She's here and we are home!

My going to the hospital outfit

Friday was the big day!  The anticipation that morning was aggravating!  We got up, made sure the house was straight and everything was packed for the hospital then it was a matter of just waiting…and waiting…and waiting.  We left the house around 1130 since we had to be at the hospital by noon.  It was funny when we got there…it was like we were checking into a hotel…we had our bags and a pillow and just strolled up to labor and delivery to “check-in”.  Mom met us at the hospital too.  Once we were all checked in a nurse took us to a pre-op room where they monitored my vitals, took blood work, and then Dr. Kil came and did a final sonogram to make sure Sydney was still in breech position – and of course she was.  Then we just waited some more.  Virginia and Bobbijo and Jimmy came to the hospital to support us too.  I’m glad everyone was there or I think Mom would have gone a little insane J  Once the operating room was set up and ready to go, all the guests made their way to my assigned room for after the delivery and Steve was lead off to wait for the que to come in.  The nurse took me to the operating room and they got me all prepped for surgery. 

They gave me a spinal block…it was the weirdest sensation I have ever felt.  My body went totally numb from about my breast line down and I had a warm feeling in the lower half of my body.  I could move my arms and head and neck.  They made sure I couldn’t feel any pain then the nurse went and got Steve….although it was almost too late!  Dr. Kil was ready to go and had begun to make his incision when the nurse finally came back with Steve!  Once Steve was in the room he stayed up by my head and talked to me while Dr. Kil did this thing.  I was sooooo sleepy too.  I felt like I could have closed my eyes and taken a nap while they were working on getting Sydney out.  I never really felt any pressure or pushing or pulling until they had to get Sydney’s head out.  It was strange to listen to the operating team talk about getting to her.  Dr. Kil had to “fish” for one foot, then “fish” for the other foot, then when he tried to pull the rest of her out she kept squirming up into my ribs…they joked she was trying to run away from him..LOL!  The pressure I felt was Dr. Kil pushing on my chest to basically get her head to pop down and come out.  Once she was out of the womb, a nurse took her over to the neonatologist who checked her over and did her APGAR scores and they worked on cleaning her up.  When I finally heard her cry I was so happy.  It took a minute because they had to suction her and Dr. Kil let the nurse and neonatologist take care of that.  The surgery began at 3pm (as opposed to 2pm) and Sydney was born at 3:09pm.  Steve was able to get some pictures while we were in the operating room and he was able to cut her cord…which was another hot topic.  Her cord was huge!  They said she was definitely getting some good nutrients through it! LOL!  Once she was all cleaned up, they brought her over so I could see her and the nurse took the picture I posted…our first family picture J  Steve went with Sydney to the nursery while Dr. Kil finished up with me.

Once I was in recovery, Steve, Mom, and Caitlin (more great friends showed up to see us – Robby and Caitlin and Rachel) came to see me.  They told me how beautiful Sydney was since they were able to watch the nurse and Steve through the window in the nursery.  I was in recovery for about 45 minutes before they took me to my room.

Once in my room, everyone came in to congratulate us and look at Sydney (she was brought into the room too after she was bathed and her temperature was raised).  Roy and Sandra Fenwick and their sons stopped by to see us and so did Danielle!  It was a great crowd for Sydney’s birthday J

I was feeling tired and I felt like I was hung over from the spinal block wearing off.  I was soooo pale too.  Everyone said their well wishes and let us be alone for a while so I could recover and we could adjust to having Sydney with us.

I was told that I would be up and walking after 5 hours on bed rest…well…not so much.  They checked my vitals every hour and my blood pressure wasn’t playing very nice.  It was a bit elevated before surgery but we expected that and we expected that it would go down after surgery and it didn’t.  It kept increasing….a lot.  The nurse finally had to call the doctor and he ordered blood pressure medicine.  Once that was in my system my pressure dropped but I still wasn’t allowed out of bed.  This made the first night difficult for me.  I wasn’t able to get up to get Sydney out of her crib or change her.  But luckily I married an amazing man who did EVERYTHING for us that night.  Steve is now a pro at changing her, feeding her, burping her, talking to her, and swaddling her…which she LOVES…and honestly I still can’t get the wrapping part right but he’s got it down pat!

We kept Sydney in our room Friday night and all day Saturday.  Once I was able to get out of bed and the catheter was removed on Saturday I felt soooo much better.  I was able to take a shower which made everything 100 times better too.  We had a few visitors Saturday and spent time just figuring out the whole parenting thing. We had an awesome nurse during the day Saturday and Sunday, Beth.  She made everything soooo relaxed because she was so friendly.  She really made our days when she was on shift.  I didn’t feel embarrassed to ask (or show her) her anything.  She just made it easy for us.  MWH does a Daisy award and she was soooo good to us that we nominated her for that.  I hope she gets some kind of credit for at least having a nomination sent in.

Saturday night we decided to send Sydney to the nursery so we could get some sleep and she also needed to have some routine tests done so they took care of those while they had her.  She was in the nursery for about 5 hours.  We were able to sleep most of that but I was up to get my pain medication about mid-way through the night.  I was alternating Motrin and Percocet which really helped with my pain.  Luckily the pain really wasn’t a pain….it was more like I had done 1000 stomach crunches and I was trying to stand up straight…my muscles were just exhausted.

Sunday I was able to get free from all of my IV hook ups (they had to leave them in just in case I needed more BP medication).  My pain was minimal Sunday and Sydney continued to do really good with her eating…she’s a little piggy now J  We sent her to the nursery during the night for a few hours but I got her back in the room around 4am.

Monday we came home!!!  Both Sydney and I were seen by doctors so that we could be discharged.  Around 1130 the nurse came in with the discharge paperwork, I signed us out, and we were headed home!  It’s been nice being home!  My Dad came up from SC Sunday to see us and he’s spent time with us and my Mom has spent time here too.  We’ve been able to Skype with Steve’s parents from the hospital so they have been able to see her when she was just a few hours old “live” instead of just in pictures.  I’m not supposed to go up and down stairs for a while so I’m set up on the couch for a few days.  Sydney is here with me in her pack-n-play.  Cardy doesn’t know what to think about her yet, he’s still investigating her…he’s not too sure about her because she’s still here..LOL..and she moves and makes noise.  He just kinda looks at her then goes about his business.

Everyone is doing good; I’m healing nicely (pain is very minimal), Sydney is eating, sleeping, and pooping like she should be and Steve is still grinning from ear to ear J