Delivery, Recovery and all that Jazz.....

Delivery day was such a weird experience.  We were told to arrive @ 5:30 for the scheduled 7:30 c section.  I say weird because it seemed so strange to just walk in and know the baby would be born in just a few hours.  Of course I got barely any sleep the night before!

When we arrived they got us set up in a room to get blood work done and to get my iv started.  The IV was seriously the worst part.  The nurse could not find a good spot for it on either hand and hit a valve on one hand that caused so much pain.  I think that mixed with anxiety I already was having for the procedure were not a good mix.  I started getting very hot and felt like I was going to pass out.  After that they set up a monitor to track contractions and baby for thirty minutes before the procedure.  They did a little bit of other prep work and then we waited while the doctor and his crew prepared for the surgery.

As soon as they wheeled me to the surgery room it was quick moving from there. They took Johnny to a room to get some "sterile gear" on and wheeled me in to get my spinal anesthesia.  I was really nervous to get it, but the anesthesiologist was amazing.  It hardly hurt, a pinch, and then a warm tingly feeling through my whole body and started getting numb within five quick minutes. I was amazed how fast that kicked in.  They inserted a catheter, got the drape up, finished prep, brought Johnny in and boom surgery started really fast.

One thing I really loved is that everyone was very informative and really watching out during the surgery.   The anesthesiologist waited by my head making sure everything was ok, and kept on top of how I was feeling-things like nausea, etc.  a nurse would update me on what was happening, for example, "they just poked you to make sure you are numb, they're doing the incision, the baby will be pulled out now and you'll feel tons of pressure.

And boy I wish I could describe the tugging sensation you feel and right when they pulled the baby out it felt like a fat person was sitting on my stomach.  I think from the moment they started surgery to the moment we heard willow's strong healthy lungs was about 10 minutes tops.  I couldn't believe how quick it happened once they started.  Her loud loud cries were wonderful to hear.

They then whisked her to the nursery, cleaned her up and quickly brought her over to me.  It was love as soon as I saw her, that dark hair was beautiful and she looked so much like Niko as a newborn.

Our little girl was without a name, we had five-ish names narrowed down so once I was wheeled into recovery we started pumping out name ideas (both first and middle).  About four hours later our baby became Ms. Willow Ryanne Dunkley!

Recovery has been decent.  While this was my third cesarean it still came as a shock how painful it all really was after the nice pain meds wear off.  Day 3 was definitely the worst.  Standing up, walking around were difficult but around day 6 I felt a lot better.  As of today, so day 11, I can walk just fine without pain, I still wear the brace/wrap for back support, and really feel healed up.  The scar is very sensitive of course and probably will be for a few more weeks.