Welcome baby "A"

C-section was scheduled for Wednesday, April 21st at 8am. The day before I still had SO much on my "to do" list but didn't sweat it because I figured I wouldn't be able to sleep that night so I'd have tons of time to work on it, boy was I WRONG!!! That morning I called my son's Dr., he has asthma and despite the steroids and albuteral he was still coughing non-stop. She had him come in at 3:30, but they were running behind so I waited for over an hour in that little room with 2 kiddos, thinking about what I could cut from my "list". She finally came in and was pretty sure it was just his asthma acting up but gave him a 5 day course of antibiotics for baby "A"'s sake. Next it was on to Target to get the Rx filled and of course something wasn't right and we had to wait for the Dr. to call back and confirm the Rx...another hour and half down the drain (we live a 1/2 hour away from the pharmacy so going home to work on the "list" was not an option)! So by now it's pushing 7pm, kids still need dinner, baths and to be put to bed, oh yeah and Alivia needed a site change...I was almost in tears thinking about my "list", why do I always procrastinate??? It was probably close to 9pm by the time the kids were sleeping, poor kids 6am is gonna come really quick for them! I hurried up and took my last pregnant shower, not even taking much time to enjoy it, too stressed about the stupid "list". Then I made a huge mistake...I sat down!!! Wow I was exhausted!!! What to do??? Take a quick nap then work on the "list"??? Push through the "list" then enjoy a few hours of sleep??? Humm maybe a compromise, at least finish packing the bags and do the dishes then sleep, setting the alarm for 2 hours before we needed to leave to finish up the more important things on the "list" I now despised! Trouble was that I pushed snooze 100 times and didn't get up until 15 minutes before we needed to leave!!! So much for the stupid "list"! I now have a bedroom full of boxes and piles of crap that needed to be dealt with! Err why do I procrastinate!!! Well of course we were a little late getting out the door, we were supposed to leave our house by 5am to get to the hospital by 6am, I don't think we even left until 5:20! After about 20 minutes of Hubbys super SLOW driving I made him pull over and let me drive so we at least had some hope of making it to the hospital kinda "on time". We arrived at check in at 6:15am :) Then it was up to my room to get some blood work done and to get my IV started... that did not go well!!! I have tiny veins! They blew 5 veins before they finally gave in and used a smaller needle and a vein on my forearm...OUCH!!!

I was really hoping to see my kids before they took me back but no luck, I instantly felt sick knowing I rushed them the night before and didn't wake them this morning to say goodbye and now someone was going to cut me open. I kissed hubby goodbye and they walked me back to the OR. Oh how I hated this part! Being all alone for the spinal and the "other" stuff they do to you before a C-Section. Spinal did not go well either, 1st attempt hurt SO bad! Instant unbearable lower back pain, she had to take it out and go higher...oh the Joy!!!

(My back after the spinal)

It felt like forever laying there strapped to the table all alone...oh I don't feel so good...oops blood pressures dropping...a little something to fix that...FINALLY the Hubbys here and everything got started...oh I don't feel good again...humm blood pressures fine...oops there goes the nasty pre surgery drink...do you know how hard it is to throw up laying flat on your back worried about the messing up the Drs holding the scalpel??? So not fun, after a few more rounds I finally felt better, just in time to hear her 1st cries!!!

Baby "A" was born at 8:23am.

(Checking out the cord)

 Daddy cut the cord and the nurse immediately noticed that she had a SUA (Single Umbilical Artery), she said no big deal, she just needed to do an ultrasound later that day to check for abnormalities.

Baby "A" weighed in at 8 pounds 1oz, pretty big for only 38 weeks, nurse thought so too and because she was over 8 pounds needed to check her blood sugar...33! I got to see her for a few minutes but then they had to take her to the room for a bath and some formula to get her sugar up. By 9am I was all put together and back in my room in hopes of some times bonding with baby...no such luck, because of the formula she had no interest in nursing and it was hard to enjoy her with the nurse constantly pressing on my tummy, then the bleeding started, I'll save you from all the details but lets just say I lost a total of 5 units of blood during the entire C-section and 4 units in just the hour after the C-section...needless to say I got a nice shot right in my thigh!

After the hour of recovery in flowed the visitors, it was nice to see everyone ooo and ohhh over her but I still hadn't gotten to see my baby. Another blood sugar check was done...43 (and we even cheated on that one, I had just finished nursing her!) The nurse said she needed 3 blood sugars in a row above 50 BEFORE a feeding. I was crushed, this was my 1st time away from Alivia, I shouldn't have to be worrying about blood sugar numbers, especially in my newborn! But I didn't have a choice, she would continue to have her blood tested every 2-3 hours until they got the 3 in a row (which she finally did…50...51...51). When the dust had settled and all the visitors had gone in came the nurse to take baby "A" for her ultrasound, the Hubby went with her and I got took a little nap. Shortly after the nurse and Hubby returned with baby "A" her Dr. came in... oh this can't be good, I've never gotten results from a procedure so quickly! The Dr. informed us that one of her kidneys was swollen and it was most likely 1 of 2 things... 1-vesicoureteral reflux which is when urine that dwells in the bladder flows back into the ureters and often back into the kidneys (she would need surgery to correct it) OR 2- Some sort of blockage that may need to be surgically removed if it does not break up on its own. She would need more testing in the next few days and she was referred to a specialist for even more additional testing over the next few weeks. Hubby and I both had a mini pitty party for ourselves and tried not to think about it. I finally had my baby to myself, she was finally wide awake and as soon as I looked into her eyes I knew her name...

Addison Jean