Amaka Joys: Birth Story ~ Part 1

The night before our scheduled c-section, my MIL and FIL came into town from Indy. We enjoyed a yummy "dinner" at IHOP, and then we took Jonathan over to my friend Kim's house to spend the night. It was so hard to leave my little guy, especially knowing that our lives were about to change forever. Jonathan was a little sad because he was convinced that I was going to the hospital forever and would never be coming home again.

Fast forward to the next morning. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 and I got prepped for surgery. The nurse was so good that the IV only hurt a bit. Everyone told me that a planned c-section was more relaxing, but I think that I preferred the unplanned c-section that I had with Jonathan. Everything happened so quickly with his delivery that I didn't have time to think about what was actually happening. (Below is a picture of me pretending not to be nervous. Ha.)

My sis surprised me by coming early to help me relax. Love.

My c-section was scheduled for 9:30, but the doctor came to get me at 8:50 to get the party started. Darin stayed behind while I had my epidural done, and he rather enjoyed taking pictures of himself in his scrubs. I, on the other hand, was experiencing an incredible amount of pain while I was given my epidural. (Just for the record, the IV hurt worse than the epidural when I had Jonathan.)

I was well-prepared for the epidural, knowing that it really did feel like a "bee sting". Something went wrong; I knew immediately when I the anesthesiologist asked, "How tall are you?" I replied, "5'4", and he said, "Oh, I thought you told me that you were 5'5"." I heard some mumbling and grumbling, and then it was announced that I would need a second epidural because they had my height wrong the first time, and therefore the epidural was too high in my spine. Great. The first epidural hurt like crazy, so why not experience the fun of another one? And here's the kicker...the second one didn't work, either. SOOOOOO, I had the wonderful pleasure of having not one, not two, but THREE epidurals. I cried. My blood pressure dropped. I almost fainted (the nurse caught me). Then the anesthesiologist had to do the "dull/sharp" test in which he lightly poked me with some kind of needle thing all over my body to determine whether or not I was getting numb. It hurt every single time. This is when I found out that the anesthesiologist was a student because the person "coaching" him finally took over and told him that he was doing it all wrong. I sure wish she would have stepped in after the failed attempt at epidural #1!!!

All that was (temporarily) forgotten as Owen William made his way into the world. This part of the c-section was MUCH better than Jonathan's because it wasn't so rushed. We were able to get more pictures and (gasp) spend time as a family as I got stitched up. Darin prayed for our family as we sat together, and I'll never forget it.