The day of Baby M’s arrival begun very early at 3:30. We
both woke and I enjoyed showering knowing that I would not be able to shower
again until 24 hours after my c-section.
The car ride to the hospital was long but we were both in a daze and
really unable to say much. We just looked at each other and were totally amazed
and almost in disbelief that in a few short hours we would be meeting the
little girl we had been trying to have for four years now. We finally reached the hospital forty five
minutes later but it seemed like it took forever. Once we were there I think
that the excitement started to set in.
Everything started out right on schedule and without a
hitch. My IV was started on the first try without any pain and before long I
was being wheeled back to the operating room for surgery. In there I was shocked at all the equipment that was going to be used
and this time, instead of several nurses and doctors ready to take a
micro-preemie away to care for, it was just a few nurses, the anesthesiologist,
and my ob. After they did the spinal tap, they went and got my husband and the delivery began. The
whole experience was so much better than with Malakai and I enjoyed it so much
more. The anesthesiologist talked with me almost the entire time about his
little girl that also has kidney disease and it really helped take my mind off
the surgery.
The emotions of seeing Baby M for the first time were incredible. I thought that I would have been worried if
something tragic would happen to her to but instead I had an amazing peace that
we finally were going to be able to take this baby home. It was utter joy to
know that after delivering two other babies, we would be taking one home with
us this time. Not once since she has been here has the thought that something
bad might happen to her, God has given us a miracle. Matt went with her to be
cleaned up and I stayed in the operating room while the doctor finished up the surgery.
It didn’t take too long for us all to be reunited in
recovery. The events of the rest of the day are a little fuzzy but I do
remember the nurses changing out several bloody pads and thinking, “wow that’s
a lot of blood”. She brought me medicine for the bleeding and nausea and later
the doctor told me that they were all getting worried about the amount of blood
I was losing. It equaled about 2 pints and they had donor blood waiting for me
but with my kidney disease they were hoping I would not need it in case I one
day needed a donor kidney and the donor blood could complicate the process.
The loss of all that blood caused me to become anemic and I
had to have 4 iron transfusions and 2 shots that help your body make more blood
while I was in the hospital. When one of the nurses flushed my IV I remember
thinking- wow that was so painful. It turns out that when she did it, she did
it so fast that it pushed some of the iron through my vein and into my arm and
caused my arm to fight it off like an infection. This caused my arm to swell
and it was very painful. At least that was the worst part of the entire
experience.
Since I had to have the iron every day for four days, we had
to stay an extra night. I was so excited to bring Baby M home and start our
life together as a family. She has been such a good baby, hardly ever crying
and only fussy when she is hungry. It has
been wonderful being her mom and watching my husband take care of us both. I am
so thankful that God answered our prayers and the prayers of so many others.
I wrote this late at night after a feeding, please overlook
any errors.
