Even though Cael's introduction into the world wasn't completely smooth sailing, it was the most amazing and positive experience of my life so far. He is such a little sweetheart and I couldn't imagine what life would be like without him now that he is here.
After an ultrasound, Cael was found to be breech with the umbilical cord draped around his throat and shoulders. You didn't really need an ultrasound to tell me that he was breech because you could feel his little head right next to my ribcage and it was pretty uncomfortable. A cesarean surgery was scheduled for Monday February 27th at 9:30 and we had to be to the hospital by 7:30 to be prepped for surgery. We were told that if we were late, the surgery would be re-scheduled so we were in the hospital waiting room at 7:00 because I was NOT taking any chances! It was awkward driving to the hospital that morning, it seemed like it took forever! And walking in to the hospital- taking our time, holding hands was so different from what I imagined it would be like my whole life. I always imagined we would be going to the hospital in panic after driving through Provo Canyon instead of having a "scheduled" birth. But it was still so special.
We were in the recovery room before surgery where they started my IV and epidural and Casey got prepped in his hospital gown. Casey was so sweet in the waiting/recovery room. I had started to get cold in my hospital gown and Casey took his jacket off and covered me up and rubbed my feet to keep them warm. He held my hand and comforted me and I was able to take a little power nap. I thought to myself how lucky I was to have such a great husband to share this special journey with.
Our nurse Christy was so nice and we had such a good time with her, the student nurse, and all of the doctors. It was still professional but everyone had a great sense of humor. We were laughing all morning. One of the doctors in the surgery came in and asked how I was doing and as I responded "Fabulous" he started to introduce himself as "Doctor ........" and laughed and repeated my response "Fabulous", every body burst out laughing and called him Doctor Fabulous all morning, even though his name was Dr. Corey.
I loved the anesthesiologist who did my epidural. He was an older man and wore suspenders over his scrubs. He was so friendly and really took care of me. I was dumb enough to watch an epidural administered on Utube early in pregnancy and I was horrified. The girl in the video literally screamed/whimpered in pain. It was such a breeze! He sat next to my head through the whole surgery and walked me through it. My arms were strapped to the table and he put these plastic bags across my upper body that blew warm air through them. I was actually pretty comfortable. I actually could have fallen asleep. He warned me when they were pulling Cael out that I would feel a ton of tugging and pressure on my chest. They had to pull him out of the birth canal and up in to my chest to get his bum out first and then the rest of his body came. I was really glad for the warning. He told me that sometimes women would pass out or throw up during that and I was glad that I knew it was coming so that I could just focus on taking deep breaths.
Against my pleading him not to see what my body looked like on the inside, CASEY WATCHED THE WHOLE SURGERY! The nurses made sure he could handle it first and I guess of the 3-4 doctors and 3-4 nurses in the room, one was there just for Casey. I think that is disgusting that he watched, but I am also glad that he was also able to see Cael come in to the world. He said that they made a tiny incision and then clamped my skin back wide. They brought Cael out butt first and he hardly made a whimper. Surgery was scheduled at 9:30, we got started at 9:35 I believe and Cael was born at 9:46. Pretty Crazy. They brought Cael to me for a moment and then Casey went with him and a nurse to the nursery while they put me back together that took another 15-20 minutes maybe.
I was a little out of it, but when they removed the curtain everything was completely cleaned up and they were ready to move me back on to my recovery bed. Its funny now, but I remember this weird sensation when they were rolling me on to my new bed (because I couldn't feel that I was touching the new bed) that I was going to roll right off the surgery table. I felt like my body was teetering back and forth and I was trying to grab something with my hands to catch myself. I said "am I going to fall" and the nurse laughed and said, "nope there are two big men that have hold of your legs". Maybe I blacked out or something but I couldn't even see them standing there and I swear I was going to roll off that table on to the floor...........
I was taken to recovery for awhile where Casey met me and then Cael joined us in our room a short while later. Cael was with us for a couple hours, my mom and dad where able to hold him for a minute and then because he had such low blood sugar levels, he was admitted in to the NICU. An infant's blood sugar is supposed to be around 80 and his was 29 at birth. It was even 15 at one testing but they thought it was a mis-count. They really weren't able to give us a reason why his blood sugar was low. Their theory is that I developed gestational diabetes at the very end of pregnancy and when Cael was born he used up all of his own sugar to compensate for high insulin. On top of his low blood sugar, he wasn't eating real well from a bottle or from nursing so they were tube feeding him. He was in the NICU from Monday until Friday afternoon and with the help of lactation specialists and other nurses we were able to get him off of his sugar IV by Wednesday, eating well, healthy, and ready to go home by Friday. Our insurance covered my stay until Friday morning so it was nice that we weren't commuting or coming in and out of the hospital for feedings and it was really a last minute decision that they discharged him. We had been told to expect to stay until Saturday.
So it was kind of a rocky start but overall such an amazing experience and we feel so blessed to have a healthy, happy little boy that we get to love and hug and cuddle. We are so proud of him.
6 lbs 13 oz 18.5 inches
