It was about 10 am on Tuesday morning, June 21st when we arrived at the hospital. I had the hubster drop me off at the loading zone where I walked into the lobby and sat to wait for him to park the car. The Kaiser hospital in Irvine is a great facility - easily navigated and accessible, so I didn't have to wait long. We went up the elevator to the 3rd floor and was directed to the "checking" room where the nurse hooks you up to the baby monitors and checks to see if you are in fact, ready for labor and delivery.
I totally was, and my water was still leaking.
So after being put into a hospital gown, having some Q&A, inputting information, collecting vitals and blood samples (during which the contractions started... like REALLY started. The contractions I had before my water broke were just kind of uncomfortable. These ones were painful. The ones they dramatize on TV and movies.), having an IV put into the top of my hand and a catheter into my... uh... connected to my bladder... and meeting the nurses and the OB and the anesthesiologist, I was wheeled over to the OR for prepping. It was about 1 pm.
They had me sit up and lean forward while gripping a pillow to my stomach as the anesthesiologist "painted my back" with a numbing thing and then I got the spinal numbing shot which was a totally weird sensation. It didn't hurt so much as have a lot of pressure on my spine/lower back and at one point, I felt a weird shot down my right leg... eventually I guess it was done. During this process one of the nurses also put compression things around my calves. I liked those, it alternated massaging one leg to the other. Well, I later realized that when I gained feeling back in my legs. I was rolled back onto the table/gurney thing and my legs started to feel cold and then I couldn't wiggle my toes anymore. Soon, I could no longer feel anything below my chest. Let's get this show on the road, people!
It might be the strangest thing I'll ever physically go through again.
The sheet was put up (so I couldn't see what was going on) and the anesthesiologist started asking me lots of questions (to keep my mind occupied I guess) about the hubster and how we met and where we went for our first date, just small talk, as the hubster was finally let into the room to sit by my head. I started getting nauseous... really, really nauseous, and started dry heaving. I got something put into my IV to help. And it did.
The anesthesiologist continued chatting with the hubster and I, minor stuff to keep the mood light and entertaining as I smelled the burning odor of the laser cutting into my belly. Thank goodness I did not feel anything. Soon after, I felt pressure on my belly, lots of what seemed like pushing here and there (which I assumed they were actually moving my organs around to getting to the uterus/babies, which again, thank goodness I didn't actually feel). I started to get the shakes. Violent shakes - side effect of the drugs. I tried to keep as still as possible while letting the shakes through my arms and upper body carry out.
Then I heard it. The first cry. And then the second. And then the hubster was asked to go over there and I guess during that time he cut the umbilical chords and the babies were washed off and measured and weighed. They brought each baby to my face, but I was still having the shakes and feeling super nauseous again, so I asked them not to have the babies too close (in case I threw up or something). Baby A (Lily) was taken to NICU because she weighed in at 4 lbs 3 oz (and at 16.5") but Baby B (Charlie) remained because she was a decent 5 lbs 10.5 oz (and at 18.5"). And then I was ready to pass out. It was cold and it suddenly felt like the longest day of my life and I was never going to get through it. It had barely been an hour since I was wheeled into the room.
After some warming up and a bit of skin-to-skin with Charlie (since Lily was still in NICU), I was taken to my postpartum room where I would be recovering for the next three days. Lily was checked out and despite her small size, she was perfectly healthy and was brought to my postpartum room at nearly the same time as I was. It was nearly 4 pm.
All I wanted to do was sleep, I felt so miserable. I hadn't had anything to drink since that sip of water at 6 am and my throat was parched and I didn't start getting feeling back into my legs until close to 8 pm later that evening. I was one hot mess, and ended up vomiting four times before they gave me an anti-nausea medicine in my IV. Family was still visiting.
In the middle of the night was when I was able to have my first ice chips (after confirming that I was no longer going to vomit). The next day, I was on a liquid diet with vegetable broth in the morning and chicken broth for lunch. The catheter was taken out and the nurse helped me up to go to the bathroom. It was like learning how to walk for the first time while having a pain pulling on your belly (I had to hold my belly with my hand to lessen the pain) and being super light-headed and dizzy. Later that night the IV was removed, but they didn't actually remove the tube in my hand until the next day. Day 2 in the hospital was rough. The nurses kept trying to get the babies to latch on and for me to breast feed but I wasn't producing anything yet. So I asked the nurse if we could just start supplementing the girls with formula. The hubster and I planned on bottle feeding them (with bm and formula if necessary) anyway, so that we can both feed them.
Day 1 and Day 2 the girls slept most of the time. But that night... the crying started. Eventually one of the nurses said, "Sometimes they just want to be held," and not have anything else be an issue like hunger, wet diaper or gas.
Day 3 the doc came in and said that we could be released at 3pm, and I freaked out. I did not feel physically capable of walking down the hall and even going to the bathroom was an ordeal - I was not going to survive at home just yet without the nurses. So the doc said it was totally up to me if I wanted to stay another night. I said, Yes, please.
Day 4: that morning I was glad that we stayed another night. I was now feeling ready to go home. Now... to try for some normalcy...
