M so excited today. Today is the day I get to see my lo #2. For those who dunno what lo is - lo = little one. Yes, today is the day, I will be delivering (or rather doc will be pulling the baby out of me). Its an elective c-section. Date was decided after a lot of hue and cry from both sets of parents about when's a good date and when's not :)
Long post warning... here it comes !!
I wish I could have delivered at-least 1 of my babies through a normal birth, but fortunately or unfortunately, I did not have that option. Nehoo, lets not dwell on what isnt going to happen. Did I say that I am having my second baby today... lemme say it again... I am having my second one today...
No I am not as excited as it seems from my previous statements. I was just exaggerating there. I am just calm and composed after having been through this whole procedure before. The only thing different is that the first time was a quick surgery w/o much thought and this one had a lot of pre-planning.
So, doc told me to get a pre-test done 2 days ago and after that get admitted to the hospital at 8.30 am without breakfast. Operation would be conducted at 11 am. Woke up early in the morning, took a long warm bath and left for the hospital. Told all family members not to accompany us since it would be a waste of 3 hours for all of them unnecessarily. And that they should come around 11 am.
DH and I left for the hospital all anticipatory and expectant. Neither of us had any huge expectations about the gender of the baby although I had a slight bias towards having a girl. I wanted to have another girl just so that I can get to dress her up. DH did not mind either. However, everyone who met us felt that we should have a boy to "complete" the family as they called it.
So, we arrived at the hospital promptly at 8.30 and got admitted. We were assigned a very good room. Loved it. And the preparations for the settle-down started slowly. Every person, nurse, relationship manager etc., came and went intermittently as me and DH started to settle down and talk about what lies ahead in our lives.
Finally it was 10.30 am and preps for surgery started. I was wheeled into the operation theatre and in an adjoining room, was IV-ed and then we had another wait of few mins. Meanwhile, DH was busy clicking pictures and videos. Ill update the post with pics later. (My phone screen is badly damaged and under repair currently.) A funny incident was that DH being 6'3" tall and well built wouldnt fit into any of the overalls they provide for him to enter the OT. Luckily they found a nurse's overalls that fit him. Some nurse there was well-built I guess. And it was pink - tee hee tee hee :)
And then it was 11 am and then 11.05 and then 11.10. I started wondering what the heck was happening since the doc said the surgery would be at 11 :? :S . The doc arrived at 11.15 or so, and I was taken into the OT. The anaesthetist intro'ed himself and proceeded to make me comfortable. He asked me to sit on the OT bed and injected the local anaesthesia near my spinal cord. And then he started asking me different questions. Meanwhile, my legs went all numb and they moved me to a sleeping position.
My doc came in, greeted us and started off with the surgery almost immediately. We were not allowed to film the surgery itself. A few seconds before baby was out doc told DH to keep the camera ready 'coz baby is gonna be out any minute. And there HE was in a couple of seconds, crying loudly, unlike lo #1, who was so stressed out with the normal birth trial that all SHE could do was whimper when she came out - poor thing.
LO #2 maintains his crying habit even now. There isnt a day that goes by when he doesnt have a meltdown and screams until he holds his breath for few seconds, when my mom comments that he is super fit to do pranayama :D.
Meanwhile doc announces that our family is "complete". That fated word again !! Somehow I did not like being told that my family was complete when there was a boy and a girl baby. I understand where they came from, but somehow, I eventually started hating it when someone used that word. Anyway, DH gets called shortly to do the honors and cut the cord.
So, there he was - my (our) little bundle of joy #2 born on July 2nd 2016 at 11:29:31. He was shown to me and then promptly taken away for some tests and stuff, while doc finished stitching me up and then I was wheeled away to a recovery room, baby in tow. Weirdly, although it was a local anasthesia, I started feeling really drowsy after the surgery. I think they had mixed something in my IV fluid to get me to rest. I kept drifting between sleep and wakefulness in short bursts. I wasn't allowed to hold the baby until I got out of that state.
Meanwhile, if they hadnt given me something to sleep, I would probably not rest at all, because even in those short durations of wakey-wake, I was demanding to see the baby and to be moved to my room. And the nurses and doctors had to keep assuring me that they would do so as soon as they could give a go-clear on my vitals. On the other side, apparently, my DH was demanding to see me and baby. I think it was more of baby and less of me that he wanted to see :) He kept asking what was taking so long after surgery to move me to the room. I frankly don't remember having gone through this recovery process for the first surgery.
As for my local anaesthesia, it started wearing off in my upper body faster than some of the nurses and maids there would have liked. So, I abruptly sat up after an hr or so and again demanded to be taken to my room. The maids were commenting that I am sitting up as though I had just had a normal birth and not a c-section. But I still wasn't able to move my legs. Meanwhile, one of the nurses brought the baby to me for his first feed... All my worries of lactating and latching after a c-section birth faded as he went at it like a pro.
Finally I was cleared for being moved and I was soooooo damn happy. We reached my hospital room where the family awaited our arrival. They were all overjoyed to see us.
