Off to the hospital I go...
I woke up super duper early on January 2nd to get to the hospital by 6am. We were a couple minutes late, but it's not like the play could go on without me! I was ushered into room 2204 at CHOMP (Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula) and instructed to wipe down with these anti-bacterial wet wipes; the nurse even told Andrew to get into the bathroom and help me. Then I had to don a belly-band, booties, and a hospital gown.
I emerged from the bathroom in my comical getup, and was instructed to sit down on the hospital bed. Then they inserted my IV in the back of my left hand. Holy $hit did that hurt! In fact, it hurt continuously until after the surgery when I got morphine. From there I was walked down to the surgery room, and Andrew was brought in wearing an equally comical outfit.
Now for the fun part, the epidural. The epidural that I got was not continuous. It was one shot, straight into my spine. First they sanitize the area, then shoot up the injection site with novicane. When I'm good and numb they shoot they tell the patient to tuck their head and arch their back towards the doctor. I was just numbed up when they told me that it was time to shoot the epidural into my spine. I hollered for them to wait because I hadn't tucked my head quite yet. The pain I felt next was the worst pain I have ever experienced. I was sobbing the entire time that the shooting pain spread down my spine, off to my right hip, then finally ended in blissful numbness in my right foot. At that point the doctors knew that I was numb because I exclaimed, "Hey! That's my foot!" in surprise.
From there the doctors had me lie down on the bed, and I got set up with a nice drape that cut off my vision from the end of the table. Andrew was holding my hand the entire time. After a little bit the doctors asked Andrew if he wanted to see his baby emerging, and he told them that he wasn't allowed to see me cut open. The doctors assured Andrew and me that he wouldn't see my innards, and he peeked over. He asked if he could take pictures, and they said that he could, and he shot off a couple of pictures of Ayla's head emerging from my pelvis. I vaguely recall Andrew asking me if I felt that, and I replied that I couldn't feel anything. Later he told me that what he was referring to was one of the doctors pressing down on the top of my stomach, with all his weight, pushing Ayla towards my pelvis so that she could be born.
From here everything I know is second hand. All I know is that I was lying on the operating table, crying tears of happiness that my baby had been born and was healthy and strong. Her cries sounded a little muffled because of all the fluid in her lungs, but they were strong. Andrew had left my side, after asking if I was alright, to stay by Ayla's side as she was taken into the nursery and given her bath and all. Before they left Andrew brought Ayla by for me to see. I got to kiss her head, but I couldn't really see anything. They left, and I was sewn back up, and moved onto my hospital bed and wheeled into recovery.
Shortly after I was wheeled into recovery in walks Andrew followed by the nurse and my little Ayla-belle. They handed me my daughter and I got to see her face for the first time. She was fussy, whimpering as they wheeled her in. They handed her to me, I put her to my chest, and her whimpers cease entirely. We tried to breast feed at this point, but they needed to take Ayla away for some more things to be done and to deliver her to our room.
It was a good thing that they took Ayla away at this point. I was making small talk with the nurse, she was trying to get the room cooler for me, and we were talking about how having a dog is more work than having a baby an then I blacked out. I came to with a bucket under my head and was throwing up. This was the first of countless heaving sessions I would experience all day.
My first day with Ayla did not go quite as I had dreamed. Instead of spending hours holding her, gazing at her cheeks and nose with love everyone else got to hold her and snuggle her. I was too afraid to hold her after my blackout session in recovery! I was barely conscious and felt miserable because of the bad reaction I had to morphine. I got to hold Ayla a little bit and tried to feed her, but it was just not happening because of the shape I was in.
Eventually evening rolled around and everyone left for their own beds. Andrew and I got ready for bed with the help of the nurses and Ayla was all bundled up in her basinet. We had officially done it! We made the most beautiful baby in the history of babies.
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