Thursday, February 21st came and we were up at 6am, well I was up a bit earlier than that due to the excitement. We were due to be in the hospital by 7:30am. Mom came by 6am, we were preparing Gianluca's things and he just woke up as we were trying to leave. That just made my anxious and late. Oh well.
In the hospital, things were calm. So different from our first experience. It was just watching the clock and waiting. With Gianluca they prepped me in the room and wheeled me down in a bed. This time I walked. I'm guessing non-emergency means no need for a bed?
When we reached the operating room, we had a view of the NICU. I peaked to see if I recognized anyone just in case she needed to visit the NICU briefly after birth. Of course we were praying we could skip that step this time around. Inside the operating room it was a bit surreal. Up on the table, while I waited for the anesthesiologist, I watched everyone prepping for surgery. Emotions began to swell like it was deja vu. I just made every attempt to think about anything else, but Gianluca's birth. What didn't help was that the anesthesiologist couldn't get the needle in and ended up trying 4 times. Between the pain of that and the swelling emotions I couldn't hold it in. When I think back, it was embarrassing to have the nurses wiping my face and helping me blow my nose. At the time, though, I was terrified for the worst. After at least 15-20 minutes of discomfort I was finally able to lay down and go numb. They don't let your husband in until everything is prepped so he was in the hallway while all this was going on.
Another deja vu moment occurred once I was laid down and numb from the chest down. The nausea began. Last time, Llazar was there to hold the kidney shaped puke tray. Well, still out in the hall, he missed it. The supervising anesthesiologist got to hold the tray and clean me up. Not a graceful moment for me. Once cleaned up, Llazar finally arrived. He has great timing.
I really didn't expect to react like I did during this birth. I was terribly emotional and worried. Once we heard the tiny squeal of a cry we were getting excited. The nurses were ready next to us, the bed in my full view to watch. 10:50am came and my little miracle finally arrived, 6lbs 3oz and 18 inches. It was so exciting to see her and to hear her cry. To experience the full birth and process after birth was amazing. Llazar got right in there. He took pictures, started talking to her and had the biggest smile on his face. She just cried and cried. Very healthy set of lungs. We watched as they cleaned her and weighed her. Llazar's proud papa moment, he cut the umbilical cord. This time around, he held her first. The nurses took our first pictures together. It was just an amazing moment.
In the recovery room I was able to start nursing immediately. In fact, they send in a lactation specialist to get you started right away. All a new experience for us. She did great. We watched as they evaluated her. Her temperature was a bit low but after a short time and wrapping her up she eventually warmed up. I also had a low temp so they were wrapping me in thermal blankets and bubble wrap stuff.
Eventually we made it back to the room and our little girl got to come with us. Not far behind were my parents and Gianluca to come meet her. Gianluca's reaction was a bit as I had expected. Happy to see a baby at first, but quickly realized she was ours. His reaction then was, "put it back". Classic big brother commentary.
No comments:
Post a Comment