Leo's Birth Story: Part 1

The day we'd been looking forward to for weeks had arrived.

April 7, 2020.

It was C-section day!

SO many things were different than I'd envisioned, but there was some familiarity to the routine of heading to the hospital to have a baby.  Life feels upside down right now with all of the COVID-19 precautions of wearing masks, social distancing and shelter in place rules.  I could never have imagined a scenario like this one playing out when it was time to have my baby.  It also never crossed my mind that Leo might flip breech a month before delivery and stay that way.  A C-section was not on my radar for baby #3.  I expected his delivery to be very similar to his sibling's deliveries.  It did not and now I have a whole new appreciation for moms who have to have C-sections.

Let's get started...

I woke up knowing that it was baby day and that I had to avoid all food and water all day.  I tried not to focus too much and just busied myself around the house.  My mom was in town to help with the kids and I was checking all my to do lists.  I felt nervous as the afternoon was approaching.  I got teary eyed a time or two thinking about having major surgery in just a few hours.

1:30pm rolled around and it was time to head to the hospital.  We packed up our bags, said goodbye to the kids and my mom and I cried saying goodbye.  We never leave them so it felt sad.  We waved goodbye and got on our way.  There was a nervous energy in the car.  Kevin said a prayer for us and we headed to the hospital.  It was almost 80 degrees that afternoon.

2:00pm We parked, got our bags and headed into the hospital.  We were met at the door by screeners to ensure that we were healthy and okay to enter.  I was only allowed one visitor to accompany me for my entire hospital stay.  Everyone had on masks and PPE.  There was a very serious tone from everyone at the hospital.  We checked into labor and delivery and got the ball rolling.  We snapped a quick picture at the entrance.  The same spot where I snapped a picture 4 years ago before delivering Fletcher.

2:15pm We were taken back to settle into a tiny room in triage.  Then started all the nurses, doctors, monitoring, poking, prodding, etc.  The room was very hot and they packed a ton of people into it.  I had to change into a gown.  A doctor came in to do an ultrasound to ensure the baby was still breech - he was. And we got busy prepping for the C-section.  I was getting more nervous, but there was so much going on that it was hard to focus on that.  I had blood drawn, answered a million questions, got hooked up to monitors and waited. Leo was very active and hard to keep track of on the monitors.  He also go the hiccups for the first time.

2:30pm They started fluids, antibiotics and began prepping me for surgery.  We asked and answered questions about my C-section.

3:30pm  My OB arrived, said a quick hello and we waited for the minutes to click by.  We did some last minute texting and just made small talk about meeting Leo.

4:00pm We loaded up all of our bags and walked down to the operating room.  We were quite an entourage with nurses carrying my IV.  The halls were mostly empty.  Kevin stopped off in our recovery room to change into his surgery attire.  I walked straight into the OR.  It was such an eerie feeling.

I was greeted with BRIGHT lights.  Cold temps and a very sterile room.  Lots of nurses.  Anesthesiologist.  And me.  I got up on the table and it was full steam ahead.  I kept glancing at the door waiting for Kevin to come in.  It took forever for him to come in.  I got my spinal while hugging my nurse, talked to the nurses to kill time and listed to country music playing on the radio.  My legs were feeling so heavy and everything went numb really quickly.  They put a warm blanket on me and I asked them to take it off because I was still feeling hot.

4:15pm Kevin FINALLY came into the operating room fully suited up.  I was SO happy to finally see him.  It felt like we were separated for ages (probably because I didn't realize we'd be separated at all).  He gave me a kiss and asked if everything was okay.  I said yes.  A few minutes later my doctor walked in.  Things started moving right along.  They put up a giant sheet in front of me so I was just left to look up or look side to side.  My arms were put through these arm bands on the table. Thankfully they were very loose and I still had room to move them.

4:20pm Surgery got started and I couldn't see or feel anything.  It was bizarre.  There was tons of commotion in the room, but no one was really talking TO me.  All the excitement was behind the curtain.  Kevin could see, but got reprimanded for getting too close.  He brought in my cell phone to take pictures.  He was giving me the play by play as I was nervously laying there.  I told him to snap away and I'd just delete anything too gross later.  Ha!  Again, I still couldn't feel anything other than tugging on my belly. 

4:33pm Leo was born!  My doctor said "It's a boy!  He's got a beautiful face just like yours Ms Whitney!"  All of the nurses ooohhhd and ahhhhd over Leo.  They said he was a BIG boy, he's so handsome and gushed.  They suctioned him a bit and he cried loudly.  I felt a twinge of jealously because the entire room could see my baby and I could not see him yet.  The song 10,000 Hours by Dan & Shay was playing.  Leo is my first kid to have a theme song :)  He cried pretty quickly and loudly.  It was so sweet to hear. I cried and was so thankful Leo was finally here happy and healthy.

After having two vaginal deliveries, this whole C-section process was SO strange.

I felt a little disconnected from the whole delivery even though I was in the room.

