Jed and Heather: The End of the Pregnancy

I know, this was forever ago. But I want to write down my memories!

The last few weeks of the pregnancy were kind of rough. I had round ligament pain like you wouldn't believe. It feels like your crotch is ripping apart. Yeah, ouch. Wearing a support belt helped, and the less activity, the better. I went on a long walk one day and the next two days I hurt much, much worse than before.

I had lots of Braxton hicks, so I was feeling confident I would go into labor on my own. It was very discouraging to go to the doctor and find out I was still not dilated. With my doctor going out of town the week of my due date, my doctor wanted us to consider a section before she left. (She wouldn't induce me because of the previous c section.) I didn't want to yet, so she stripped my membranes and we went on a walk around the mall to help things get going. Not only did in not work, my contractions actually stopped completely. So I made a pros and cons list (I love lists), and discovered most of my cons list was made up of my feelings and desires (e.g. I wanted to have the experience of a vaginal delivery, choosing to have a c section is often looked down upon), while the pros list was mostly made up of practical things (e.g. I still might not go into labor on my own if we waited until 41 weeks and so if we were going to have a c section, let's do it earlier). So we prayed about it and felt very sure a planned c section was the right thing to do.

The next day I set up the surgery. At first, they told me I couldn't get in until the next week. Um, no. My doctor would be out of town! Luckily my doctor fixed everything and I was scheduled for Friday the 24th at 9:30.

Getting ready for the c section was strange. It was strange knowing when the baby was coming. Thursday I tried to spend the day prepping and making sure the house and fridge were ready, but mostly I tried to give Chris tons of attention as this was his last day as an only child! That night, Jed and I dropped Chris off at my in laws and went out for dinner together, knowing it would be a long while until we would go on a date again. The next morning was an early morning. We were tired and nervous. Prepping for the surgery was long and boring, mostly laying on the bed while we waited for my blood work to come back. Luckily everything went super fast and we actually went into the OR early, at 9:00. It was cold and I was nervous so I shivered the whole time. They kept asking me if I was okay and getting me warm blankets. I got a spinal block, which felt not so fun but didn't necessarily hurt--just felt like they were putting a big tube between my vertebrae, which they were! The doctors were all nice. I love my OBGYN, Dr. Olivia Juhn. She was so awesome about everything and did the most amazing job giving me a teeny, tiny, super thin scar. Back to the surgery... It was good when Jed came back in. However, I had a nauseous reaction to the spinal block and started dry heaving. It's hard and uncomfortable to try to throw up when half your body is numb. They got me some medicine (Zofran.... Didn't work when I was was sick earlier in the pregnancy and didn't work during surgery), then changed to a different one when I was still dry heaving. Luckily this one worked. That was definitely the worst part of the entire process. So they had to use the vacuum to get her head out (the incision was SUPER small), and when it finally came out there was a collective "woah...." Because her head was huge! And then the rest of her was pretty big too. My doctor said she was one of the biggest babies she birthed. So at 9:30, Kara Elyse Stephenson was born. 9 pounds 10 ounces. It was so different than when Chris was born. When Chris was born, he barely cried and he was whisked away very quickly. I didn't even see him until about an hour after deliver when I was wheeled into the NICU. But with Kara, she was actually in the OR with me most of the time. She cried nice and loud. Jed got to stay with her the whole time and then bring her over to me. It was so lovely. I, however, was exhausted. It's not like I did much, perhaps it was the relief of it all being over, but I was falling asleep as they sewed me up. The nurse and Jed kept trying to show her to me but I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

Then we went to the recovery "room" which was just a curtained off area off of the hallway. I got to hold Kara then and nurse her, and it was just heavenly. We both were doing well and I felt so happy.

While everything was fine, Kara was not without her problems. Her oxygen kept dropping and they were trying to do everything possible to keep her from the NICU, which luckily was not needed. I was told to do lots of skin to skin contact, which I obviously had no problem with! Her blood sugar also dropped that first day, so we had to give her a bottle on two different occasions. The nurses were concerned, too, because she was a noisy breather. They would check her lungs and oxygen levels, yet everything would be perfect. So, despite concerns, she was just being noisy.

My in laws brought Chris to meet Kara that afternoon. He didn't want to get close to her at first, mainly wanted to explore the room. Eventually, he decided to look at her; he studied her so intently. He would look at her eyes, then ears, then hands, all the while silently studying her. It was pretty adorable to watch. Eventually he got comfortable and gave her kisses and even sat next to me to hold her. It was wonderful!

I forgot that I hate being in a hospital. They come in so often to check you and check the baby. It's really annoying. Between them and Kara, I didn't sleep the first 24 hours. I also had weird insomnia so I seriously didn't sleep at all Friday night and hardly Saturday night. I think I got something like a full hour and a half in a row Saturday night, and that was my longest stretch during my entire hospital stay. Those beds, too...they are so uncomfortable. It got better once I could lay on my side, but I can see why people get bed sores... I also was super hot the entire time. Jed wore a jacket and swore the room was freezing cold but you could have fooled me. I was so sweaty all the time. It didn't help that the bed was lined with plastic, but I guess my hormones were just messing up my temperature. On Sunday I was given permission to go home and I took full advantage of that! One doctor wanted me to stay until after dinner but she told the nurse to let me go when I was ready, so I left right after lunch! It was so great to be home and sleep.

My mom got in town Monday and stayed the week. It was great having her, and eventually my step dad, here to help with Chris. I got lots of naps because they would take both the kids so I could sleep.

At the end of the first week I felt awful and I thought I had mastitis. I had the fever/chills really bad. We went to urgent care Saturday morning and it turns out I had a UTI. Thankfully, the antibiotics kicked in fast and after a day, I was feeling so much better!

We were really lucky that, between my mom and amazing friends, and me having some foresight to actually freeze some things for meals, I didn't have to really make a full dinner for three weeks after the baby was born. Jed took time off, two and a half weeks, so he was able to help me a bit more. His last half of the week overlapped with Thanksgiving, so that was nice that he had so much time off around a holiday.

Recovery went very well. Like last time, I was back on my feet surprisingly fast. I joke that I was made to have c sections. I don't know what two c sections means for future births, but I'm guessing all my pregnancies will end in c sections. I've accepted that, Jed thinks it's great, and I'm sure it will all turn out as it's supposed to.

So that, my friends, was the end of the pregnancy!

And because I'm too lazy right now to disperse these throughout the post or even organize them, here are pictures from the delivery/after the birth:

Me at 36 weeks.

The day before the birth. After getting food at the store, I got Chris a doughnut. Last time for Mommy and me time!

This next sequence of pictures we thought was funny. I finally was going to take a shower (this is Sunday morning), and I told Jed he might as well sit in the bed while I was showering since it was more comfy than the teeny window seat in the room. Then we were joking around and this ensued: