The Larson Family: Pippa's Birth Story

Now that we are home I can finally sit down and write this. Our computer died so we are working on a little netbook that's been hooked up to a keyboard and monitor.

On the morning of Monday April 18th at 7:30, my hubby and I checked into the hospital. They promptly got me in the gown and hooked me up to an IV.
They monitored baby for about 30 minutes and took my vital signs. My surgeon arrived and checked out my previous incision site. She told me she would cut out the old scars so that the incision would heal better. Then the anesthesiologists came in and explained what a spinal block was and why they used it for scheduled c-sections. We were ready!

At 9:15am, they walked me into the OR and had my hubby wait outside. He was told it would be about 10 minutes for them to set the spinal block and get everything else ready. They would have him come in as soon as it was all done.
First, I got a shot to numb the site the block would go in. It hurt like a mother but I kept focusing on baby. Then the medicine was administered. At times I felt a strong electric jolt down my right leg but it was otherwise not too bad. They laid me down and started doing testing to determine if I could feel anything. They told me the first thing to go would be temperature so they put something cold on my arm and then again on my belly. I could still feel the cold. "Can you wiggle your toes?" 'yes' - okay...so we waited and waited and nothing happened. I started to get really nervous because I don't want to feel the pain of the scalpel slicing open my abdomen. At that point they decided I needed more medication and they sat me up and administered another spinal (more medicine). I was warned that I may have additional "non-sensation" probably up to my collar bone so I would feel like I couldn't breathe. I was starting to think that maybe I made the wrong decision.
After spinal block #2 did NOT take, not much was said but I know they administered an epidural. I ended up with the catheter in my back and so numb I felt nothing and could move nothing. My hubby was brought in and I glanced at the clock. It was after 10am! Poor guy had been sitting out there for 45 minutes. You could tell he was having a hard time.
The incision was cut before he even sat down and my surgeon spent lots of time going through the layers properly. Pippa Grace Larson was born at 10:27am on Monday April 18, 2011 (21 inches long; 10lb, 4 oz). The first comments from the nurses were "she's all cheeks," then I hear "she has to be at least 10 pounds" then I hear my doctor/surgeon tell me that I made a wise decision and that we would have ended up here anyway, the insides of my pelvis would not have supported delivering a baby as large as her.
As soon as I heard her cry, I started crying. My husband was sobbing. He grabbed the camera and went around the blue sheet and took picture after picture. All of these were taken either in the OR or in the recovery room.
As far as who she looks like - I gave birth to myself. You can compare my baby pics to hers and cannot tell the difference. Fortunately, she has a much calmer temperament than I did.
We stayed in the hospital from Monday through Thursday and we are now at home getting back into the swing of things.