C-SECTION:
Fwd: 38 weeks today!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Miranda Helterman <mhelterman@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Subject: 38 weeks today!
hi, everyone!!! here is my next-to-last update, probably, on the pregnancy part of this journey! (hey! pipe down - i can hear y'all cheering. :)) anyway, it's probably overly-detailed, even moreso than usual, since i now wake up at 4am and obsess until andrew's alarm sounds.
the below is a copy and paste from my facebook status that i posted after my OB appt yesterday:
"okay, so they scheduled my pre-op a week early, but now everything's all set in case sara catherine decides she's ready for her close-up before 8am next friday, 3/16. ob appt was great - i'm still at 19 lb weight gain, but S.C. is right on track and should be 7-ish lbs at birth. and i hear that then my boobs will immediately gain 10 lb each of milk. SWEET. my blood pressure and heart rate are still high, but not near pre-eclampsia levels, so i spend lots of time these days lying on my side on the couch, with rubypants. andrew has built about 8 different "baby items" in the past week or so, like the changing table, nursery storage units, etc., whilst ALSO good-naturedly handling house chores, AND making sure i'm eating nutritiously. all on top of his day job AND his JAG duties. i SHO hit the jackpot. 
"
"
i'm still not dilated at all, yay, and still only about 30% effaced. so, we are still on for a c-section next friday morning, and we will probably be there at 6am, and since it's almost an hour away, we'll leave at 5am, and get up at 4am, which will feel like 3am due to this weekend's time change. i'm figuring that soon we won't even know what MONTH it is, so maybe it won't be so bad. :) anyway, surgery's typically at 8 and will likely take 30 minutes to no longer than an hour. i talked to an anesthesiologist yesterday about my tolerance of painkillers/numbing agents, and was assured that if i say i can feel something i'm not supposed to, that they WILL LISTEN TO ME. anyway, then sara catherine will be BORN, happy birthday, lil punkin! and i will go to recovery and SC will go to a bath and warmer, and i'll text andrew at the bar and let him know. sike. andrew will send out a big text, if you'd like to be included. and if everyone can please pray for a standard, run-of-the-mill, unexciting delivery, besides that our little monkeyblossom will be born, that would be awesome. then we stay in the hospital for two days.
and then we're allowed to come home on sunday. amie is coming into town sunday or monday and gets to stay until thursday, 3/22. my mom will arrive thursday and probably stay till sunday or monday, 3/25 or 3/26. the next set visit is betty coming on 4/13 or 4/14 until the 4/21 or 4/22, as andrew has JAG duties that entire week. NOW. anyone is invited, of course, to come and visit the baby without having to do a stint helping us! though i will prolly make you change a diaper and get me some lemonade. :) but i am expecting a 6-week recovery just from the surgery, and i haven't decided if i want to recover on the first floor or the second, with the baby in her bassinet. i don't want to miss her baths in the second floor tub (with her super duper baby tub, of course)! i will also be tenaciously attempting to breastfeed. all that said, visit at your own risk of a really messy house without basic essentials like toilet paper, probably. but i understand if you want to come and just meet Sara Catherine, and not be forced to hang out with me, when i may not be able to take a REAL shower for quite awhile. which is only slightly different from any other week. :)
we've decided to board poor little rubypants at her vet's office, though she will hate it, from thursday to monday. her cough seems to be coming back and i want them to be able to keep an eye on her. the girl who took my place at the Temple very graciously offered to keep ruby, but i also don't want miss ruby to hack *stuff* onto her comforter. :/
okay! andrew has drill this weekend, so SC is again under strict orders to NOT arrive this weekend, please. :)
i have to add that i am SO THRILLED that my sister-in-law melanie's hubby is returning next week from a year in afghanistan - praying for safe travels home for a hero!
also, a prayer please for my brother-in-law nick who had a workplace injury to his hand that now has a staph infection - take ALL your antibiotics, nick, and swift healing!
and, as i type this, Sara Catherine is headbutting the back of my bellybutton, while sticking her toesies into my ribs. i think she's saying, "sup, hookers! see y'all in a week!"
