking it easy before the big day. Here is a last pic of the belly (and also a pic of the deck almost being done!)
Tuesday morning we left to the hospital. We needed to be there a bit before 8am because I was going to do some "crunchy things" that might help my anxiety- the hospital was doing a study to see if these things work. When we arrived at the hospital there was a cool blood moon in the sky- red for Ruby's birthday.
Once checked in and back in my room, they started the calming things as part of the study. They dimmed the lights, gave me an aromatherapy stick I could smell, performed a reiki massage on me (which doesn't involve any touching and was honestly a bit hokey) and turned on some Jack Johnson music. Nothing life changing but it was nice. And probably would've stayed nice if my procedure had been on time- at 10am. Unfortunately, the person who was scheduled for a c section before us came an hour late to her appointment which meant my c-section got postponed (I think it should've meant that hers got rescheduled). Then when they finished her c-section, someone needed the OR for an emergency placenta removal. And after that both OR's were dirty so they had to clean them. They did not wheel me back until after 1pm, which meant I had been waiting around the hospital for over 5 hours. That did not help my anxiety and I got pretty emotional that last hour of waiting. At least all the nurses were really kind and the doctor was very good at calming my worries. Also, when it came time to prep, Tyler got a cool hat instead of an ugly hair net like me. He looked like a real life doctor.
When I finally got wheeled back, it was time for the spinal tap. I hate the spinal tap because it is always so cold in the OR and that combined with nerves makes me so shaky. But the doctor and anesthesiologist were really kind and talked me through it. The actual spinal tap didn't even hurt, just some pressure. Then they laid me down and started setting things ups and I did my best to just focus on taking deep breaths and being calm. They did the pinch test and I didn't feel it so all was going as good as can be expected. Then at long last they brought Tyler in and things got real. I still feel like the whole procedure was sooo uncomfortable and when they pulled out Ruby it felt like they were sitting on my chest and I could barely breathe. But at 2:01- after the dr proclaimed he could see Ruby's lips through my uterine lining because it was so thin, then I soaked the dr with my amniotic fluid (apparently several pounds of it) and with a little help of a vaccuum, Ruby made her entrance into the world. She weighed 8lb 3oz and was 21 inches long.
It took far too long for them to bring Ruby over to me- I got a crick in my neck trying to look over at her- but when Tyler finally got her, her soft cheeks against my face felt very soothing. The doctor was awesome and told Tyler that he was not to leave (I had told him how he always left with the baby and I hated it) so Tyler and Ruby got to stay with us for the entire surgery. Even though the tube tying and stitching back up were horribly uncomfortable, it really helped to not be alone- even if Tyler was very distracted with Ruby. This time they did not drug me up so I stayed very awake which wasn't ideal for the pain but it was nice to not be out of it for the rest of the day.
When all was done they wheeled me back to my recovery room and then eventually back to my postpartum room. It was evening by the time we settled in so no visitors for us. After fasting all day I was very ready for food. Unfortunately ordering food was always a process- put on hold for ages (up to 30 mins) and then it took 1-2 hours for the food to come. They need a better system. Then when my food came I had ordered soup, juice and a roll but they didn't have a roll so they substituted it for chili- not sure why they thought that made sense. Chili was not ideal for my sensitive tummy. The kitchen wasn't open for Tyler so he had to leave me for awhile to get food. That was a bit scary since I wasn't mobile at that point and therefore not very capable of taking care of Ruby.
That night was long- I did not sleep much. Lots of nurses visits for Ruby and I, lots of poking and proding, plus I was still hooked up to the leg things that buzz loudly and the bed also was super annoying and kept buzzing/filling up with air. Later when asked if we could turn that off, we were told that the bed would literally go flat so we would just have to deal with the constant sound. I tried turning on some white noise on my phone and it helped me get a few mins of sleep. I will say that the nurse that night was awesome. She was really helpful when I finally got out of bed and walked to the bathroom and just really present when needed. I was glad I had her the second night as well. She reminded me a lot of my friend Elyse from the preschool I worked at. She made the recovery process bearable.
No comments:
Post a Comment