The Final Chapter

Welcome back to “A Baby Story.” If you are joining us for the first time you will want to read the last two entries before you start this one. Let’s recap what all has happened so far…


Thursday night at about 10:30 my water broke.

About midnight we arrive at the hospital.

By 1:00 I am in a labor and delivery room.

At 2:30 I am given my epidural (twice!)

The family starts arriving at 6:00.

By lunch I am nauseous from eating the ice chips and given some medicine.

About 2:00 they rejoice my epidural.

By 2:45 they said I wasn’t going to be able to have him and would need a section.


Okay I think we are up to speed now. In order to have a section they needed to give me some more medicine for the surgery. Lots of stuff was going in my body by this point and I started shaking. It was almost like I was freezing and shivering. At 3:00 we called the family back in and let them know what was going on. My mom was worried that I was cold with all the shaking and I assured her that I was not cold. We said our goodbyes and were off to the operating room.


This is not where I wanted to end up at all. Quite frankly, I never thought I would be sliced open like a Christmas ham, but at this point everyone was antsy, including me, and we wanted to meet Ford. I don’t really remember being wheeled to the operating room, but when we got there they said Trey could not come in while they got me ready. I did not appreciate that one bit. I remember seeing a lot of people in there and thinking here goes any bit of modesty I might have left. I was still paralyzed from the waist down and was no help when they needed to move me from the portable bed to the operating table.

They put a big sheet up in front of me and then wrapped me up like I had been packed in ice for days and needed to thaw out.

Now if anyone has ever had a section you can relate to how I felt to some degree. I hope for your sake you weren’t shaking uncontrollably like I was. I honestly felt and still do, robbed of my child birth experience. How much can you really see with that sheet up in front of you? NOTHING! Actually, all I could see was the ceiling since they had my head wrapped in those towels. The entire process maybe lasted 20 minutes and I couldn’t even enjoy what was happening for all the shaking. It was almost like having a seizure. I spent 99% of the time praying that God would make this shaking and chattering stop. It was one of the worst experiences of my life and I swore then and there I would never have another child. The Lord has an AMAZING way of making mothers forget what they go through. I would do it a million times again.


There was some man standing over me who I begged and pleaded with to make the shaking and chattering go away. He told me there was nothing he could do. The doctor told me I would feel someone pushing on my stomach to push the baby out and I did feel that. Within a matter of minutes I heard Ford crying. I remember them asking Trey if he wanted to hold Ford. I wanted to hold Ford or at least see him. I heard Trey showing him off to the doctors and I remember trying to say through my oxygen mask that I wanted to see my baby.

I believe I was wheeled into the operating room at 3:25 and by 3:42 we had Ford. Shortly after 3:42 I was taken to recovery with Ford and Trey.
 

I was completely out of it and believe it or not, sweating. Yes, sweating. I remember being so hot I thought I would die. The room was tiny and I needed something to drink. The nurse told me that I couldn’t have anything to drink yet and that Ford and I both had fever since my water had broken 17 hours earlier.
 
I was hurting pretty good from being cut and desperately wanted to hold Ford but wasn’t sure how I could do that lying down. It was probably and hour and a half or two hours after he was born before I even held him.

I know looking at those pictures I look like a sweaty puffer fish, but people I had been through a lot. I am not ashamed of how I look in those pictures… only because I do not look like that now! Thank goodness that extra 32 pounds and then some came off.

It was about 6:00 at night before we were taken out of recovery and into a regular hospital room. I am sure all of our family was exhausted, but we told them not to come until something exciting happened… but no one listened to us.

Soon after everyone got their paws on him they went home for the night and Trey and I sat there trying to soak it all in. We both made the wise decision to let Ford sleep in the nursery. I am so glad we did. At about 2:00 in the morning a nurse came in and said it was time for my sponge bath. WHAT THE HECK! Who does sponge baths in the middle of the night? I desperately needed sleep since I had missed the night before. On Saturday, I asked them if I could take a shower since I hadn’t had one since 10:30 Thursday night when my water broke. I was denied the right to take a bath. I will have you know that I walked my happy self into that bathroom and stuck as much of my body as I could over that sink and washed off. Thank goodness on Sunday I was allowed to take a real bath. So the moral of this story is… if your water breaks take a bath before you go to the hospital because it could be DAYS before you bathe again!

They asked me on Sunday if I wanted to go home and I said no. I was scared to death to go home. I knew my mom was coming with me, but I really didn’t want to have to get up and move and that hospital bed was real nice. I asked them if I could take it home since you could raise it up and down and I was denied yet again. Finally on Monday, we packed up and went home.

I think this concludes my story. I could go on to chapter 4 about the first night home that was a complete nightmare but I will spare you all of that drama. Thanks for tuning in!!! I hope this has inspired someone else to share their story as well.