Avella's birth

February 5, 2011

About 8:30 am I had this horrible pain in my lower right abdomen. My doctor and nurse (Becky) couldn't figure out what it was. It hurt so badly that I couldn't eat breakfast. They gave me a percocet and started an IV again.

At 11:40 I finally felt up to eating my breakfast. During those few hours I felt Avella completely turning. I took a few bites of breakfast and felt a big gush. I realized that today was the day. I called Becky and told her my water was leaking. Then I debated whether or not I should call Ryan. I decided to call him, and I told him what happened. He was in Sandy with his family and told me that he would drop the boys off at home and then come to the hospital. I told him to just leave the boys with his family and come straight to the hospital. He did, thank goodness. Right as I hung up the phone with Ryan, Becky came in the room. She lifted up the sheets to take a look and I could tell by the look on her face that something was wrong. She told me it wasn't my water leaking - it was blood. We found out afterward that the blood was from my placenta detatching.

She started calling nurses, paging the doctor, and getting my bed ready for transport. As she started pushing my bed toward the door I heard her say C-section to the doctor on the phone. What was happening started to sink in. I was trying to stay calm. I remember thinking that panicking would not help Avella. My body did start shaking and tears were coming, all while I focused on breathing. I remember as I was rushed down the hallway on my bed it seemed like there were so many visitors and nurses lining the hallway and staring at me as I was rushed by.
(Funny side note: At some point while being wheeled down the hallway I noticed a piece of Cisco equipment on the ceiling. I made a mental note to tell Ryan that the hospital did use Cisco equipment. He notices everywhere we go, because he manages Cisco accounts. I tease him that he is a nerd)

I was wheeled into the OR with nurses rushing all around me. The anesthesiologist started asking me questions and explaining what would happen. He told me they were going to have to put me under, because they didn't have time to do an epidural. He was so calm. It was reassuring to have someone so calm in the midst of organized chaos. A nurse started to prep my other arm for another IV. I asked her if she could numb it first. (It seems silly now, but I had some bad, painful experiences with IVs.) In case you're wondering Becky ended up doing my IV (Her IVs were the only ones that didn't end up going bad), and no, she didn't numb it first. :)

The next thing I knew my stomach was blocked from view and Becky was up by my head talking to me. She was holding a mask and telling me that I would fall asleep and then I would wake up and it would feel like it had only been a couple of minutes. All of a sudden I felt someone pinching the skin on my stomach really hard. I, panicking, asked "Are they cutting me open?! I'm still awake! Are they cutting me open?!" Becky reassured me they wouldn't until I was out. She put the mask on and a few seconds later I was out.

I woke up in the recovery room with Becky telling me that everything went well. I asked if Ryan was there. She said he was and that Avella was doing fine. She told me her weight and length, and then I asked if she had any hair. Ryan thought it hilarious that I was so concerned whether she had hair or not.

The next thing I remember was waking up in my room. Ryan came in and told me that Avella was doing great. He showed me pictures and a movie of her. The doctor came in later and told me that once he did the bikini cut he saw that my uterus was too small on the lower part to make another horizontal incision. He cut vertically and then realized she was turned (she had turned that morning), so he had to make an incision all the way up to the top of my uterus. He told me that because of the way the incision was done that in the future I would always have to have C-sections. I am still processing that lovely news.

Becky later told me that I had lost about half of my blood. When she had done my hematocrit earlier that morning it was 39. When they did it after delivery it was 22.3. The next morning it was 22.5. The following morning it measured 21. My doctor told me that once you hit 21 you are usually required to have a blood transfusion. We talked over the risks and benefits. I was concerned about the risks. He agreed with me and told me it was my decision. I decided against it. I was able to get up and walk each day without feeling lightheaded or dizzy. He said that it would take two to three months to build up my blood supply again.

I am felling much better now, two weeks later. It is all I can do each day to shower, dress, pump, eat, and go see Avella. I am still very sore from the C-section. I went from morphine to percocet to lortab, and now I am weening off of that. So there is definite improvement. I have days where I feel that I have more energy than the day before and I realize my hematocrit must be rising. It's good to be able to see the improvement over the last two weeks. I am hoping that the healing process will just keep accelerating.