Katherine's birth story

Again - so I don't lose it, I'm making sure it's blogged and back-dated.

Katherine was delivered via scheduled, repeat c-section on Tuesday, May 11, 2004. My first choice for her birth day was May 7; but my OB told me he wasn't really thrilled about that date. Turns out a dear friend of mine got married on May 8, so that worked out wonderfully - I was able to go to Shannon's wedding instead of being in the hospital recovering from a section.

On Tuesday morning, Mom came to our house to keep Elizabeth so that her Monday night could be as normal as possible - dinner with Mommy and Daddy, sleeping and waking in her own bed, then off to Boop's house after breakfast. Brad and I left for the hospital at 7a.m. and arrived there at about 7:25.

They took me to an LDR room to prep for my section and we got the same room as we had when I delivered Elizabeth - so we were prepared for the fact that the room is either an oven or a freezer. There is no happy medium. I was so nervous, I'd have Brad turn down the air, then turn it up, then turn it down, then back up...poor guy!

The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about my spinal. My aunt works in the anesthesiology department and had already warned him about how sick I tend to get with anesthesia. He and the anesthesiology resident did quite a bit pre-operatively to help control the nausea that I might have. They did a great job, because not only did I not get sick, I wasn't even nauseous the entire time we were in the OR!!

After doing all my pre-op work up - we suddenly found ourselves headed to the OR. Just before I left for the OR, Kim and Katie came in (Todd and Tim were already there and had prayed with us). They had Brad wait in the recovery room until they called for him.

That OR had to be the coldest place on the planet! I was shivering horribly because it was so cold (and this was pre-spinal). I was sitting on the table and they were prepping everything for my spinal when I hear from behind me, "When did I say I'd bring Krispy Kreme donuts?!" Ah, my OB had arrived and had seen my husband. Brad had joked that he was going to tell him, "I thought you said you'd bring the Krispy Kreme?" So then, the entire OR ends up in a discussion about Krispy Kreme donuts (personally, I'd rather have Shipley's - but to each his own).

Then the search is on for latex-free gloves - leave it to me to be the difficult patient. Once latex-free gloves are found for everyone except the anesthesiology resident, we're ready to start. My OB served as my "support" while the anesthesiologist did my spinal. I was amazed at how quickly it worked. My legs were tingling and warm immediately (unfortunately, the rest of me was still freezing despite being covered with toasty warm blankets). They laid me down, started oxygen and finished all the prep work. They put up the drape and Brad was brought in.

My OB and the resident cleaned up adhesions from my previous section on their way in and on their way out. Apparently I had quite a few. I was trying to not go to sleep (they'd given me Phenergan shortly before my spinal). I don't really remember a lot about the surgery other than the anesthesiology resident holding my arm still so they could get a good blood pressure reading - that's how hard I was shaking! And I remember the anesthesiologist patting me on the head asking if I felt sick --- not one bit!

I heard "clear fluid" called out and knew it would be just a few seconds before I heard Katherine's cry. They told Brad to stand up and someone said, "You can take pictures, Brad!" (My OB later joked, "We had to tell him to take pictures this time, he was so laid back about the whole thing!") I felt pressure as my doc pushed her down and then the weird feeling of her leaving my body. Immediately, I heard her crying and everyone on the other side of the drape said, "What a beautiful baby!" She was suctioned and handed off to the pediatrician who stopped briefly so I could see her. Brad walked over to the table to take pictures while they dried and stimulated her (she was not happy!!)

They wrapped up Katherine and handed her to Brad who brought her over to me. He had one of the ped residents take a photo of the three of us. I gave her a kiss, Brad a kiss, then he and Katherine headed to the nursery while I was stitched up and sent to recovery. All in all, an uneventful repeat section that I'd do again in a minute!