So here's what happened...
If you read the last post, you'll know that we had agreed to have my water broken after I had been 3cm dilated and 100% effaced for several days. Liam was being measured at 4kilos (nearly 9lbs) but his head and shoulders were very large, so there was a fear of him getting much bigger. In fact, his head was already measured as the estimated 42 week size!! >.<
With this in mind we agreed to having my water broken early to progress things. They soon started me on Oxytocin to speed things up, and the contractions came very regularly. After nearly 8 hours of back labour I was dilated well, the contractions were on top of each other and yet the baby wouldn't turn and descend. We tried waiting, and I even got an epidural (that didn't relieve any pain!) but finally the doctor recommended a Ceasarian. He basically told us that we could just sit and wait with this pain, not knowing how long or even if the baby would turn and descend and still with no guarantee that he would fit, or we could do a C-section.
Ryan and I talked about it, and I feared the idea, but at the same time I feared injury to the baby or I more and I'll admit the pain was making it hard to focus. We decided to go for it and they wheeled me to the OR and slammed my bed into the doorway causing all the people in the hall and OR to just stop and stare at me ~ in the middle of a contraction! >.<
Once in the OR they began to prep me. They bound my arms and body down, and the anesthesiologist administered a stronger dose of the epidural to numb me. However, it still didn't work, I was still in pain, and I managed to get my arm free a few times to struggle. The doctor came in to begin and started with a test cut, at which I screamed! I suppose they didn't believe me that I was still in so much pain, I'm sure they assumed I just felt pressure. At that point the doctor decided to use a general anesthetic and they gassed me.
I recall them having to intubate me several times, as each time I'd gag up and spit out the tubes (I really was becoming a troublesome patient!). When I became to come to, the nurse was smacking my cheek and calling my name. She told me to wake up, to which I replied that I was awake I just couldn't control my eyes yet. She then asked me if I had a manicure. How odd, I thought at first, maybe she was just trying to get me to talk... then I understood as I began to control my eyelids better and saw that my fingertips had all turned blue.
Turns out there were a few complications. They had some difficulty with the bleeding, so they literally bound a sandbag to my body. I was also having trouble getting enough oxygen. The tube in my nose wasn't working well enough, so I decided to help things out by taking the tube to my mouth and inhaling. This helped a great deal and they soon wheeled me to the post-op recovery.
Waiting in the hall were Ryan, Jason, Eunji and her husband Dave. It had been quite a while longer than they expected, and they had only just heard that there was some trouble waking me up from the anesthetic. They all looked so relieved! Soon after they began to tell me about the baby, whom I had yet to see! Ryan made it into the OR just in time to cut the cord and be ushered out. The baby was big and loud, and perfect. He showed me a printed photo of him. I was told that because the baby was having some difficulties with his temperature that they couldn't bring him out of the nursery. At first I was a little upset, I mean, mothers dream of the first time holding their babies, right? But then I actually felt alright with it, as I was tired and already loved him so I didn't have any doubts about connecting ~ though I was a little bummed not to start breast feeding right away.
Some time after 10pm they finally prepared me to go up to my room. As they wheeled me past the nursery, the nurse held up the baby in the window for me to see. All the others in the hall stopped to look and coo and congratulate us. Until now, the baby had no name but I looked up at him and saw that he was a trouble-maker from day one. That's when we decided on the name William ~ our little Liam.
So, nothing about this pregnancy went to plan. The timing, the sickness, the pain and discomfort and finally the labour and delivery. You'd think I'd have a negative opinion after all of that, and yet I'm so hopped up on mommy hormones I couldn't care less. My baby is perfect and we are both healthy. Praise God, He is good!
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