Leo was moved over to the warming area to be examined.  He was struggling to settle down his breathing so they were monitoring him/his oxygen levels longer.  He peed everywhere twice before they could weigh him in a 8lbs 10oz.  I was surprised that he was smaller than Fletcher.  Kevin said he looked like me.  He had to get some extra check ups on his hips since he was breech.

Kevin stuck close to Leo taking pictures and kept walking over to give me updates.  He showed me a picture of Leo because he was still being monitored and couldn't be held yet.  Kevin cut his umbilical cord and kept telling me that Leo was doing great.  I just prayed that he wouldn't need to go to the NICU for any reason.  I just wanted to stay together.

I cried a time or two tears of joy being so excited that Leo had finally made his debut.  I felt sad to be preoccupied on the operating table and not getting to snuggle him yet.

Then my attention went back to myself.  The nurses kept asking for more and more pads.  The anesthesiologist got sprayed with blood somehow and had to go wash off.  It was gross.  It felt like I was in a movie.  I put two and two together and realized I seemed to be bleeding more than they expected.  They kept going over to the cabinet to get more supplies.  I got Kevin's attention and asked him "Am I okay???"  He said it seemed like everything was under control.  No one was saying anything to me, but it seemed like things were giving the doctor and nurses trouble.  I just prayed for myself and my doctors.  It was so odd to be awake, being operated on and yet I was hidden behind a curtain.  It was odd to feel a little left out when the whole surgery was happening on you.

5:15pm Kevin finally got to hold Leo.  He brought him over to me to kiss and snuggle.  I cried happy tears again.  My arms were still held down so I couldn't officially hold him yet.  We looked at Leo and tried to decide who he looked like.

Things finally calmed down, they stapled me up with dissolving staples, tape, compression boots that squeezed my legs every 15 minutes for 12 hours and all the layers.  I got wheeled into another tiny room for recovery and Leo/Kevin joined us.  Lots of nurses coming and going.  My doctor came in a few times.  Everyone was checking all my monitors and pushing on my stomach.  I knew that part would happen post surgery, but it didn't make it any easier.  It was really painful/uncomfortable despite still having my spinal.

Finally my nurse made a comment about me losing a LOT of blood.  I asked if I lost more than normal?  She said I was expected to lose 1000ml and I lost 2100ml.  I'd need to do blood work every day to ensure that my hemoglobin numbers were right and not need a transfusion before I left the hospital.  I prayed I wouldn't need blood (especially given the current COVID-19 circumstances).  I just wanted to go home.

6:00pm I got really hot in the recovery room and was feeling terrible.  I was nauseous and eating ice chips.  They gave me cold wash cloths and removed all of the layers.  Nurses were commenting that it was stuffy in our room.  It felt like a sauna to me.  I was so sweaty.

Kevin was very sweet, fanning me, giving me baby updates, checking on me and I finally got to hold Leo around 6:15pm.  It felt great and then I started feeling pretty bad and had to hand him off.  I was anxious to get moved to our real room in the hopes that a change of scenery would help me feel better.  Kevin ran to Jimmy Johns to pick up dinner.  All the food options at the hospital were closing.  The maternity area of the hospital went on lock down at 8:00pm so he had to get us dinner quick.  All of Leo's check ups were going well and he loved relaxing on the warming pad in his bed.  He seemed thrilled to now have room to stretch his legs.

6:45pm Kevin returned.  We got the all clear to head up to our room.  I was surprised that I had to spend so much time in recovery.  I had hoped to be feeling good and settled in my room at this point.  The only problem was that once my bed started moving I got motion sick.  I was so nauseous.  I threw up for hours.  Only ate crackers, water and juice.  I never got to eat the yummy dinner Kevin had picked up for us.  I have never had any surgery before.  I was not prepared for that kind of reaction to anesthesia.  It was awful.  Thank heavens for Kevin!  He took care of Leo's every need and I just hung on for dear life.  I kept comparing my recovery to my previous two and I just kept feeling thankful that this would be my first and only C-section.

8:00pm We tried to Facetime the big kids at home and my mom to introduce him to Leo.  In my head, things would have gone so much smoother and we'd be cheerily calling the kids hours before now.   I was thinking we'd snap a few pictures of the siblings meeting and have a great time chatting.

We finally called and I said hello, showed them the baby and then had to hand off the phone to throw up.  Not exactly the introduction I'd hoped for.  We all just crashed after that.  Nurses came in all night long and I was in pain from surgery plus being sick.  It was really difficult to get comfortable.  Laying flat was painful.  Laying propped up was okay.  Getting in and out of bed was really hard.  I had to have help the first 3 times I got up from a nurses.  Any bending, twisting, lifting or much moving on my part hurt really badly.

I had wonderful nurses all night.  They kept up with pain meds, snacks and such.  I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.  I was not prepared to feel so wiped out after my C-section.  I was thankful to have gotten a belly band to wrap around my stomach.  Everything hurt and I just felt so off.  I was really thankful to Kevin for taking care of everything for me.  And for Leo.  We both look like we'd been through the wringer because we had - haha!

Sit tight.  The rest of Leo's birth story is coming tomorrow. 



And for reference...

Fletcher's Birth Story 2016

Olive Birth Story 2013 (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)