by Mommy
The Night Before... July 2nd
As with the two kids before, I had lots of contraction action for over a month before we were due... this time, I was also swollen and
dealing with lots of sciatica as well... add that to chasing two toddlers around... you could imagine what those last few weeks were like -
constantly exhausted and uncomfortable... but it's a small price to pay for such a wonderful gift!
We decided to do a "family day" that day - at first, we'd considered going to Great America or the Oakland Zoo but I'd been experiencing
lots of contractions and was having trouble walking for long periods (especially in the 90 degree heat!) so instead we did a little shopping in
the air conditioned mall which was just as much fun (Ry & Kiana LOVE to run around the mall)... Later that night (around 8pm), Stan
took Ryan to Auntie Eden's and Kiana to Mom's. (It was too hard for me to leave them... as soon as they left, I bawled and bawled...)
Stan (as he did the night before Kiana's c-section) brought me a cup of my favorite ice cream (Baskin-Robbins World Class Chocolate)
to cheer me up after he dropped the kids off. We ate ice cream and talked for a while... I mentioned how bummed I was about cleaning
up the house (I can't handle leaving the house looking a mess for any period of time - really hard with kids, I know!) when the phone
rang- it was Bonita. We ended up chatting for an hour-and-a-half! Stan had cleaned the entire house while I was on the phone. :)
Another wonderful surprise... We watched TV for a while, finished getting everything ready to go for the next morning, then went to bed...
I don't think I slept more than 3 hours... I was really anxious about surgery. I constantly found myself re-living Kiana's c-section since
it was so vivid in my mind - made myself nervous about the spinal block and getting through surgery... I don't know when I fell asleep...
but when my alarm went off at 5:45am, I was still thinking a lot about it all... I was excited but anxious...
Birth-Day... July 3rd
We left the house at 6:45am - we had to check in with Admitting at 7am. We arrived at the hospital a little after 7am. Checking in
went quickly and soon we were up on the 2nd floor. We were brought to the same pre-op room that we'd been brought to when we had
Kiana - very cool! We took a picture of me near the door as we did the last time. It was one of the "ivy" rooms on the floor. Our
pre-op nurses were Shirley and Johnna. Shirley was a funny lady. She had 4 c-sections herself and I heard all about them. It was a
nice distraction. Johnna was really cool, too. She put me at ease as she did the final prep with me for surgery.
A little before 930am, we met our OR nurse - turns out she was the same OR nurse we had when Kiana was born - an old co-worker of
mine named Katherine. She spent the entire time with us sporting a strong Irish accent - she'd decided that was her "theme" for the
day. Stan helped Katherine roll me (on the big hospital bed) to the c-section area. The hospital had high census that day... good thing
we had a scheduled c-section or we probably wouldn't have gotten a room right away. There were people laboring in the hallways across
from where we were. I heard the nurses talking about the situation as we were wheeled by... (interesting the stuff you notice when
you're trying to remember everything for the "birth story" huh?)
As we sat in the hallway outside the OR, I met Kyle (the rep from On-Q - the company that made the pain-relief system that I was going
to "test" for the hospital since I requested to not have Duramorph again - had a VERY bad reaction to it last time, if you'll remember).
He and Dr. Kurkjian were going over how the system operated and talked about how it worked in great detail. Stan and I at that point
were separated... he waited as I got my spinal and got prepped for surgery.
OK... this time was a lot different... got into the room and had to wait a little while for the "doc with the drugs" to arrive. I sat on the
table and watched Katherine & Joey (her assistant - who also had been there when we had Kiana) buzz around prepping everything for
surgery. Another gentlemen (an Englishman with funny white mule shoes - hey, I had to focus on something while they were putting
the spinal block in!) came in to help and to calm my nerves - guess he could sense that I was nervous. He gave me a warm blanket and
we practiced getting me in position for the spinal. The anesthesist was named Bob - I can't remember his last name. We talked about
what I'd gone through with my last spinal and talked about ways for me to talk myself down from the anxiety I was feeling...
