Our third baby was welcomed into the world at the end of November. Our sweet little girl arrived at just before 9 in the morning by a scheduled c-section. This was my third c-section so I knew what to expect. But this was the first time I delivered in a small town hospital. Having two other very different birth experiences this one too was quite different. The section itself went really well and everything was done in about an hour. When they took Eden out she was pretty quiet — cried a little but then was pretty content. I didn’t get to see her until after they had assessed her and cleaned her up. She was born at 8 lbs 12 oz, was 21 inches in length and scored 10 on the apgars! A good sized little girl for ten days early!
Our small town hospital is a level one maternity ward– so only routine c-sections and routine births. They have no baby nursery and they promote only breastfeeding. They really want to encourage the bonding with mother and babe which I totally agree with but in some small part I missed being able to ‘send’ my baby to the nursery so I could get a few hours of sleep! Our experience with my son and with this birth were so vastly different! Both had pluses and both had minuses.
Having the c-section over and seeing her for the first time a huge sense of relief washed over me. She was here and she was healthy! My anxieties immediately left me. After recovery I was wheeled into a room where we started to learn all over again the ins and outs of life with a newborn. She was so tiny! After having a monster two and half year old a teeny, tiny newborn seemed so fragile!
Within a few hours of my anesthetic wearing off I began experiencing a headache. This headache was like no other! I couldn’t even stand or sit upright the pain was so intense. After many hours of complaining and enduring we found out I had a spinal headache. It was until the next afternoon that I was seen by the anesthetist and found out what treatment was needed. I had a spinal blood patch performed and as soon as the procedure was done the headache was gone! The whole process was terrifying and extremely painful. It left me exhausted and emotionally spent. I am so thankful for the doctors and nurses who helped me and new what to do and pushed me to get it fixed right away. And I was so thankful the way that Roelof supported me during it. He took on taking care of our little girl while I couldn’t do anything. He helped me stay strong and he gave me the courage. With the headache finally gone I could now focus again on my newborn and getting better. We stayed four days in the hospital and came home to our new family of five!
I didn’t get to take many pictures in the hospital. All of our pictures were taken with our iphones. I left my big girl camera at home. A small part of me regrets that I did but the larger part of me knows that I needed to focus on myself and the baby at the time. Here are some pictures that I got of our girl a few weeks after her birth. I still trying to drum up more inspiration and drive to continue to pick up my camera. Life with three littles has been a huge adjustment.
