Labor and Delivery part 2....

 First I would like to say Happy Birthday to my husband! The old fart. He had to work today, so no birthday celebrations. We will have to do all that Wednesday and Thursday when he comes home. He is a no fuss kind of guy, so it won't be anything major. He doesn't even like to go out to eat. We will end up just with me cooking dinner, and just relaxing around the house. Well on with the story....

 So, last night I left off with the start of what I thought was a gallbladder attack. Once the pain began I called the nurse, and told her what was going on. She asked how did I know it was a gallbladder attack, and I told her because I had already had one. She then says "well I am going to bring the gas medicine anyways, and we'll wait and see". She brought me the medicine and low and behold jack squat happened. Luckily she was working a short shift, and the next nurse came in. I believe our first introduction was me shoving the right side of my rib cage into the table. You know, trying to put some pressure on it to ease the pain. She was really nice. She rubbed my back, and told me to call if I needed her. 

 By now this had been going on for about 2 hours. I started vomiting. What I saw put me off Subway for a while. I will spare you the details, but let's just say I couldn't even ride by Subway without my stomach doing loops. Another hour passes by and I am still sitting in the same place when she brings in the drink that numbs my throat as I drink it. I am told that if it was my gallbladder it should stop the pain- it didn't. She also told me the doctor asked if I was hurting this bad when he was there. My response was no. He never came up there. I moved on to my next attempt at feeling better which sitting on my knees in front of the rocking chair with the base of the seat shoved into my rib cage. Once again it did not work. I called Jay begging him to come up there with me, but he told me to just try and get some sleep. Before you call him all the names I did he really does feel horrible about that. He is a typical guy. If you cut your finger off just figure out how finish it with 9 fingers instead. 

 Next I moved on to the shower. I was not a huge germaphobe  before this, but if I was not in so much pain there is no way I would have done what I did. I got on my knees, and placed my face on the bench. Yep, the bench that God knows how many bags of water have ruptured on, and I put my face on it. I was desperate, and it worked! Finally some relief.The water beating down on my back was so soothing. I would fall asleep like then wake up because my leg was over the drain, and I was flooding the floor. The nurse came and checked on me, but by this point I was out of it. Once my exhaustion set in I went and laid in the bed. I literally passed out from the pain, and being so tired. The nurse checked on me 2 more times before the end of her shift, and told me she hoped I felt better. At about 7am a resident came in. She told me that they were going to draw some blood, send me for an ultrasound on my gall bladder, and not to eat anything. They drew the blood, and the ultrasound tech said she didn't see any gallstones. At 8am the CNA brought my breakfast. I told her they said I couldn't eat anything, and she went go check. She comes back in, and says that they told her it was alright that I could eat. I am still hurting so bad that eating was the last thing I wanted to do. I took a sip of orange juice, and went back to sleep.

 A little after nine a new doctor comes in. This is what I remember of that conversation...."Hey babe, look I just got off the phone with LSU..." I fell asleep "they said your liver...." fell asleep again "we are going to go ahead and do a C-section". I just looked at him and asked " when are you doing the c-section?" He told me now. He came over to my bedside and smiled down at me like you would a sick child. I could just imagine what I must have looked like. I asked if I had time for Jay to get there, and he asked how far away he was. I told him 15 mins, and he said he better hurry. I called his cell, and he didn't answer. I called the kitchen, and the chef answered. I said " Hey Chef Andy, this is Cyndi, Chef Jared's fiance. Can you tell him that they are about to do a c-section, and for him to get his ass to the hospital right now?" He says yes and we get off the phone. Jay arrives as the nurses are prepping me.

 I at this point am just in a daze. Everybody is rushing around me, having me sign papers, and assuring me that I am going to be alright. Jay is surprised to find that the c-section is about to happen. He didn't understand until he got there that this was serious. The nurses try setting up another IV, but fail to do so. They tell me I am going to have to wait on the anesthesiologist...... DUN DUN DUN!!!!! As soon as he walked up to my bedside, and introduced himself I informed him that I had been scared of him my whole pregnancy. he laughed and told me he had never heard that one before. Usually everybody was happy to see him. 

 They wheel me to the OR, and the anesthesiologist puts in my epidural. I was shocked at how easy it was. They lay me back, and wait for the epidural to kick in. Then the surgery begins. Jay watches the whole thing. I still laugh at the fact that he was rubbing my head while he was watching, and after a few minutes the rubbing would slow down to almost a stop, and then start back up so fast he almost started a fire on my face. It's like he would get so into the surgery, and then remember it was me. He will still sometimes say "Phssh, I've seen your uterus". A few minutes into the surgery the doctor asks the nurses for a banjo pick. Nobody moves. He asks again. Then you hear " I need a banjo pick! B-A-N, GOSH DARN IT (but he actually said it the other way) YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO HAVE THIS S*IT READY!" Me being the inappropriate person that I am thought this was hilarious. In fact he is now my regular doctor because of that. 

 Next thing I hear is "It's a boy!", and Davis' cry. If you have not had the pleasure of hearing a preemie cry- they sound like baby kittens. It was the most precious sound ever.I remember Jay saying "He's so small".  They walked him around so I could see him, and then whisked him off to the NICU. The same nurse practitioner that told me what to expect was in the OR. She told me he was breathing on his own. I forgot to mention that I was given 2 shots that I believe were to speed up Davis' lung development. All in all he was perfect. 

 They closed me up, and took me back to the room. I had to throw up on the way back, and the anesthesiologist told me to go ahead. I lifted my head, and cupped my hand on my boob, and proceeded to throw up. It was just orange juice. He laughed because I was so neat about it. I just remember thinking I didn't want to make any extra work for somebody. I get back to the room where my mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law were waiting.My mother-in-law always says she was good luck because she was in town when he was born, and when he was released from the hospital. I tell her she can claim when he was released, but seeing how he was 2 months early I wouldn't brag about that.

 They changed my gown, and I passed out again. I woke up in the middle of the night with the nurse telling me to press the button for morphine, and then I went back to sleep until Tuesday evening around 5:30. I was out of it. I think it was about 2 years later I found that my friend who sat with me stopped by the hospital the day Davis was born. I was like "you did?", and she said "yeah you talked to me". When she said it I vaguely remembered her standing beside my bed. 

 That is the bulk of it. I left out a bunch of stuff, but then there would have been "Labor and Delivery part 5", and who needs that? Wednesday when Tammy came to check on me I told her I had the worst gallbladder attack ever, and that is when she told me I didn't have a gallbladder attack that is was HELLP Syndrome. The doctor that didn't come back to check on me that night came in doing rounds, and couldn't even look me in the eye. I guess he felt bad for not coming back, and checking on me in person. If you are wondering why I had so many different doctors it's because when I got pregnant with Davis I didn't have insurance, and had to use medicaid. Not my finest moment, but that is what it is there for. So, the clinic I went to had several different doctors that attended to the patients.

 To all of you who made it to this point, thanks for sticking around. Sorry that it was so long, but it was a crazy experience. Tomorrow I will talk about our NICU experience, and something that happened during Davis' NICU stay that shook my world.

 Talk to you guys later.