Me in my sexy surgery get up. Too bad you can't see the attractive pressure stockings.
So I had a scheduled Casear. This means I didn't actually go into labour at all. I don't know what a contraction feels like...I didn't even experience those Braxton Hicks fake thingies! So roughly a casear can be broken up into these phases:
Epidural/Spinal Block:
So they stick a big ass needle in your back that hurts like hell. Yes, I cried, yes it's painful but seriously - it probably isn't as painful as pushing out a baby!
Numbing:
Everything from my chest down went numb. I could feel the OB pushing and prodding but I couldn't feel hot/cold or pain. Yes, I could tell when he was cutting and I knew when he was pulling out a baby. It's this bizarre sensation of rumaging around in your insides that's hard to explain.
Baby A comes out:
So the OB yanks out the first bub and she screams - woo hoo! Because of the curtain I couldn't see my tummy but I could see bub come out all covered in goop and blood. So bub A gets whisked off to the assessment area.
Baby B comes out:
Because Baby B was a bit higher up the OB had to really tug her out with some force that literally took my breath away and made me feel a bit off colour! She also let out a cry. The OB tells me she had an umbilical cord (no idea whose) wrapped around her leg but she's ok. Baby B gets whisked off to the other assessment station.
Nausea, uncontrollable shaking and feeling whoosy:
Unfortunate side effects of the anesthetic...the anethetist pops in an anti-nausea to my drip which helps a bit but I'm still shaking a lot. Not that best thing when you are about to hold a baby (or two!).
Hold babies:
I held Sophia (baby A) for awhile very akwardly on my chest. I'm long sighted so trying to look at her when she's basically on top of my chin was tricky and made my eyes hurt. They brought over Phoebe for me to cuddle but I was already concerned about dropping Sophia so told them to hand her to Simon. This was a truly beautiful moment staring into Sophia's eyes (yes she opened them!).
Immediate recovery:
About 15 minutes after birth the girls were put in humidity cribs and I was left to lie in the recovery area. I wasn't feeling the best from the anesthetic so happy to just do nothing and smile to myself. I can't remember how long I was there...maybe 45 minutes - 1 hour?
Special Care Visit:
I then got wheeled into special care so I could pat their head for a few minutes.
Recovery in maternity ward:
The anesthetic wore off a few hours after surgery and boy was my tummy in pain! There was the internal pain and then the casear stitches pain - ow! I couldn't move...not even roll over. I had a catheta and they had to check the blood loss....I won't go into details! Let's just say it's just as well I was pretty out of it otherwise I would've been much more self concious! I vomited quite a bit 6 hours after surgery. I'm sure you can appreciate how painful this was considering how many tummy muscles are required to vomit. I was only allowed to visit my girls in special care once I was off the catheta and the catheta stays in for about 24 hours. During that time Simon was showing me video and photos of the girls - this was just awesome! As soon as that was out I forced myself into a wheelchair and went for a thrilling ride through the ward to see my bubs. I didn't walk on my own to special care until about two and a half days after surgery and when I did start walking I felt pretty whoosy and I was in quite a bit of pain. By the time I checked out of hospital the whoosy feeling had gone and I only had the casear site pain, pelvic pain and muscle weakening to deal with (refer to pregnancy info post re. pelvis pain and muscle loss).
Recovery at home:
I wasn't lifting a baby and when I did it was a very very light baby so I think my recovery from the casear was pretty quick. The casear site pain had completely gone about 2.5 weeks after surgery.
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