Part 1: A Birth Story of Epic Proportions
So the spinal block is finally in... actually, I forgot to mention that not only was it extremely painful (I was legit sobbing in pain), it was even more stressful because I knew that if they couldn’t get the spinal block in, they would have to put me under general anesthesia to “give birth”! No way was I letting that happen!
But the needle was at last placed. The spinal block was finally in, and suddenly it was back to BOOM BOOM BOOM let’s GO GO GO!
They stuck a catheter in me (ew). I also got my arms strapped to either side of me, like Jesus on the cross (Kevin’s description, and not inaccurate). They must have a history of moms trying to escape the OR while they are half temporarily paralyzed and being cut open, right?!
Kevin is finally allowed into the room and he is whiter than a ghost. He looks like he is about to simultaneously throw up, pass out, and run away. Luckily we had amazing nurses to comfort us!
I don’t remember who told me that C-sections are really fast, and why I was naive enough to think that our scenario would be anything like anyone else’s story. It seemed like it took forever; I was told “you might feel just a little pressure”, there was a lot of extremely barbaric yanking and pulling, and finally we heard our baby crying. At 8:37am, they pulled out this giant baby covered in waxy stuff and raised her up like Simba in the Lion King over the blue curtain so we could see her.
Cue Circle of Life, Lion King:
Kevin suddenly stood up, looked me in the eye and said “I love you but I GOTTA GO” and it seemed that everyone in the room yelled at him to sit down. He later told me he suddenly felt sick from seeing all the horrible expressions on my face and he wanted to run out of the room in case he threw up. Meanwhile I was thinking—this is your gut reaction to our baby being born, to run away?!
So as tall as he is, all the doctors and nurses knew he would be able to see over the curtain at my GUTS AND STUFF, and especially if he headed out the doorway, since he would have to walk right by my GUTS AND STUFF going that direction. And we all already knew he was squeamish. Hence why they all yelled at him to sit back down.
HMMM what's taking so long, Mommy? |
It felt like forever, and was in fact a long 30 minutes--I was able to look back at all the time stamps from our photos. That UD nursing student had my phone and he did good! At 9:09am, I finally got little Ainsley on my chest for skin-to-skin contact. I then cried for the third time that morning!
To summarize, in a few short hours, I experienced:
1. Tears of fear
2. Tears of pain (stupid spinal block)
3. Tears of joy!
She was so big, yet so little. She looked just like her ultrasound images, but not creepy.
This was the creature that had been jumping up and down on my bladder, kicking my ribs, and craving all sorts of both weird and delicious food...
Love at first sight! |
First trimester: Chef Boyardee Spaghetti-O’s with meatballs (!), Bagel Bites and Kix cereal—all food I hadn’t eaten in probably 3 decades
Second trimester: Avocado toast with smoked salmon, on sourdough
Third trimester: BLT’s
And that concludes Ainsley Jade’s big entrance into the world! A wild journey full of unexpected feelings, twists, and turns, but above all, immense love and gratitude for our little big one and the amazing team of doctors and nurses for getting her out of me safely.
With our OB, Dr. Kirsten Smith of Women Living Well |
She was longer than a Capriotti's large sandwich! Of course we had to do a side-by-side comparison.