The long wait is over. The little man has arrived! On the 15th of December at 9:05 in the morning, I gave birth to Ethan Caleb through a repeat C-section. I really wanted to try VBAC, but then my doctor (and others I’ve consulted with) didn’t want to take the risk since it’s only been a little over a year since my last C-section.
I admitted myself, as directed by my doctor, the day before my scheduled C-section. We decided to let The Princess sleep over with us at the hospital so she will be there when her little brother comes out the next morning. Although everything was planned and scheduled long before my due date, Daddy A and I still felt the same excitement (and fear) that we felt when we had our little girl. I had a difficult pregnancy with The Little Man, which made us worry a whole lot about his health. We were also worried about how his big sister will react with a new baby around.
Around 7:30 in the morning of the 15th, nurses came into our room and prepared me for the C-section. The Princess was right beside the bed, holding my hand, the whole time. When I was ready, they wheeled me to the operating room. I answered a few questions from the nurses then my anesthesiologist prepared me for the operation.
I was awake the whole time, but very drowsy. I remember the conversation of my doctors and nurses. My OB-GYN mentioned that I almost had a ruptured uterus and that it was good that we scheduled the C-section on the earliest date possible for delivery. Whew! It’s good that didn’t happen!
A few minutes later, I heard The Little Man’s cry. I fought the drowsiness and stayed awake until I saw my baby boy. And when I saw him, I finally dozed off.
I woke up two hours later and was brought to our room. I was so glad to see my family there. I don’t know, I have this fear about operations and not waking up after. I wanted to give The Princess a long and tight hug, but I can already feel slight pain since the anesthesia was wearing off.
Since I needed to rest after the operation, my parents took The Princess home and left Daddy A and I at the hospital. Come evening, the NICU called and asked if I can nurse The Little Man. Since I still cannot get out of bed, I had to let our baby boy wait until the next morning, but informed the nurses that I intend to exclusively breastfeed.
The first attempt to stand up and walk is always the most painful after birth via a C-section. But, since I had a little one to feed, I ignored the pain and went to the NICU.
I remember feeling very nervous while waiting for the nurse to bring The Little Man to me. Will he latch on? Will I have milk? To my joy, he latched on right away and was feeding without any problems. We stayed there, hugging each other, for a good whole hour.
And because I didn’t have a problem getting The Little Man to breastfeed, his pediatrician allowed him to be roomed. We never had a chance to do that with The Princess so it was all new to us. It was like we were new parents again.
The first night was the most difficult. He kept waking up and asking to be fed. What made it harder was the pain caused by constantly lying down then sitting up to breastfeed. I couldn’t do the side-lying position since I can’t even move my own body without crying out in pain so our only choice was to use the bed to take me down then bring me up.
It’s a good thing Daddy A was there with me the whole time. Every time I felt too tired and in pain, he’d grab a lactation cookie (thank you, Crumbs and Grubs!) to make me feel better. And when The Little Man just wants to be hugged, he’d let me stay in bed and took care of our baby boy.
We went home after five days at the hospital. We are still having a difficult time trying to balance it all out — having an infant AND a toddler — but we’re almost getting a hang of it. We haven’t had any decent sleep, but that’s fine. What matters most is that The Little Man is finally with us after all we’ve been through in the last nine months. 🙂
Pingback: Confessions of an Impulsive Spender | Mom On Duty