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OKAY, WE'RE BACK TO WEDNESDAY, JULY 25TH, 2012. the little baby has a low-grade fever and her poor lil legs are still very tender from her shots yesterday. there's something wrong with our a/c so it's hot as blue blazes in here, and i am in a FOUL. MOOD.
so. oh, and our little tabletop fan just broke. AWESOME.
so. oh, and our little tabletop fan just broke. AWESOME.
anyway, so from the last post, the dr had decided to go ahead with an emergency c-section. and i had just been given something for my contractions which were incredibly painful. this is about 6:30 or 6:45am, and really, things are a little fuzzy for the next few hours. i'm pretty sure the dr came in and spoke to us and at some point i got up and was walked into the operating room, and andrew stayed behind, i think to gather our belongings to take to the teeny-tiny miniature hospital room where i was to recover. also, he had to put on what he called the Bunny Suit but it really looks like a hazmat suit. in the meantime, i had to sit on the operating table and get a spinal. it was UNPLEASANT. the nurses were all super-nice and the one who had to help me lean over and be still basically hugged me, told me to arch my back like a cat, and held me still. there was some anesthesia first and they had to give me 3x the normal amount because otherwise i still felt them poking around back there (that's what she said). they were all, REALLY, you can still FEEL that? and i was all, YES PLEASE GIVE ME MORE PLEASE. and they did the spinal and i was all numb & stuff. then they helped me lie back with my arms strapped straight out to the side, and set up the blue sheet in front of me. they asked if i wanted the sheet lowered so i could SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING. i asked if it was possible to make the sheet HIGHER so there was absolutely no chance i would see ANYTHING. i still remember that i was very unemotional at that point - i felt very matter-of-fact about the whole process. at some point, andrew came in and sat next to my head. i couldn't tell you how long i was in the O.R. for prep before andrew came in, but he said it seemed like a really, really long time. i don't remember a whole bunch of these details. andrew said i had an aquarium thermometer stuck to my forehead - like a bandaid mood ring but for temperature! they wanted to know if andrew wanted to cut the umbilical cord. andrew figured that the dr could do it, since he was already there & all, and that's what he's gettin paid for. i concurred. i was still shivering and already nauseated. i had told the dr, nurses and the anesthesiologist that i have a tendency to throw up during surgery of any kind. this time was no exception. i really don't even know when the dr started slicin and dicin, but i know i thought he was operating from my right side, and andrew remembers him being on my left, almost knee to knee with andrew. either way, i was totally nauseated and andrew had to keep handing me the bedpan thingie just in case. i didn't feel any pain, just some pressure and lots of tugging and pulling. i didn't realize the anesthesiologist, a great little teeny asian lady, was just behind my head maintaining my med levels, so i said to andrew, "oh, please tell the lady i need zofran (anti-nausea). like NOW, please, i need more zofran." and he said, "okay, honey, she's standing right behind you and she hears you--" and i interrupted with, "--so? i don't care where she is, i'll tell her to her FACE--". i had misunderstood his point. :) anyway, soon the dr announced that the baby was almost there, and then he said, "oh, YOU guys have a little leprechaun for st patrick's day!" i had no idea what that meant then, but apparently our little baby was covered head to toe in meconium, explaining one reason for the earlier labor. we heard our little teeny angel squeak and chirp and i said, "honey, we just gave birth to a MONKEY," as they whisked her away to clean her before we saw our baby covered in green poo. i said, "did you see her honey, what does she look like?!" and he said, "i only saw her feet!" then they brought out the baby all swaddled, and laid her just under my chin. since i was still all strapped down, with more surgery to go, i couldn't touch her or hold her. i looked at her darling little teeny face, and 
