Finally getting around to posting our story!
My due date was May 4th, but I was scheduled for a c-section on Monday Apr. 27th due to him still being breech. So on Wednesday afternoon (Apr. 22) I noticed a lot less movement than usual. By that evening, I started having what seemed like timeable contractions. They weren't terribly painful, but were coming approx every 10 mins. I timed them throughout the night and they stayed basically the same. By morning they were getting a little closer - about every 6-8 mins apart, but still not very painful. I called my dr and they told me to come in to be checked - since baby was still breech. My dr checked me and I was only 1 cm or so. He said that I could go home and wait for things to progress a bit, or, since I had the c-section scheduled for Monday anyway, and I was not likely to make it til then, they could just do the c-section today if we wanted. We decided that is what we would do, so he told us to head over to L&D. We got there and they hooked me up to the monitors - contractions were about 5 mins apart by then. The Midwife from my practice came in to see us. She basically told us that since I didn't seem to be in active labor yet, they would likely send me home as they don't do unscheduled c-sections until you are in labor - this sort of thing seems to happen all the time when you go to a practice with 15 practitioners - one tells you one thing, another something else. She said she would give me a few hours to see what my body would do. I figured we would be going home, as I couldn't see that I was going to dilate much laying in bed with contractions that weren't that painful. So she came back in to check me in about 2 hours - I was just over 4cm! She said if I were a normal vaginal delivery she would still have sent me home, but due to the breech presentation we would be having our baby today! It was still a few hours until everything was ready - officially admitting me, paper work, anesthesiologist being available, etc. So they told us we would be going back about 5pm. The nurse came to put my IV in - I don't normally mind needles, but she stuck me in my left hand twice and it was awful! The one place was so sore for over a week and she never did get an IV in. Another nurse had to come in and do it. After that experience I started feeling very sick and had to ask for a basin - luckily that passed. Around 5pm they took DH to go put his jumpsuit on, and wheeled me back. The anesthesiologist, "Clark," was great - he was really nice and really funny. He gave me the spinal and said it would sting quite a bit for a min, but it didn't at all. It wasn't long before my legs started to go numb. I was a little freaked out because I could still move my toes, and Clark seemed surprised by that, but after a while that stopped. It wasn't long before I started feeling like I would throw up. Clark put something in my IV and it would pass. This happened a few times throughout, but luckily it always passed. They brought DH in and started the procedure. I felt some pressure and pulling but nothing big and they said it would be just a moment and he would be born. They told DH to stand up to get some good pictures, but I could tell he didn't want to do that. I said that was ok, so Clark the anesthesiologist said he'd do it! So we did get some great pics of the actual "birth" but what freaked me out is that you can sort of see my "insides" in those pictures too! Anyway he was born, and cried right away. They lifted him up so I could see, and he was perfect! - 8 lbs 1 oz. They said he was 18 ", but we think they couldn't stretch him out properly (from him being breech), as he was 21.5" at his 2 wk appt! DH went with him to the scale and to get more pics and they started to stitch me up. That's when the shaking started. I shook so much for at least an hour or two afterward - it was awful - but they told me it was normal. I had forgotten that I did that after Noah was born too. I also had a lot of really bad itching for a day or so afterward - from the spinal, or some other medicine? We spent about an hour in recovery where they let me try to nurse him - didn't work too well yet. Then they finally took me to my room and Eli to the nursery for a few hrs to get his bath and all checked out and such. The 1st night they wouldn't let me out of bed or even to sit up - so that was interesting trying to nurse a new baby laying flat on my back! The next morning they took out my catheter and told me I could try to get up whenever I felt up to it. I didn't wait long as everyone told me the sooner the better to get moving. I quickly learned to be sure and ask for my full Percocet dose every 4 hrs as I was allowed! We were discharged Sunday morning and we've been doing well ever since! That was over 3 weeks ago, and already time is going way too fast!
