Levi's birth story

My c-section was scheduled at my 30 week appointment in May. Since I turned 39 weeks on Saturday, they wouldn’t schedule me until the following Monday at 39 weeks, 2 days. I really wanted the doctor who delivered Isaac to do this one too, and it worked out perfectly. The scheduling lady pulled up the calendar and said, “Ok, I’ve got July 29 at 8 am with Dr. H. Is that ok?” Ok? It was perfect! I truly believe it was not just coincidence that it worked out that way. Now I just had to stay pregnant until July 29 or else the on-call doctor would perform the c-section if I went into labor before then.

I truly believed I would make it to my scheduled date. That is, until Sunday morning, 31 hours before my surgery. I woke up around 1:00 to some strong contractions, and was unable to sleep through them by 2:00 so I started timing them. They were pretty irregular but I considered them to be strong and painful. I was up from 2-5 before dozing again from 5-6. Around 6 I finally got up and took a shower to see if they would stop or slow down, and that did seem to help. I decided to go to church like normal, even though I was exhausted. I really wanted to go one last time before missing for several weeks, and I wanted to see if getting up and moving around would make the contractions stop. Sure enough, the contractions spaced way out to my normal Braxton Hicks irregular pattern throughout the rest of Sunday.

The same scene played out again on Sunday night, but instead of worrying about timing the contractions I tried my best to sleep through them. Our alarms went off at 4:30 and we were out the door at 5:00 to be at the hospital by 6:00. I was so nervous and excited, but calm at the same time. I’m pretty sure I talked Rodney’s ear off on the hour drive to the hospital.

We checked into the hospital and were shown to our room where I was instructed to change into my lovely gown. I noticed in the bathroom that I was having a little bit of bloody discharge, which surprised me and made me wonder if I was actually dilating or something was happening. Too late now, but it only added to my excitement. I got my IV and we waited around until 7:30 or 7:45 when I started being prepped and the doctor came in to talk to us one last time. Before I knew it I was being rolled back to the OR. It was baby time!

My first reaction was that the OR was much different than I remembered. With Isaac’s c-section, I barely remember anything. I was so out of it from exhaustion and medication. This time was so different. I sat on the edge of the table while they prepped me and placed my spinal. They told me it would start working immediately but I was still a little shocked. I was terrified that it wouldn’t work completely, but it did just fine. At 8:10 they brought Rodney in and started the surgery. I did get really nauseous before they got to the baby, and even though I told the anesthesiologist as soon as I started feeling it, it took (what felt like) several minutes before the meds kicked in and I started feeling better. When they finally got to the baby they had to do some major pushing and pulling and tugging to get him out. No idea if it was any more than normal, but it was pretty crazy. He came out crying at 8:28. I heard Dr. H say “meconium” and I instantly started to worry, but he checked out just fine immediately and had no issues. As soon as he came out I started feeling some crazy back pain/pressure, then a horrible pressure/burning in my chest. My doctor and the anesthesiologist confirmed that it was normal and fine, but I hated it. It got so bad that when they put Levi on my chest for me to hold for the first time (all wrapped up) I couldn’t do it for more than a few minutes and had to hand him back to Rodney because I was so uncomfortable in my chest. The closer they got to finishing the surgery the better I felt, and eventually it passed completely. At 9:05 everything was done and I was ready to go back to my room. Dr. H pulled down the blue curtain between me and him and said, “So...when is #3?” Rodney quickly told him it was too soon for that joke.

Levi rode back to my room in the crook of my arm but was handed back to Rodney when we got there so 2 nurses could push on my uterus for what felt like forever. Apparently I was having some clotting issues and they gave me a shot of something and ultimately it was resolved. It was not exactly what I wanted with a fresh incision, but at least I was numb and it was only uncomfortable and not too painful. The whole time they were doing it I kept watching Rodney holding Levi and thinking, “Are they done yet? I want my baby!”

Finally it was time for me to get him back in my arms and try to breastfeed for the first time. To my surprise, he latched on right away! Isaac had major latch issues from the beginning so this was a brand new experience for me. I have no idea how long we nursed for, but after a while it was time for his first bath, which would be done right there in the room. By this point I was feeling very groggy, so I sent Rodney across the room to take pictures of the bath and I dozed for a few minutes. After his bath it was time to bring in Isaac to meet his little brother. Levi was under the warmer when Isaac came in, so he didn’t get to hold him right away, but he seemed fascinated by the baby. Our parents came in a few minutes later and passed him around before leaving us alone with our new little love.

We sent Levi to the nursery every night in the hospital, something we never did with Isaac. I think with Isaac I decided we needed to get used to doing things by ourselves right away, but this time I realized we needed to get as much as rest as possible. We usually sent him to the nursery around 2 or 3 and got him back around 6 or 7. It was fantastic. I didn’t sleep much the first night, thanks to being uncomfortable as my meds wore off, plus alarms going off all night, plus people coming in and out of the room. I slept the best the second night, thanks to our awesome nurse who left me alone when she saw I was sleeping.

We spent the rest of our hospital stay learning how to breastfeed, trying to rest, and visiting with Isaac who came once every morning and once every afternoon with my mom. I’m so glad he was able to be a part of the experience and not be completely left out. We left for home Thursday around 1:00 and have been adjusting since then.