she looked so pretty! i was used to seeing newborn pictures where they all look like cartman when they first come out, even from a c-section, but she just looked like a pretty little baby. she also looked confused and a little pissed off. i was all, "andrew! andrew! grab her, she's going to roll off my chest!" apparently, both andrew and a nurse had their hands on her but i was sure that someone had just plopped her down on my chest and walked away and i was immediately going to drop my baby. so. i didn't have any real notion of what i thought sara catherine would look like, so maybe that's why she didn't look "familiar" to me when i first saw her. later i would realize how very much sc looked like her daddy (whoever THAT is. sike!), but honestly only after someone pointed it out to me. anyway, andrew knows more what happened after sc was born because they knocked me out. i woke up in recovery, where i RAMBLED on to the poor recovery room lady about how awesome my husband is, and made her listen to how we met on facebook, and BLAH BLAH BLAHHHH, before i even realized i was talking. i kept asking if i could straighten my legs because i was tired of them being bent, and THOSE dern things weren't bent. maybe an hour or so later, they wheeled me to our teeny little room and i honestly have no idea if andrew was there or the baby was there at first. they put these compression socks on me immediately. compression socks are connected to a hose and pump and constantly squeeze your legs to make sure a blood clot doesn't form while you're stuck in bed not moving. they also make you feel approximately 187 degrees warmer than you should feel. i began pouring sweat immediately, and the nurse said that was normal -- your body builds up so many extra fluids while you're pregnant and after you deliver, your body is going to PURGE it. the nurses kept having to switch out my pillows because i was soaking them with sweat. which meant i was also thirstier than i have ever been in my life, and i wasn't allowed to drink. i could only have stupid dumb ice chips. at some point, andrew and the baby were back in the room, i was hooked up to a dilaudid drip that i could control, and we decided to try nursing! and that is all for this post because i have to go eat ice cream. next time, adventures in nursing when no milk is coming in, wheeee!!
she looked so pretty! i was used to seeing newborn pictures where they all look like cartman when they first come out, even from a c-section, but she just looked like a pretty little baby. she also looked confused and a little pissed off. i was all, "andrew! andrew! grab her, she's going to roll off my chest!" apparently, both andrew and a nurse had their hands on her but i was sure that someone had just plopped her down on my chest and walked away and i was immediately going to drop my baby. so. i didn't have any real notion of what i thought sara catherine would look like, so maybe that's why she didn't look "familiar" to me when i first saw her. later i would realize how very much sc looked like her daddy (whoever THAT is. sike!), but honestly only after someone pointed it out to me. anyway, andrew knows more what happened after sc was born because they knocked me out. i woke up in recovery, where i RAMBLED on to the poor recovery room lady about how awesome my husband is, and made her listen to how we met on facebook, and BLAH BLAH BLAHHHH, before i even realized i was talking. i kept asking if i could straighten my legs because i was tired of them being bent, and THOSE dern things weren't bent. maybe an hour or so later, they wheeled me to our teeny little room and i honestly have no idea if andrew was there or the baby was there at first. they put these compression socks on me immediately. compression socks are connected to a hose and pump and constantly squeeze your legs to make sure a blood clot doesn't form while you're stuck in bed not moving. they also make you feel approximately 187 degrees warmer than you should feel. i began pouring sweat immediately, and the nurse said that was normal -- your body builds up so many extra fluids while you're pregnant and after you deliver, your body is going to PURGE it. the nurses kept having to switch out my pillows because i was soaking them with sweat. which meant i was also thirstier than i have ever been in my life, and i wasn't allowed to drink. i could only have stupid dumb ice chips. at some point, andrew and the baby were back in the room, i was hooked up to a dilaudid drip that i could control, and we decided to try nursing! and that is all for this post because i have to go eat ice cream. next time, adventures in nursing when no milk is coming in, wheeee!!
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^^^^sara catherine's first picture EVER!!
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