Once the spinal was administered (I'd decided to go with the spinal again because I found out that it was the same drug being used,
the only difference was that the spinal was meant to only last a few hours - like the duration of a c-section - whereas the epidural was
for longer periods of use - like labor), I spent most of the time calming myself and talking myself down from a panic attack. It was still
bizarre experiencing the numbness and loss of control but I was able to get through it without a panic attack. I focused on the
"Property of Washington Hospital" stickers on the clips that held the drape up (that separated me and the docs) and wouldn't look
away from it... even when Stan came in after surgery started, I still focused on that sticker... (aside from that, I was on a hip tilt on my
right side so turning my head to look over at Stan was going to be a challenge anyway since he was sort of situated behind me...)
Surgery went pretty smoothly... I remember listening to Dr. Kurkjian talking about my scar tissue with Dr. Calhoun (who was assisting)
- she said it wasn't too bad but there was some difficulty getting through where the bladder had fused with some other uterine lining -
I know TMI!). She requested I don't have another child for quite some time... :) At that point, I was happy to not entertain having more
surgeries... "Bob" was quite the casanova! He spent half the time leaning over the curtain telling Drs. Kurkjian & Calhoun how his goal in
life was to "get in good" with the ladies at Womens Health Specialists... he was flirting like I could not believe! Fortunately, I didn't hear
much flirting back on the docs part so I knew they were actually "working." :)
Finally, the end was in sight... "Bob" gave me the "you're going to feel some pressure in your chest as they attempt to pull the baby
out" warning. I started to get excited... it felt like an eternity since we'd started surgery... Stan squeezed my hand and I his as we
anticipated the arrival of our newest princess... a few moments later, Dr. Kurkjian exclaimed, "another beautiful baby girl!" and I heard
Kaili cry... a feeling of joy, and also relief that everything went OK AND that she WAS a girl as the ultrasound predicted, came over me.
I could hear Stan talking to the pediatric team and vaguely remember him singing ABC's or something like that to Kaili. :) They left
the room for the baby to get checked out and the docs closed me up...
Recovery wasn't as difficult as last time since I didn't have the Duramorph. I wasn't nauseous or feeling all doped up. The only problem
I had was that the pain relief (the On-Q system) was not taking effect in a timely manner. It had been over an hour in the recovery
room and the pain was still excruciating. I was in constant pain in my incision area and frequently needed shots in my IV (and later on
Demerol shots... followed by Vicodin & Motrin pills). I toughed it out but it was really hard... We found out 2 days later (when Dr.
Kurkjian & the RN that worked for On-Q named Shiela checked me out) that there was a problem with the On-Q valves and all that
time, I'd never received any of the narcotics at all in my incision! The nurses and doctors all wondered why I'd needed so much
supplemental medication when it had been their experience with On-Q that patients didn't need anything more since the medication
from On-Q went directly to the incision... I'd been "sucking it up" trying to not double up on the pain meds with all the pills thinking I'd
been receiving the meds and it actually had received any relief at all! I was quite upset about it but decided it wasn't worth getting all
wound up about... I needed to focus on getting better and on bonding with Kaili.
Enough about that... let's talk Kaili... she's a very mellow little girl - just like she was in utero. :) She loves to be held - which could pose
a problem for us later, but for right now, we're enjoying cuddling with her. She's such a teeny little girl - much smaller than Ryan or
Kiana were... We're getting used to cuddling with such a little baby... My milk didn't come in right away so we supplemented her "meals"
with Enfamil here and there. When we left the hospital on July 5th, she weighed 6lbs 8oz - she'd lost almost 10% of her weight which
concerned the pediatricians (hospitalists). They encouraged us to go ahead and supplement after I fed her to make sure she didn't
lose more weight. (FYI: At her first "official" appointment with Dr. Hogue on July 8th, she weighed in at 6lbs 12oz - a significant
weight gain - yeah!!!) Kaili has really fit in with the family... we all adore her... especially her big brother, Ryan, who wants to hold her, hug
her and kiss her constantly. Kiana is still not quite sold on her, but is fascinated by her. She calls her "Baby Kia" (which is her name).
As for Daddy, she has him wrapped around her tiny little fingers... he's absolutely in love with her!!! Brings a happy tear to my eye to
see the way he looks at her and how he adores her... {sigh}
Please keep visiting Kaili's website to see how she's progressing!!!
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