The Birth Experience: Round Two

Having gone through birth once before there were several things I was prepared for.  With Addie, my water broke on its own but I never experienced natural contractions.  Just those awful pitocin contractions. After hours of laboring with no progress, a c-section was determined to be the best option for us both. I hadn't read the chapter on c-sections when reading 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'.  Why would I?  I knew I wouldn't end in a c-section.  Funny how you think things will happen and then they don't.

This time, however, I knew what to expect.  We had a c-section scheduled for 3:30pm on Friday afternoon and had to check in with labor & delivery at 1:30.  I changed into that pretty little hospital gown and sat in a delivery room for about an hour answering questions about my medical history, received my IV, and had an anti-nausea shot.  The operating room was a bit behind and I walked in at 3:45.  The anesthesiologist immediately began my spinal and by 4:00 I was fully numb and ready to begin surgery.  My OB and another doctor had a hard time getting Graham out because he was sitting so high but at 4:13pm we heard Graham's cry for the first time!

Rick left my side to hang out with Graham and about another 30 minutes of the surgery was spent on stitching me back up.  I think because I was a repeat c-section they had so extra scarring to deal with.  Last delivery I got a nasty infection around 2 weeks post partum so it was a huge concern of mine that the same didn't happen this time around.  My OB opted for disolvable stitches instead of the usual staples to decrease the risk of infection along with a silver dressing to cover the sutures while in the hospital.

By 4:45 I was wheeled into recovery with Graham and spent the next 2.5 hours letting the spinal wear off.  I immediately began feeling the effects of the morphine that was administered during surgery.  Morphine can often cause a lot of itching on the face and sometimes full body itching.  I was lucky enough to only have the facial itching but it was so bad the first night I didn't sleep because I was so itchy.  It was so bad my nose is just now healing from being rubbed raw.

Last time around I spent the first 2 days in the hospital bed and another 7-8 days in a pretty good amount of pain, not able to stand straight up until nearly the end of week two.  This time around, they pulled me out of bed within 12 hours of delivery and was up walking around on my own (with no attachments) within 24 hours.  By day 4 I was feeling about how I felt last time around day 7 and I think a lot of it had to do with getting up to walk so early. 

I was fully prepared for a terrible recovery and was very worried with how Addie would react to seeing me in a hospital bed with an IV and unable to snuggle with her.  Overall delivery this time around has been much easier and no signs of infection on my incision. I'm so happy with how things went and even left the hospital a day earlier than planned because of it!

-stephanie