Scarlett Abigail Mason
January 31, 2014
7 pounds 6 ounces
20 1/4 inches long
Well this is going to be a dramatically different birth story than Ellie's! Scarlett, of course, had a scheduled birthday for the last 3 months or so. And while she raised a few eyebrows as to whether or not she'd actually make it there, she did, in fact, cooperate.
So, Friday morning around 6:30am, we kissed E goodbye and headed off for the hospital. We arrived around 7 and checked in with the triage desk. Right away the lady at the desk smiled and said "you must be our c-section. Those are the only Moms who come in smiling." Bwahaha. She also commented on our rather large suitcase. Yes, that is a second time mom thing right there. It was PACKED with snacks. The three granola bars we had with us when we checked in for Ellie did not suffice. So this time, we raided the Valentine's candy aisle, made some yummy chex mix stuff, and just generally had snacks coming out of our ears. We were a very popular room.
So back we went to a labor and delivery room, where I got hooked up to monitors to check out contractions and the baby's heart rate. I was having contractions, but that was no surprise, since I wasn't supposed to drink anything after midnight and so I was pretty dehydrated. Oh, and that also made it almost impossible to get an IV line in me. Three tries and she finally got it, but ouch!!! My arm is still, almost a week later, bruised up. We hung out in that room until around 8:30, answering questions, prepping for surgery, and then they made me drink the most NASTY antacid stuff. NASTY. Memo to me: If I do this again, REFUSE THAT CRAP. It was BAD going down. It was 10 times WORSE coming up.
I walked back to the surgical suite after that, and got ready for my spinal. This was definitely the worst part. The nurse I had rocked and talked me through it, but it HURT. What I really wasn't prepared for, though, is that the loss of feeling from the spinal went so high that it made me feel like I had an irregular heartbeat. I read other people say the same thing afterwards (that their heartbeat felt weird and/or they felt like they weren't breathing) but since I wasn't warned about this, I did not expect it and freaked out a little. Even before they started the surgery, I was getting sick too. By the time they walked Ryan in, my first words to him were "grab the bucket". Love that man, he has held my puke bucket through 2 deliveries and hasn't once complained.
They started the surgery, and I felt more pressure than I did with Ellie. Specifically, I could feel them tugging her out from around my ribs. No surprise, as she'd been kicking up there for awhile. A bit later, they prepared me for the last bit of pressure, and before I knew it, Raj was holding her over the curtain so we could take a peek. The first time I saw her, 2 things went through my head. First, was WHOA! She has DARK hair and LOTS of it. And second was Why isn't she crying? Ellie came out screaming bloody murder, and Scarlett was pretty silent. I was very nervous something was wrong. Ryan went over to the table with the camera, and came back later to report that she was doing awesome. This, for me is where things get blurry. They gave me a sedative (not sure why buy I didn't like it) and it mad me pretty loopy. I asked Ryan about 3 times how much she weighed because I couldn't remember. Ryan did skin-to-skin with her, just like with Ellie, while I was getting stitched up and before I knew it (about 10am) they were wheeling me into recovery.
Recovery was awesome. I got some ice chips (FINALLY!) got to snuggle my princess, and we got to try breastfeeding. She was a champ and latched on right away. We stayed in recovery until about noon when we were wheeled to our mother/baby room where we would be spending the next couple days.
A bit later, my parents and Ellie came by to meet Miss Scarlett. Ellie was awesome in her new big sis role already and really was fascinated by Scarlett. I, on the other hand, was not doing so well. I was still extremely sick, and although I was still on a liquid diet, I couldn't hold anything down. Puking after just having abdominal surgery is NO FUN, let me tell you.
Ryan's parents stopped by later that afternoon to meet Miss S too. They enjoyed sleepy baby cuddles. And just before 5pm, I was able to get out of bed and make it into a chair in my room. I was totally determined to get moving, as I had told my OB that I wanted OUT on Sunday instead of staying until Monday. I was missing my "big" girl and wanted to get to life as normal. I knew that being up was one of my tickets out, so I was intent on moving from the chair to the bed a couple times. The nurse even joked that every time she came in she found me in a new position. But overall I was feeling REALLY good. Like, I told Ryan that I felt as good as when I went home with Ellie.
But then the next day hit. The regular C-section stuff was fine. I was still moving, albeit slowly. My catheter was out, and I was able to shower and change into my on clothes. BUT...the shoulder pain started. Oh. My. Goodness. I was not prepared for that either. I know it is normal, and I had quite a bit of shoulder pain when I had my laproscopy, but I don't remember it being bad from my last section. This was killer. I was bloated and hurting. Walking the halls helped a bit to get things loosed up, but overall I was just in a lot of pain from all that gas. Luckily, even though the weather was a little bad, there was an amazing little princess that came to visit.
How lucky am I that I get to be the Momma to these two beauties?
Ellie was doing great at Grandma and Grandpa's despite the fact that Daddy and I missed her terribly. I mean come on, look at this grin:
Finally, that evening, I had a nurse that took pity on my gassed up state and gave me some stronger meds to help with the gas issues. FINALLY I was able to get things *ahem* moving. So overall a much better night for me.
Then Sunday, we waited around to be checked out by our doctors (my OB and her Pedi were both the doctors on call, so we got to see them both before we left, which was nice!) and we did her 48 hour blood work (she was a champ!) and then we were out of there, even earlier than expected.
Thank goodness, because it felt SO much better to be at home!
Welcome Miss Scarlett! We are so excited you are FINALLY here and we love you to pieces!
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