Just a few more details

As if my delivery experience wasn’t weird enough (at least for me), there are a few things that seemed to make it even more unique. Here’s my short list:

At one point, in my delusional state I’m sure, I counted how many tubes, hoses, and cords were attached to and coming out of my body. There were 12! Yes, 12. IV’s (yes, more than one), monitors for me and the baby, leg compressor things (something about circulation), catheter (oh fun), all kinds of crazy things. Every time I wanted to turn over or change position, I had to get the nurse to help me so I wouldn’t disconnect something.

The epidural was HEAVEN! I wish I would have talked the doctor into giving it to me even sooner, but once it was in and took effect – oh boy, life was good again. And the epidural is the only thing that got The Colonel a little queasy. He saw the needle as the doctor took it out of my back, and he almost hit the floor. He did GREAT during the entire c-section though. I’m so proud of him – not much will probably phase him now after going through labor with me.

Every single nurse and doctor that we had in the hospital was AMAZING. They were friendly and helpful and reassuring. They chatted with my family and commented about what a great support system I had. As much as I was ready to get out of the hospital, I was sad to say goodbye to them.

In total, I was in the hospital for 5 ½ days. That’s a long time. But, the first 2 days were the worst because I didn’t know what was going to happen or what to expect.

I may have been quoted as saying, “This is going to be an only child.” I might feel differently now – not that I’ve forgotten all the scary and crazy things, but if I could schedule a c-section for the next one, and feel pretty confident that I at least have a good chance of NOT getting preeclampsia again, then I might do it again.

Lil Major was born during the Final 4 basketball game that KU ended up winning. And we joked all day Saturday that he had to be born by 7pm so we could all watch the game. We’re KU fans, and almost all of the doctor’s at the hospital most likely went to KU. As it turned out, we were wheeled into the surgery room in the middle of the first half of the game. As we waited for my doctor to show up to start the surgery, we talked about the game. And the first question that was asked as the doc walked into the room? What’s the score?? We got back to my room to see the last 2 minutes of the game and to cheer KU on to victory. We were still in the hospital for the championship game on Monday night...and again, KU won! What a fun story to tell Lil Major when he gets older! Too bad the same can’t be said for the Chiefs v. Colts game that the Chiefs lost just seconds before my nephew was born last fall.

I mentioned a car seat test a couple posts back...apparently, since Lil Major was born pre-term (just 2 days shy of 37 weeks), the hospital mandates a car seat trial where they strap him into a car seat for 2 hours, attach some monitors to him and see how he handles being in a car seat. They’re checking to make sure he keeps breathing and his heart keeps beating. I guess some babies that are very small have a hard time in the regular infant car seats. So, if the babies fail the test, they have to ride in a car seat where they can lay down until they’re big enough for the regular car seat. Lil Major passed with flying colors though!

When we left the hospital on Tuesday, we expected a hospital employee to make sure we had a safe car seat installed in the car. They didn’t. And when The Colonel asked about it, they said they didn’t do it – we could just whatever we wanted. Weird!