So, we had the scheduled c-section on March 12th.
We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am, as planned. They took me straight back and started the "prep" work (blood draw, IV, etc.).
I had been having contractions, but at every dr appointment there was always no progress - not dialating at all - so I had been "ignoring" the contractions. Once I was in the hospital hooked up to the monitors for a while, the nurse asked "are you feeling these contractions" I responded "yes, but I'm ignoring them, because I know they aren't doing anything" then I asked "how far apart are they " and she said "they are 2-7 min apart". I said "oh, okay". Shortly after that my dr came in and the nurse said something about the contractions to her, and she said "yeah, we were laughing in the office the other day about how rock hard her cervix is, even though she's been having contractions". So we all laughed about that.
DH went out and got my family to come in and see me before they took me to the OR. We spent a little time with them, then they went back to the waiting room. Around 7:10 they came and got me to go to the OR. We went in and they did the spinal, then they made sure I was numb and they brought DH. It all went pretty fast. Annabelle was born at 7:44, they did the tubal, then stitched me up. Anna was SCREAMING the whole time in the OR - and she was rooting around on DH's arm. They put her in the bed with me and rolled us both into recovery. Once we got in there, the nurse helped me get her latched on to try bf (I was planning on bottle feeding, but in the last few weeks I decided I wanted to try to bf). The nurse in the recovery room was WONDERFUL at helping out with it, and Anna latched on quickly and fed for 15 min on one side. Then they took Anna so they could check me out (press on my belly and all that good stuff) then they brought Annabelle back over and we latched her on to the other side. She fed for 15 min on that side, then she was a happy girl. Once we had been in recovery long enough, they took us up to the mother/baby unit.
DH went and got Ethan first, so he could see baby sister. His response was "WOW! SHE'S REAL!". LOL!
Then the rest of the family and friends came in to visit.
A friend of mine took Ethan to play for a couple of hours, then brought him back around 4pm. He actually stayed at the hospital with us every night (the hospital allows it as long as the father stays as well). He did super too! A friend came up on Friday and stayed with me so DH could take Ethan home for a while, then they came back to the hospital. I could have left the hospital on Saturday, but I decided I wanted to stay one more day (I could have stayed until Monday if I wanted too). Since they knew I was going home on Sunday, they took care of getting things ready (Anna's newborn screenings, etc.) on Sat night, so that on Sunday all we had to do was have the drs come in and release me and Anna. Then we came home.
The hospital did things differently from when we had Ethan. Annabelle was in our room the entire time - except for about 20 min on Saturday when they took her for the heel prick and screenings. The first 6 hrs they had her skin to skin with me (they put her in my hospital gown on my chest and then put the blankets around us both). They did her first "bath" in our hospital room, etc. It was so nice to have her in the room the entire time.
The hospital has lactation consultants that came around on a regular basis to help out with the bf, and they were WONDERFUL to work with (when I had Ethan he wasn't latching on, and the LCs seemed to be too pushy and forceful). This time they assisted me, but didn't try to "do it for me". Anytime I wanted one of them, the nurse would get them for me - but Anna did a lot on her own - they just had to help me get her latched correctly a few times. Almost everytime they came in they said we were doing just fine! It was a more positive experience than when we tried to bf Ethan. The LC even gave me permission to "do what I had to do" if my nipples got too sore to feed her (a few times we fed her then resorted to a bottle of formula because I was having too much pain). With Ethan they were dead set against giving him any bottle of any kind.
We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am, as planned. They took me straight back and started the "prep" work (blood draw, IV, etc.).
I had been having contractions, but at every dr appointment there was always no progress - not dialating at all - so I had been "ignoring" the contractions. Once I was in the hospital hooked up to the monitors for a while, the nurse asked "are you feeling these contractions" I responded "yes, but I'm ignoring them, because I know they aren't doing anything" then I asked "how far apart are they " and she said "they are 2-7 min apart". I said "oh, okay". Shortly after that my dr came in and the nurse said something about the contractions to her, and she said "yeah, we were laughing in the office the other day about how rock hard her cervix is, even though she's been having contractions". So we all laughed about that.
DH went out and got my family to come in and see me before they took me to the OR. We spent a little time with them, then they went back to the waiting room. Around 7:10 they came and got me to go to the OR. We went in and they did the spinal, then they made sure I was numb and they brought DH. It all went pretty fast. Annabelle was born at 7:44, they did the tubal, then stitched me up. Anna was SCREAMING the whole time in the OR - and she was rooting around on DH's arm. They put her in the bed with me and rolled us both into recovery. Once we got in there, the nurse helped me get her latched on to try bf (I was planning on bottle feeding, but in the last few weeks I decided I wanted to try to bf). The nurse in the recovery room was WONDERFUL at helping out with it, and Anna latched on quickly and fed for 15 min on one side. Then they took Anna so they could check me out (press on my belly and all that good stuff) then they brought Annabelle back over and we latched her on to the other side. She fed for 15 min on that side, then she was a happy girl. Once we had been in recovery long enough, they took us up to the mother/baby unit.
DH went and got Ethan first, so he could see baby sister. His response was "WOW! SHE'S REAL!". LOL!
Then the rest of the family and friends came in to visit.
A friend of mine took Ethan to play for a couple of hours, then brought him back around 4pm. He actually stayed at the hospital with us every night (the hospital allows it as long as the father stays as well). He did super too! A friend came up on Friday and stayed with me so DH could take Ethan home for a while, then they came back to the hospital. I could have left the hospital on Saturday, but I decided I wanted to stay one more day (I could have stayed until Monday if I wanted too). Since they knew I was going home on Sunday, they took care of getting things ready (Anna's newborn screenings, etc.) on Sat night, so that on Sunday all we had to do was have the drs come in and release me and Anna. Then we came home.
The hospital did things differently from when we had Ethan. Annabelle was in our room the entire time - except for about 20 min on Saturday when they took her for the heel prick and screenings. The first 6 hrs they had her skin to skin with me (they put her in my hospital gown on my chest and then put the blankets around us both). They did her first "bath" in our hospital room, etc. It was so nice to have her in the room the entire time.
The hospital has lactation consultants that came around on a regular basis to help out with the bf, and they were WONDERFUL to work with (when I had Ethan he wasn't latching on, and the LCs seemed to be too pushy and forceful). This time they assisted me, but didn't try to "do it for me". Anytime I wanted one of them, the nurse would get them for me - but Anna did a lot on her own - they just had to help me get her latched correctly a few times. Almost everytime they came in they said we were doing just fine! It was a more positive experience than when we tried to bf Ethan. The LC even gave me permission to "do what I had to do" if my nipples got too sore to feed her (a few times we fed her then resorted to a bottle of formula because I was having too much pain). With Ethan they were dead set against giving him any bottle of any kind.
