TerraDactyl Enters the World (Feet First)

After 7 years of marriage and things in life aligning, DH and I decided it was time to have a baby.  For the most part the pregnancy went fine.  I was nauseous the whole nine months, but nothing horrific.  Just occasional puking.

Here's the short story:

We found out the baby was breech and we were unsuccessful at flipping her, so we scheduled a cesarean for Monday 4/22/2019 (Earth Day!).  TerraDactyl was born at 8:08am and she weighed 8lbs, 8 oz and was 21.5 inches long.  She was healthy and there weren't any complications.  Since it was a C-section, we were in the hospital until Thursday afternoon.  

Tuesday 4/23/2019

Here's the saga:

We found out TerraDactyl was breech at week 38.  She was already pretty big, but I had a lot of amniotic fluid as well, so the doc was hoping we could do a cephalic version (manually manipulate her into position for laboring).  We went to the hospital that night for the procedure (I couldn't eat for 8 hours beforehand and no liquids for 2 hours before).  The doc managed to get TerraDactyl into a transverse position (sideways), but not actually head down.  So she said we'd schedule a C-section for Week 39 and if she was still breech, we'd go through with the surgery.  The doc didn't want to wait too close to my due date since I was already 2.5cm dilated and she didn't want it to turn into an emergency C-section.  

So.  I spent the week going to acupuncture, doing moxibustion (burning mugwort by my pinky toes), and baby spinning.  In addition to trying to get our house ready for a baby to arrive.  I also managed to score a quick 10 minute doctor appointment on Friday for an ultrasound to check TerraDactyl's position.  Meaning we knew Friday afternoon that she'd flipped back INTO breech position instead of shifting head down.  So we were pretty sure she'd stay breech.  It was all so sudden, the big change to our plans was overwhelming and a bit scary.  We were planning on laboring, so we didn't do any research into cesarean births.

Sunday night my parents came into town.  While we were in the hospital, they stayed at our house and took care of our dog (and came to visit us).  DH and I had to get to the hospital at 5:30am on Monday.  The surgery wasn't until 7:30am, but they had to double check TerraDactyl's positioning and get me hooked up to an IV and all prepped for the surgery.  

I've had surgery before, but I've always been unconscious.  It was quite interesting being awake for the experience.  There were so many people in the operating room:  The doc, anesthesiologist, midwife, med student, and like 4 nurses (or some sort of assistants).  There were so many people talking at once and asking questions, it was kind of hard for me to focus and respond with all the craziness.  They gave me a spinal and layed me out in a crucifix position and then let DH into the room.  

The surgery went very fast.  It was just a few minutes before they pulled TerraDactyl out.  The doc held her out so we could see her and TerraDactyl actually lifted her head up right there, a few seconds after her birth!  It was crazy!  Once they got her out, they put her on my chest while the doctor closed me up, then they gave her a couple of shots and put her back on me and wheeled us back to our room to recover.

We were only supposed to be in the recovery room for 2 hours, but I had to stay for 3 because my blood pressure was too low.  It was like 70/40 or something insane and my heart rate was in the 40's, and my temp was really low.  They thought maybe it was possibly some kind of response to the anesthesia.  So they put a hot air blanket on me and I focused on drinking as much water as I could.  Once I was reading more normal numbers, they sent me up to the room we'd spend the next three days in.  

Those three days are a bit of a blur.  I was stuck in bed (with a catheter) for about 20 hours.  So DH had to do all the diaper changes.  I just layed there and fed TerraDactyl and snuggled her skin to skin.  I didn't get much sleep because she was eating so often.  And there was always someone coming in.  Nurses checking vital signs, midwife checking surgical site, lactation consultants checking on our feeding technique...  It was hard to sleep.  I do remember being all bundled up in blankets and thinking "my belly is so flat!"  So I told DH to check out how flat my belly was and I pulled off the blankets only to find...  my belly wasn't nearly as flat as I thought it was.  ;)

They originally told me I wouldn't get to eat any food until the next day, but I got some broth that night and it was the best tasting thing I've ever had.  SO GOOD.  (I was so hungry. I don't do well without eating).  And since I kept the broth down, I got to have some light dinner that night.  I was so happy to eat!  

Over the three days, TerraDactyl lost about 9% of her weight (normal), but her last weigh-in had her gain some of that weight back.  The nurses were freaking out because apparently that never happens.  My milk had started coming in at the hospital, which is a bit early for first time moms, I guess.  I'm glad it happened though because nursing changed radically once my boobs doubled in size.  TerraDactyl got the latching thing down pretty easy, but my giant engorged breasts created some issues for her.  So it was nice to have the lactation specialists there to help out.  

My recovery went well.  I didn't take any narcotics, just Tylenol and the IV version of ibuprofen.  I did have an issue removing the dressing on my surgical site though.  The doc stitched me up and then put glue on top.  And the glue ended up sticking to the telfa pad.  It was a big ol' pain to get off.  The nurse ended up having to use a wipe to dissolve some of the glue and then steri-strip me closed.  I'm not sure if the removal of the telfa pad was the most painful part of my recovery or watching DH change four diapers back to back (literally) because TerraDactyl kept pooping.  He'd think she was done and get a new one on and she'd poop again.  I couldn't stop laughing, which hurt my belly.  But at least it was funny while I hurt ...

We got home Thursday afternoon.  My parents stayed until Friday afternoon, but then DH's parents came and mine went home.  It was Sunday before we finally got around to putting the house to rights.  My hospital bag has just been sitting around waiting to be unpacked.  We had a bunch of laundry to do, dishes to deal with...  All the normal things that we'd just been ignoring because this baby had claimed all our attention (and sleep).  

Fortunately, we all came through the ordeal healthy.  After a few nights DH and I are even figured out how to catch up on sleep a bit.  I had a pretty big sleep deprivation headache for a while, and it was a huge relief to finally get rid of it.  

TerraDactyl seems to need to feed about three times a night at this point, which really isn't too bad.  I'd be feeling much more rested if I could convince myself she'll continue breathing through the night if I'm not monitoring her.  I wake up a million times a night to double check she's still breathing.  Freaking SIDs paranoia.  I think I'm starting to feel more comfortable with her ability to continue breathing without me observing her though.  

DH had to sell our tickets to Avenger's Endgame on opening night because TerraDactyl was born early, but I don't think he's holding a grudge.  If I'd still been pregnant I probably would have had to pee three times during the movie.  Instead, we saw the movie on Monday at 11:30am while DH's mom babysat TerraDactyl.  Turns out, no one goes to the movies in the middle of the work/school day and you don't have to wait in line!  It was pretty awesome.  

TerraDactyl is one happy girl